QF Shares hit $1.00 Discuss
 

Sorry, but the $2 shop is a bit out of date

So the CEO of Jet Star has killed one of the largest airlines in the world.

Simple -- TIME FOR A NEW CEO.

No amount of waffle and blaming markets can cloud how low he has taken it. It is time for a new captain of the ship.

Nobody else has achieved this milestone, but the current CEO has.

Businesses respond to the person who is the leader.

Virgin is going great guns
Air Asia is going great guns
Garuda Indonesia is going great guns
Etihad is going great guns
Singapore Airlines is going great guns

Qantas is dying.

Dying and charging more than all of the great guns winners, losing it's clients at the same time.

It's easy -- the person at the top has no clue much to the enjoyment of all the airlines around it. There is no possibility to complain how difficult market conditions are when all of these great guns airlines are growing at the expense of Qantas market share.

WHY IS QANTAS LOOSING MARKET SHARE???

BECAUSE THE CEO IS DOING A BAD JOB.

SIMPLE.

It's not too late for a new and smart AUSTRALIAN CEO to save qantas from falling from a share price of ZERO like ONE.TEL.

Oh the Qnatas board also has a ONE.TEL board member on it ....... OOPS.....

BYE BYE Qantas......

I am very sad to see the death of an Australian icon lead by such incompetence from a person who isn't even an Australian who will return to his economically demolished country a rich man having sucked the life out of one of the biggest businesses in one of the strongest remaining economies in the world. He won't care what he has done, he will just be permanently RICH.

I am sorry for all who will loose their jobs, and for my Australian patriotism meaning so little for an Australian institution built on the Australian pioneering spirit.

5 years ago there was no other airline in the world I would choose to fly and now I don't even open their web page no matter where I am flying to.

There was no way I would be singing the praises of Virgin, and now I do.

5 years ago there was no way I would fly Air Asia and now if Virgin doesn't fly there I go straight to the Air Asia web site.

I am sorry Qantas, and Qantas share holders, and Qantas staff......your captain is driving the ship fast toward an island and he will be the first to jump as soon as he can and put his hands in the air and blame everyone else but himself.

Qantas isn't inherently a bad airline, it's just currently reflecting the nature of the person at the top of it's hierarchy, like any other business. Whether it will survive longer than the person at the top is anyone's guess. I bet my guess is obvious........it won't.

I'm no fan of Joyce but....
 

He is. Naturalised of course but he's an Aussie. I'm still looking forward to him leaving though! :ok:

Being Australian is more than just a piece of paper: he is far from being an Aussie.

Naturalised -- that explains why he wasn't deported when he shut down a key national interest.

As he's an Australian citizen that's not deportable -- that's HIGH TREASON !!

Are they really $1 now ? :confused:

EDIT after I found the answer: QAN.AX Historical Prices | QANTAS FPO Stock - Yahoo!7 Finance

QF only really exists to fly the old empire routes. The domestic operations are just loss leading historic commitments. The lack of work ethic in the local workforce will surly mean that SEA and ME carries will eventually crush QFs profit on long haul.

The writing is certainly on the wall
Trouble on a crowded dance floor

ArkMark

Just changing the CEO won't fix Qantas. It needs good cashflow to keep paying for the dugongs and 787's. At the moment its a Legacy airline, with a Legacy cost base. Until the cost base is lowered no number of new CEO's will fix things.

PanAm was an icon, and it has gone. If people don't embrace change, QF will follow PanAm.

And legacy labour contracts too.

So Joyce Says:

But what about the brand? ''The brand has returned to pre-dispute/fleet grounding levels after only six months,'' he said.

Let me tell you Mr Joyce, that I haven't flown Qantas since the day you grounded the airline. I changed to Virgin who gave me a GREAT CORPORATE DEAL.

The brand has never returned for me and frankly it never even tried. My costs were refunded after 4 MONTHS of me calling till I was blue in the face and my BUSINESS CLASS tickets were subsequently replaced by ECONOMY CLASS SUBLOAD credits !!!!!!!

