I would suspect in the case of E K. It's all about the ability to compete. I'm no expert but I suspect they get their fuel a wee bit cheaper. As for CX. What is the average wage across the whole company compared to QF? ( and even EK for that matter). If an airline has a "lower" cost base I'm confident they can price their product accordingly. We in Australia love to repeat the mantra "Buy Australian". But frankly we don't want to pay for manufactured goods that have Australian wages and conditions attached.
I am just as guilty as the next man BTW , so no living in glass houses over here.
I fly QF as exclusively as possible, my reasons are
1. It's our National carrier
2. I already have Life time QP courtesy of an old Australian Airlines LT flight Deck card
3. Decent partners (one world)
4. I had to chose one as I don't fly often enough to gain status with 2 carriers.
Am I disappointed with the ( Simpler and fairer) "Enhancements" over the last few years? You betcha! Will AJ be around for ever? Nope ! Can things change in the future? I hope so.
I sometimes think that investing a little more in ourselves could mean the job I save, maybe my own!!
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of your reply I do disagree with a few things.
Over the last few years Qantas cost base has been decreasing significantly to the point where it is believed they are competitive.
I understand that the ratio of Crew ( as Mentioned in several threads here ) to passengers on other airlines is higher thus potentially negating the possible slightly higher Australian staff costs.
Yes Lets keep jobs in Australia, QF have made significant changes to crewing especially qfi with more staff being sourced from the UK and NZ.
I will always try and support Australian Manufactured goods and Companies as long as they also look after, IMHO Qantas has failed here.
Lets now also consider the LCC operation Jetstar who are often the same price as QF when adding bundles luggage and meals and considerably more expensive than other LCC such as Scoot, Air Asia etc. As a QF company and with the best low cost operating aircraft in the group and lowest staffing cost why are they also not competitive with other comparable LCC's?
Should we blindly support non competitive industries or companies in Australia, Classic example the car industry, or should we be looking for business areas and company's where we can compete.
The level of service is way too variable and unpredictable on QF to justify variations in price of 10 to 15% Plus of competitors.
hard product is very variable and yes I concede it is being addressed on the A330 but they will not have consistent IFE systems across all aircraft, a wasted opportunity in my opinion.
Lets not start talking about simpler and fairer, nor the high cost of redemptions and the ridiculous taxes and levy's apportioned to award seats....
One World has previously been very good however since the EK tie up this has retreated to the point that it is not now worth flying many of the OW airlines as the FF points and status credits are pitiful and the redemptions significantly more expensive.
Yes lets give QF a GO.
