Jetstar to Seoul

[PPRuNeUser0198]

Jetstar use foreign crew where possible. This is nothing new and is simply intended to reduce labour cost. There is nothing wrong with that. The punter wants a cheap (and cheaper) fare. The market dictates this. Jetstar need to turn a dollar with an operation that suffers from a large proportion of uncontrollables (fuel, FX etc.), and is highly exposed to fuel expense due to longer sectors. If everyone was prepared to pay more - things would be different - but they won't.

And there are no hub and scale advantages for end-of-the-line carriers. Everything has to be replciated, in each base. A terrible lost opportunity that our Asian friends enjoy... amongst others

[Transition Layer]

Let’s not forget that Qantas has NZ and UK based Cabin Crew on inferior conditions. They operate all over the globe, not necessarily between their home bases and Australia.

I doubt the Kiwis were employed for their language (accent) skills either

[Rated De]

And there are no hub and scale advantages for end-of-the-line carriers. Everything has to be replciated, in each base. A terrible lost opportunity that our Asian friends enjoy... amongst others

Firstly, end of the line carriers depend entirely on where it is presumed the start of line is drawn. Emirates could be seen as an end of the line carrier. From space the north pole might actually be underneath; it's all relative.

Hub and spoke operations are generally the purview of the established or legacy carriers. A key tenet for maintaining any sort of unit cost advantage in Low Fare Airlines is point to point flying. Self evidently, the further away from home (longer stage) more resources, like staff and premises, rest facilities and the like are needed. Very important therefore is stage length. Stretch the stage length too far, unit costs rise faster than any any revenue gain at the margin. Fuel included CASK consumes more of any operating margin and the unit costs very quickly morph to resemble any established airline. Add in FX volatility and fuel becomes a much bigger problem.

Perhaps, inadvertently this has revealed the problem with Jetstar International: Yield premium is non existent as demand is elastic and the business has rising unit costs.
Jetstar do have scale, they are, fleet wise, bigger than their parent. Despite this domestic scale they lack the ability to generate anything like the revenue's their parent does. Jetstar has a role, but their foray into long haul operations is not readily replicated world wide. Take away the accounting cloak and it is a very marginal business, at best. Demand elasticity bites hard.

Thus, the Boston Bruce Buchanan play relied on foreign crews, from impoverished countries (after all he was trying to help) paid them a pittance and flew them on as many tag flights, all over Australia, as he could get away with.

[PoppaJo]

Originally Posted by T-Vasis

Jetstar use foreign crew where possible. This is nothing new and is simply intended to reduce labour cost. There is nothing wrong with that.

I beg to differ. My colleagues also disagree. The main issue at hand isn’t that we are using foreign crews, it’s how and when. There isn’t a lot of confidence, that in elevated situations, that these guys are going to execute 100%. Pilots shouldn’t have the added worry on an evacuation if the Cabin Crew are performing or are half asleep. You pay them 10-15k a year for heavens sake, expectations are not overly high.

There was a lot of noise last year with the Adelaide stuff that went on. Got a lot of people offside very quickly, would be a bit of a $hitfight if they did that again.

[morno]

Originally Posted by PoppaJo

I beg to differ. My colleagues also disagree. The main issue at hand isn’t that we are using foreign crews, it’s how and when. There isn’t a lot of confidence, that in elevated situations, that these guys are going to execute 100%. Pilots shouldn’t have the added worry on an evacuation if the Cabin Crew are performing or are half asleep. You pay them 10-15k a year for heavens sake, expectations are not overly high.

There was a lot of noise last year with the Adelaide stuff that went on. Got a lot of people offside very quickly, would be a bit of a $hitfight if they did that again.

So you’re saying that only Australian crews are capable of doing an evacuation?

I fly with Asian crews who would do the job ten times better than some Australian crews I’ve worked with.

[PPRuNeUser0198]

For clarity Rated D - when I reference the 'economies of scale' claim - I refer primarily to asset/labour utilisation in a single hub i.e. equipment like trucks, facilities etc. In a hub environment you can utlise your equipment across more flights (scale) thus spreading out your fixed costs versus say a port where you have the cost of that truck and it services say a few services. It is underutilised. There is a producitivty line here that delivers better ecomonics when you are maximising utlising your assets, infrastructure, people etc.

Our friends in Air Asia or Scoot (for example), operate from a primary city/airport with this scale advantage, whilst JQ, operates from many bases across the country - not a single primary city.

I don't disagree with your other comments.

PoppaJo - let's not get xenophobic here. Australians are certainly not immune to poor performance and errors...

[Global Aviator]

I always struggle to see how pointing to cabin crew and saying I’m worried they are not up to the task.

Question - did they pass the course? SEP? Recurrent?

Answer - yep.

Problem therefore lies with management allowing the boxes to be ticked.

Thats before we even start talking about cultures (or lack of by some pax).