Only a COMPLETE FOOL would do that crap, and then have the balls to tell the market it was all fixed up.

When I left Qantas for Virgin as a medium sized business, Qantas didn't even notice that I let go all of my work with them, as well as my long standing QF Club membership. They didn't even call, or write or care.

DEAR QANTAS -- YOU NEED A NEW CEO.

I rate it as the best thing for poor long suffering Australian travelers that other options that are better than Qantas are now becoming available to us.

OH and another last straw for me was the Qantas automated check in. WOW, what a DISASTER !!!!!

So WHO let it get this far and WHO didn't stop it ?

There is only one and it's the CEO.

It may well be too late for Qantas, you are right. You can't tell me this wasn't evident 4 - 5 years ago. To me it was.

Joyce has just been riding it out destroying the brand, which perhaps was his strategy all along to prove that his beloved Jet Star model was a picture of perfection even though they were hiding it's true capital costs in the Qantas operation.

Eventually it all had to not work.

When your cleaners are using bottled water every night from the galleys to clean the toilets because management would not provide them with any other alternative you can be sure it's just not going to survive !!!!!!!

A CEO with half an idea about his business would have heard about that one before it was publicised on PPRUNE !!!!!!!

"The lack of work ethic in the local workforce will surly mean that SEA and ME carries will eventually crush QFs profit on long haul."

And who nurtured that? High Fuel? Trouble in Europe? Clifford Joyce & Dixon? Couldn't possibly be them. And as for Brand, I used to listen to a radio program called the 'Hidden Persuaders'

Hidden Persuaders - ABC Queensland - Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Allan Bonsall was scathing of Dixon's trashing of Brand QANTAS

The only thing going for QF staff at the moment is there no way the govt. can allow 36,000 people lose their jobs, no way, regardless if its the Droner from Altona or the Mad Monk, in the LH seat. That is what you have to cling on to, the only way they can do that is let the whole thing die slowly in a heap, as it becomes JQ, over a period of time. They cannot just hang a closed down sign up at the jet base, that at least gives you time to plan your own future, to sure up your finances, and plan ahead, and with a little bit of luck, a CEO will be found (Ralph Norris are you out there?) who could just turn the whole box and dice around. A worrying time for all QF staff.

Haven't seen or heard much from Worthless of late?

Blue Foot

Teresa, so do you really think 36,000 highly paid QF staff couldn't be sacked? Should the Government cut the Health budget to support the Legacy staff and their work practices and payscales?

If Qantas staff don't look at what is happening industry wide, they will never understand the need to change.

Teresa, QF is going the way of PanAm.

The biggest trouble with QF & mostly other industries that are fighting to survive in a global playing field is that they (QF for Eg) want to lower their operating costs in order to compete. They can't do a lot about fuel costs as that's an ever changing balance sheet on it's own.They still need new planes & they can't get them cheap.
BUT the element they can change or at least want to is lower the human element to all this. Lower wages,reduced services & off shore maint ('cause it's cheaper) making the employees in their eyes their only pawns.
BUT (& there's that word again!) it's all good & well from a CEO's perspective ('cause they don't live in the real world due wealth etc) to want to lower wages have less staff to do more work etc with those same employees living in that same world where EVERYTHING is going up (no thanks to 'Juliars' carbon crap) around them. Sure pay yr staff 20% less to line yr pockets & make you look good but whilst yr at it AJ tell the oil Co's, the food suppliers & general goods suppliers to lower their ticket prices ...................yeah didn't think so !:ugh:

It's a bit like removing every second floor joist on a floor that supports a Co(yeah now there's a go, remove that other 'Joyce!:E) as it's cheaper to do the same job with less 'joists' but one day that same floor will come crashing down due poor support,that we are seeing now. We have building regs to make sure our floors are built strong,what do we have in the commercial world 'floors'? Less & less infrastructure all in the name of top end greed & cost!
What do you do when the 'Joyces' are rotten? YOU REPLACE them!.....it's about to tumble into the Abyss !!

