How to Fix the Qantas International Business

[Butterfield8]

Fix The Business ?

Buy a semi automatic and visit QCA8...only jokin'

[Cactusjack]

You can tell by the taste its Hans

I understand meat sandwiches a week out of date were served yesterday on a Domestic flight.

Sounds like they are describing one of the old boiler F/A's !!

[RATpin]

lame1,it's called "Worlds best practice" is'nt?

[Nassensteins Monster]

Lets cap off what these execs have done and feel free to add to the list.
Outsource apprentice training,outsource stores,outsource all engine overhaul,close workshops,close 747 syd maint facility,give away customer work,add layers of useless management levels,emply leadership on attitude and not ability,outsource heavy checks to o/seas facilities with little or no quality control.Employ management from failed airlines.Employ a HR/IR team that lives in the stone age,buy unproven inflight entertainment systems.contract out work that previously had been done inhouse,buy long range A330 with light weight flooring and insufficient galleys for long hall ops,
GREED

And who could forget the decision to NOT buy 777's?

[Nassensteins Monster]

And our favourite philanthropist Geoff "I'll be donating the majority of my $50 million bonus to charity" Dicko.
It's criminal.
Let's hit 'em hard & smart. Make 'em hurt. Now. Then gimmee my VR. I've had a gutful.

[B772]

Now QF are going to close all their retail offices in Aust. except for Gove. There are some passengers especially premium who do not want or use the i-net to make bookings or construct itineraries. This will mean further loss of traffic to overseas based carriers who maintain retail offices in Aust.

Whilst it could be argued travel agencies are an alternative; would be QF passengers will find themselves trying other carriers at the suggestion of the travel agents.

[victor two]

170 odd posts into this and I am still laughing about how some irrelevant union stirrer believes he knows how to improve the business performance of an international airline. I see the classic union master plan of "hold a barbie for the workers" even gets a run. Yeah, that will really transform global finical performance. Great idea, have a barbie. This from a union that could not even arrange a barbie, let alone run a major business. This entire thread is an attempt by a disorganized union to appear to be involved in industry issues which will always appeal to the disgruntled and negative hordes that populate union membership.
I got a suggestion, how about quietly asking your members to understand that they work in a competitive industry and to support and show some loyalty to the company who employs them occasionally. That might help. Talk the idea over over at your world changing "hard done by" workers barbie anyway!
Get back to work guys....seriously.

[dragon man]

Victor Two, which union are you referring to? The Lame's, AIPA, TWU, FAAA, or ASU. They all have members who are unhappy with management. Someone is out of step here and when you consider the numbers i think you will find its not the workers its the idiots in management. They are the ones who now want to join NAB, Pacific Dunlop, BHP and Brambles to name but a few of the Australian company's who have made an outstanding success of their attempts to take their models overseas (yea good one). I think Jetstar Asia and Pacific will ultimately also join that list.

[What The]

World's Best Airline Management

Feel free to add to the list of Qantas/Jetstar management Gods achievements.

World’s Best Airline Management Practices

1. Outsource apprentice training
2. Outsource stores
3. Outsource all engine overhaul
4. Close workshops
5. Close 747 Sydney maintenance facility
6. Give away customer work
7. Add layers of useless management levels
8. Employ leadership on attitude and not ability
9. Outsource heavy checks to overseas facilities with little or no quality control
10. Employ management from failed airlines
11. Employ a HR/IR team that lives in the Stone Age (does anyone even know who the Head of People is at the Qantas Group?)
12. Buy an unproven in-flight entertainment systems
13. Contract out work that previously had been done in-house
14. Buy long range A330 with light weight flooring and insufficient galleys for long haul ops
15. Incur $60,000,000+ in cartel fines
16. Not buy the 777
17. Pay an undisclosed price to free two Executives from Vietnam who (in my opinion) thought hedging was gambling
18. Pay millions of dollars to consultants who have produced the fabulous company you see today
19. Pay the former CEO millions for three months work and an ex-gratia payment for a superannuation tax issues which actually didn’t occur
20. Continue with a Board tainted by the failed APA bid which would have seen the company in the hands of receivers
21. Spent large sums of money developing a new flight planning system that didn’t work
22. Have a management that is "among the least efficient and most expensive in the world''
23. Grow Executive roles by 40%+ during Joyce's reign only to have to cut them this year and pay redundancies
24. Interrupting the Premium passengers "inflight experience" by playing up under a blanket in First Class (Bruce Buchannon)

[ALAEA Fed Sec]

Instruct Tech Crew to "not use thrust reverse".

[Mstr Caution]

Qantas versus Southwest Airlines Management.

From Wikipedia:

* Southwest Airlines completed an aquisition of AirTran Airways on 2nd May 2011 adding 38 destinations & a combined fleet of 690 aircraft.

* One time costs of $500M to INTEGRATE the two airlines operations with projected savings of $400M annually.

* Expects to receive approval for a single operating certificate in the first quarter of 2012.

* Is negotiating with labour a Seniority Integration and once complete a rebranding of AirTrans to Southwest Airlines livery (2012)

* SOUTHWEST AIRLINES HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SUCCESSFUL (RE: AQUISITIONS) AND HAS DEMONSTRATED CAUTION WHEN DEALS THREATEN EMPLOYEE MORALE AND CULTURE.

MC

[Ixixly]

Hows about... Employing a Mouthpiece *cough* sorry, a Head of PR who doesn't seem to actually know what a "Safety Issue" is?

[Groaner]

Not sure I'd agree with number 17.

Hedging can be, but should not be, gambling. In fact, properly used, it is reducing risk.

Regardless (and I have no idea what happened with the hedging arrangements) I would have thought Qantas had a moral duty to do what they could to get those two out of Vietnam, that might have included some murky semi-commercial arrangements. Might not be completely the cleanest way to do it, but prolonging their stay would be dirtier, imo.

[What The]

A hedging stategy when done correctly is giving a known outcome and a bit like insurance against shock.

When done incorrectly (i.e. hedging 100% of your fuel requirements) it is speculative gambling in my opinion.

[Ngineer]

Employ amazing people that love to use language such as "heroic moments" and "world's best practice" or "let's run a lap", but seem to be good for nothing much else (except maybe an editor at a fashion magazine).

[standard unit]

10 million plus on the folly that is the, "centre of service excellence"

[BrissySparkyCoit]

25. Sell Qantas (premium... or is it legacy?) seats to passengers who show up to find they are on a Jetstar (LCC) plane.

[teresa green]

(26) Keep Clifford in a job, he is the one contributing factor thats stays on and on. Give the bloke the ar#se.

[TIMA9X]

he is the one contributing factor that stays on and on

The little big men

Edited to say, One thing that is clear to me, the UK LCC short haul model will not suit all of the Long haul Australian market, business will be lost to the Qs premium competitors, which is already evident now, going by the market share figures over the last few years.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by what the

When done incorrectly (i.e. hedging 100% of your fuel requirements) it is speculative gambling in my opinion.

Heding 100% gives you cost certainty. Sure, if the price drops you pay too much, equally if the price rises you pay less. But the key reason for 100% hedging is to give you a fixed cost for one of your critical input costs so you can plan accordingly. In theory 100% hedging makes a lot o fthings much easier, the methodology for payment is quite simple - volume is the only variable and given the nature of the business that is reasonably predictable which means the budget and cash flow for fuel is also predictable. No need to check to see if your provider has correctly allocated the cost of fuel for the given point in time, it's the same number regardless. Plenty more efficiencies there as well, hedging does a whole lot more than just lock in the price, it simplifies a lot of back room processes as well.