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I wouldn't be booking Qantas to travel November 3rd then.

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Blog entry: 12th February, 2016 – Chief Pilot International (South-east Region, daylight operations):

Hi everybody.

With the news yesterday that British Airways, Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, JAL, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines have all filed for bankruptcy, I would like to assure you that Qantas remains in a sound position and that our alliance with Emirates has ensured that we will remain as a strong and viable business going forward.

Because of these developments, and out of our desire to provide our passengers with a seamless, premium travel experience, Emirates has agreed to operate our services to Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Santiago, Hong Kong and London with some of their 2,500 A380 aircraft. Our CEO, Simon Hokey is absolutely thrilled by these developments and feels that the Qantas brand will only be strengthened as a result. Group CEO Designate Jane Hard-Liquor praised the outgoing CEO for his visionary approach and “fourteen pillar plan” to success that has resulted in the share price spiralling to $1.02 in recent days.

Unfortunately for line pilots, this means that there will be yet another increase in the pilot surplus to 1,800. Rest assured however, that we will continue to manage this surplus with assigned indefinite LSLWOP and a reduced divisor of 10 hours per bid period (subject to AIPA approval). To provide certainty for our pilots, our new DCUWCY protocol will provide you with at least 12 months notice of your next duty so that you can renew your CASA medical and complete the necessary study for your 1 hour simulator session (subject to CASA approval) prior to being cleared back to the line. For those wishing to take LWOP to seek other short-term opportunities, we can advise that Jetstar Bangladesh will be interviewing applicants next month and that its fleet of 65 A319s should be operating by January next year (subject to regulatory approval). Simon was so excited by this development that he had to go onto medication. As soon as Qantas Mainline becomes profitable again, we will take delivery of our new fuel-efficient Boeing 797-13 Solar Electric Supergliders and, subject to contractual arrangements, mainline pilots may well experience services to new destinations such as Cairns, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.

The other significant development for this blog is that we are expecting FWA to hand down its final, binding decision today on the series of appeals that the Company lodged against their original determination back in 2012. Our lawyers have argued strenuously that a decision to award pilots’ with backdated backpay will now result in a payment being made that will exceed Qantas’s current cash reserves. The segmentation of the Company into 25 reporting business units (each with their own management teams) has been essential to the company’s viability going forward and management consider the $1.5 billion one-off restructuring costs to be money well spent. Fortunately, Jetstar has made a profit of $1.6 billion dollars with its fleet of 5 B787s and Simon was so excited by the news that he had to be physically restrained.

Finally, I would like to remind all International (South-east Region, daylight operations) pilots that your engagement levels in the last survey were cause for concern and that the three of you will be programmed for the next PWC course “Trust Us, We’ll Look After You” sometime in the next 12 months (subject to the DCUWCY protocol).

Cheers

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