It's a flea bitten dog chasing it's own tail QF!!!!!!


Wmk2

To take the alternate view, I don't think Qantas has been hard enough!
No doubt that the carrier is in urgent need of reform, in all areas, even as far as EBAs are concerned.
It should be possible for the management to come up with a holistic approach to the problems that face Qantas, even if that means letting some staff go, withdrawing from / changing metal on routes that are borderline and streamlining head office.
It would be a lot of pain in the short-term, but for the chance of a strong Qantas in the middle to long-term which is what it seems most ordinary Australian's and Qantas staff want.

That said, the biggest problem is that none of the staff (and few of the actually interested public) would support such a plan with such a woeful board and the disastrous implementation of about every "plan" Joyce et al have had in the last few years. As if pilots, engineers and ground staff are going to talk wage freezes and CR with the bad blood this board has created.

Slash the company I say, get back to fundamentals and take a "nothing is for granted" look at the whole business and come up with a credible plan to bring Qantas back to strength. This under a new, visionary board and management who are in it for the long-haul along with the staff, not next years bonus.
Better to die trying than bleeding out via the million cuts the business is labouring under now.

Wally, if you don't follow the industry norm you will fail.

The only way QF can win is to make its costs lower, AND increase its yield.

Without doing those things, the wishful thinkers here will never get their B777's.

Tallest Poppy, the big problem between staff and management is the yawning credibility gap and the complete lack of trust that the staff have in people like Joyce.

Joyce could tell me that he was of Irish descent and right now, I wouldn't believe him without supporting documentation.

This washes down the line. Pilots I fly with tell me that they delete messages from flight ops management without reading them. The total, complete lack of trust is something that needs to be addressed right now. Qantas does need to go through changes but the basic wage structure that delivered a one billion dollar profit in 2008 is still there, so what has changed and who is to blame?

Reduced network-Management.

Incompetence at highest levels, Red Q and Jetstar(name your franchise, but particularly Vietnam and Hong Kong)-Management

Disengaged front line workers- Management

Gas guzzling A380's instead of B777's- Management

Five year delay on 787- choice to go with untried and unproven technology-Management

Jetstar International- Low yielding, poor load factor, unloved bastard child with zero actual international growth in the last two years; (More to come on that later)-Management.

So you tell me... what really needs to change at Qantas?

It seems pretty straight forward to me.

Firstly, it is no use blaming Joyce for this. Clearly he has the support of the Board and was specifically selected to carry out their plan. That is why AJ got the job and not JB. Sure you need to be a certain type of person to be able to stand in front of the media and say the ****e he says, but nevertheless, that is what the Board is demanding.

To me it would seem the strategy is clear, and has been for around 10 years.

• Start a second airline to protect the low end against Virgin and also create a second workforce that can be called on if needed industrially.

• Slowly deconstruct mainline until such point as it is not viable by transferring flying to J*, then rebuild/rebrand J* in the image of mainline, but with a lower cost base.

This has been made more difficult than envisioned because the Company has been unable to convince anyone that International can't be profitable. By splitting the two divisions and reporting profits separately, there will be little or no resistance from shareholders to any dismantling of international.

Given they already have another international AOC, it is no problem to transfer international flying to that entity. And as we have witnessed at Virgin, it is possible to turn a no frills budget carrier into a full service airline in less than 2 years. It probably can't be done with Joyce at the helm, but that was probably never the plan. AJ's job is to preside over the destruction of the brand, as he has the perfect personality and business background for that, then the Board will bring in someone who is a bit softer and charismatic to rebuild from the ashes.

It would not surprise me either to see the domestic AOC expanded to include international ops, if that can be done. Just watch the domestic boys screw international if they are offered 787's!

Whilst I don't even work for QF and am genuinely sad to see the demise of a great airline, it seems that the Board has no choice than to shut down international and rebuild it with a lower cost base.

Before i get my head ripped off, i do not fully believe the spin about International losing so much money, but i do know for a fact that their cost base is substantially higher than its competitors (Particularly Virgin, which is the real comparison, not EK, EY or SQ). Therefore the Boards hands are rather tied in so far as they have to cut costs. Whether they needed to do it in the manner they have is open to conjecture, but it has to be done.

Unfortunately the days of making a reasonable profit are long gone, the board is required to make maximum profit for the shareholders. Whether this board can hang on long enough to implement their plan remains to be seen. The current share price must surely be well below any projections and I would think that pressure from institutional shareholders to replace Clifford and Joyce must be building.

I posted this back in March on "Globalisation, debt and banking":-


Oh Oh, Emirates Air Tells Truth?

Talk about burying the lede!

Emirates, the biggest airline by international traffic, said more carriers will go bust this year as fuel costs and sluggish economies undermine profitability.

“We can reel off a whole load of airlines that are teetering on the brink or are really gone,” Tim Clark, the Dubai-based carrier’s president, said in an interview. “Roll this forward to Christmas, another eight or nine months, and we’re going to see this industry in serious trouble.”

No no no, not that lede. That's the one Bloomberg wanted you to pay attention to.

THIS lede:

“You think you’re going to win, but in the long term you always lose,” Clark said yesterday at the Gulf carrier’s head office near Dubai International Airport. “When we enter into derivatives, betting whatever it may be with counterparties who actually control the price of fuel in the first place, you have to ask yourself, ‘Is that smart?’”



Aha -- truth. You enter into derivatives with those who have a license to steal as even if they misrepresent what they're selling nobody will prosecute them and if not they simply manipulate the market after selling you the position!

Why would you take a bet on the price of something with a guy who has a corner on the market in question? You'd be nuts to do so and yet this is exactly the model these banksters have devised -- peddle to you the "necessity" of hedging and then screw you when you take their advice.

"Heads I win, tails you lose" -- what a great game for the banksters.

The shocker is that Bloomberg printed this.

There are a few elements at play here that need further discussion.

25% of QF profits used to come from the Pacific routes to the USA. Virgin chose wisely to compete on that route with the 777.

The Middle Eastern carriers are providing a great product to connect to Europe meaning Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong are no longer the "gateways".
They can offer 2 hour connections to the world without foreign crew bases.

Qantas has high staff related costs because of complex agreements/EBA's. Consider the pilot long haul document of some 750 pages to the VA one of about 20.

A distrust between management and staff because of the "cost cutting" mentality.

The good news and bad news:

Strategically, QF won't be able to profit from any routes to Europe in the near future - 10 years. In my opinion Europe is gone..... but not forever. Other carriers have the current geographic advantage. This will be resolved when aircraft are capable of flying from Sydney to London, Paris and Rome DIRECT. If Qantas can hold out to then, it will again have a "European network". The Kangeroo Route will be maintained at all costs until this occurs.

In the meantime, the international arm will have to focus on shorter point-to-point services. The company can expect fairly good outbound loads and fairly poor inbound loads due to high AUD. This will have to be mostly done by Jetstar with a lower cost base.

From a management perspective, current QF pilots would be considered a massive liability to the bottom line. The pay is just to high.. The government has not protected the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have gone offshore in the last 20 years to China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand etc. They will not have "save" Qantas jobs. However, in the national interest, they would like QF to maintain a "robust international presence". The best solution to this is to simply implement a A scale and B scale pay system and merge seniority lists with Jetstar.

The cost of fuel, airframes, advertising, marketing, management etc are basically fixed. QF has 3.3 Billion in cash to Hold out till the middle east has its day in the sun with Abu Dhabi and Dubai (much like Babylon) before it can fly right over the top of them in one go to Paris, London, Rome, from Sydney and again be a global aviation player. Expect a merger of Jetstar and Qantas at this time. There are more complex geopolitical and economic factors at play here and also national interest/foreign policy and strategic manoeuvring. Its a jungle out there!!!!

The share price will be in a doldrum for the next 10 years but will come good around the time of the 100th Anniversary and the remerging of the "great" brand. In the meantime, take a visit to the QF museum in Longreach and sleep easy at night knowing the Management are not stupid idiots and there are people in much higher places who are much smarter than you looking after your interests.

Management?
 

It would be great if QF had some management, Joyce isnt leading by example is he, every General Meeting its just about how the company should pay him more for driving the company backwards....
Time to wake up! Joyce and the board need to change and than means being accountable for the current condition of QF...
You want employees to change who do all the time but management keep feeding themselves like pigs...
Borgetti was the man and a leader Joyce isnt a leader and never will be, I dont know anyone who believes the constant crap that comes out of his mouth..
If QF fails it wont be the employees that didnt change its the over paid management

Do you think Boeing and Airbus will build ultra long haul airframes whilst the middle eastern airlines are ordering record amounts of airframes? If there was a market for it you'd already see it.

The business pressure on 100 wide body orders at a time worth billions is not gong to subside unless western airlines put up greater orders and give the manufactures incentive.

The western airlines are generally more conservative and as such, the status quo will remain favoring 12-14 hour long haul airframes.

Unless of course there is a revolution in jet engine fuel burn and a replacement trippler can haul similar payloads carry current fuel loads further.

I could be proven wrong, but I doubt it. The next ten years will be based on alternative fuel sources.

As such Qantas need a new 8 hour hub strategy.

What the hell are you talking about. Do you think Aussies that go overseas to spend their money don't come back? Subject to season variations inbound and outbound loads are the same.

If I were a betting man, I would expect British Airways is carefully looking at taking another large stake in Qantas.

In a worst case scenario, the foreign ownership laws would be reviewed long before Qantas "goes broke". Just how this can be engineered so Emirates/Etihad/Singapore don't get a look in will be fascinating to watch.

At 97c its very attractive.

Well Tony Sheldon has just taken a almighty spray to Joyce and Clifford for lining their pockets at the expense of QF (The Australian Sunday) so its on now, and many will be backing Sheldon.

The Australian

He is probably correct. Clifford, Joyce and the present Board have proven beyond any reasonable doubt they are incapable of profitably operating the company or reversing current financial trends.

Qantas will not be nationalised and it would be political suicide for any Government to bail out or intervene in Qantas.

Any other public listed company that achieved a five fold reduction in share value and no dividend for three years and heads would have rolled long ago. I don't understand how QF Directors and executive not only survive, but are rewarded with pay increases and bonuses. :confused:

Change is now solely up to the share holders and specifically the largest institutional share holders who you may recall, blindly supported Joyce and his pay increase at the last AGM.

Tallest Poppy are you kidding, it is political suicide for the Govt to be faced with 36,000 suddenly unemployed people. They will be running around like headless chooks trying to fix it before that happens. 36,000 staff, plus all the contractors, tourism, travel agents, and assorted hangers on. It would make 89 look like a bakers picnic, and it was no picnic. Expect a car manufacturing leg up, anytime soon if it comes to that. And the public backlash, they might not fly it, but take it away and they will become ****faced, believe me. And the pollies will feel the heat, like you would not believe. Can you just imagine the media, and the shock jocks, and the outrage, and the pollies ducking for cover. Joyce will be back in Ireland with the poodles, just like that Mexican bloke from Telstra, and then start firing salvos safely from OS as to what a bunch of nutters we are. Never mind he has just stuffed our freckin National Carrier. Its not that easy.

There is no doubt something at government level needs to be done if Australia wants ANY sustainable Australian owned airline industry and Australian based jobs that go with it.

If you want to see the value of Australian owned international airlines, have a look at the recent Virgin split. VIAH has a total value of $2210. Yes $2210!! The Virgin split gave shareholders a dividend of $0.000001 per share. With an issued capital of 2,210,197,600 that is a total of $2210 to de-list VIAH from VAH.

That in itself tells you what the situation is.

There are a few things that could be done to "help" Australian airlines.

1. Loan guarantees. During the GFC, the Gov't guaranteed bank deposits to stop a run on our banks. Why not a similar scheme to allow airline capital restructuring (ie. new aircraft). Any airline could apply for loan guarantees to permit fleet upgrades. Has the benefit of reducing carbon emissions by use of more fuel efficient aircraft. For an airline like Qantas which is going to find funding new aircraft shortly impossible, it would give it a lifeline to restructure. It would also give the government leverage to force Qantas to keep jobs onshore.

2. International passenger levy. Apply a levy on all international passengers. A $20 levy inbound and outbound would raise about $300m per year. Use that $300m to insure the above loan guarantee scheme. Use it to support onshore maintenance industry.

Is a $40 total levy going to kill tourism? I don't think it would make a difference. Will doing nothing at government level kill the Australian aviation industry? Most definitely!

"Pursuant to the ASX Listing Rules, an announcement was made to the ASX on 23 December 2011, advising that the Potential Level of Foreign Ownership at 23 November 2011 was 31%. Qantas is not required to further update the market unless the level of foreign ownership exceeds 44%. Qantas remains subject to an aggregate foreign ownership limit of 49%".

A foreign entity could take an 18 percent state in QF with a stake up to 13 percent available with no requirement to report. Not sure about amounts requiring "change in substantial holding notifications" of current shareholders.

Certainly, a large n opportunity exists for Australian Banks and Superannuation interests to buy the stock.

Geopolitically, IAG which owns British Airways and Iberia would be the best outcome if a foreign entity was take a large stake in the carrier.

Re: The best outcome for pilot pay. An A scale B scale system is not ideal, but the A scalers will do more damage if they had to take a pay cut to B scale wages. The unions would whinge at length, and the general "culture" of the A scalers is that it become their "right" not to accept inferior conditions or a backward step upon acceptance into the Airline.

There is some middle ground here - but it is messy, lengthy and there will be some "collateral damage" in any case. This MUST be accepted as as in manufacturing, jobs and whole companies went go offshore.

How many companies have been able to compete with cheap foreign labour in China. There are only a handful of Australian owned and manufactured companies i.e. RM williams boots.

The Government will not "protect" pilot wages, nor should they. Simulator, CBT training, Cadets and technology have changed the "worth" of the pilot, although the responsibility and shift work nature of the job demand above average wages.

This is a big issue because not many companies in Australia have a large number of employee's (over 1000) on over $200,000 a year. The union needs to be careful with its media tactics for two reasons:

1) There are many people in Australia who have already lost their jobs over sea's. THEY ARE NOT ON YOUR SIDE are will have little sympathy to you.

2) Pilots will be made to appear as overpaid bus drivers holding the economic future of the company to ransom with a little bit of media "massaging".

For all the posts that follow picking this "reality" to pieces financially, ethically, etc please read previous posts that factor in a 10 year time frame for the union vs the company antics. It will cost more than 100 million, but expect a MASSIVE advertising media campaign when its all over. That 3.3 Billion kitty will be raided, and the brand will survive and prosper.

There is a long way to go before the Rat is crippled. This is a viable business that needs restructuring in a big way but is far from extinct PROVIDED current Board and Execs are kicked out before it is too late.

Everyone knows change is coming, they just don't see any hope with |Joyce/Clifford and the only ones who did (those who shared the weed at the AGM) must surely now be asking why did we fall for it.

Rat is not a normal company and can resurrect itself with quality leadership and less consultants.

The The,

I almost almost almost like your idea, except for one problem.
They have already taxed the hell out of international tickets.

The other day a friend and I worked out the tax on a DPS-PER ticket, and it was 60% !!!

That leaves VERY VERY little for the airlines on that sector -- $70.00 to be exact. Somehow after the government takes all that tax and wastes it completely, the poor airlines who are the only reason the tax can exist have to try to find a profit !!!!

More tax is never the answer I am afraid.

Now if we reduced the existing tax, the airlines would be able to maintain the same ticket price and would earn the same amount on their bottom line, and at the same time government spending would become more efficient :cool:

I wonder if Sheldon came out swinging in an effort to avert attention from a story in today's Sun-Herald about ramp staff - who would be members of the TWU - in Sydney (allegedly) accessing porn etc?

Qantas suspends 10 over porn

"it is political suicide for the Govt to be faced with 36,000 suddenly unemployed people."

Yes But that is not happening.

"They will be running around like headless chooks trying to fix it before that happens."

Yes Situation normal.

"36,000 staff, plus all the contractors, tourism, travel agents, and assorted hangers on. It would make 89 look like a bakers picnic,...."

Yes But can't happen.

I don't think you understand.

Qantas is not "going broke", not sacking 36,000 staff, not shutting up shop.

Qantas is forecasting a $50 mill to $100 mill profit this year and no dividend. It has or had around $3 Billion in reserves. It's shares are currently trading at a 50% discount.

Qantas is retracting as it loses international market share. It's greatest asset, it's Aussie staff are totally disengaged. It's management suffers delusions of JetStar grandeur. It is increasingly irrelevant both in Australia and certainly internationally.

Its incompetent management knows no better.

Qantas will never prosper as the profitable Spirit of Australia until competent, capable Australian men and women of wisdom and foresight again assume command.

Why is it people keep referring to Qf employee wages being so high.? Borghetti etc have publicly admitted that pilot/engineering wages r on par with Qf. Jq's conditions r equal as well. We will never hv Asian wages, we hv 10% of their population or less. We also don't hv Asian living conditions/standards. Qf employee costs are not out of kilter with other airlines in Australia. The killer is in-effficient, over paid management levels. That and a CEO/chairman/board paid way too much for destroying an airline. I will argue til I'm blue in the face that the staff at Qf are proud,passionate and hard working. Hell even engineering delays r at an all time low despite the turmoil of last year. Wholly due to engineering wanting to see this company last and thrive

What Service!!
 

As a business class passenger on an East/West flight last week I experienced the usual indifferent service that is often provided by the "matrons"that tend to bid for these flights.

Prior to takeoff (A330) galley gossip regarding the 5 hours that they would have to endure. Unfortunately this conversation was audible to most of the business class cabin.

Drinks service. Only almonds offerred although a choice was on board.

Meal service. Soup was the starter. No croutons offered, they were on board. No bread offered until I ask for it.

Staff need to take some ownership that they are part of the problem, not only the management.

Australian's are very good at blaming everyone else for problems. They really need to look at themselves at times.

VC9,

You've hit the nail on the head.

A business is only ever successful with a point of difference. QF can't compete in a price war, which is what it is unsuccessfully attempting at the moment. The only way QF can maintain market position is to give customers what they want, and go back to what was their original long lasting and successful point of difference. The "Spirit of Australia"; - good service, Aussie flight attendants bringing them home from their overseas stint, a high safety record, etc, etc. That combined with the right aircraft would right now be keeping them going strong.

Joyce / Clifford / Dixon have been cutting the hell out of any opportunity or engagement for staff to want to provide that service. They've been damaging the morale levels to an extent that you really can't blame the flight attendants for having that attitude, as much as it disgusts me.

Having a price war against Emirates, Etihad, Singapore, even V Aus, they WON'T win!

VC9, "there are no bad troops, only bad officers."

Given the appalling standard of what passes for managment at Qantas, I'm surprised you got any service at all.