Qantas Equity $1.9B Raising and Announcements June 2020

[jase05]

Incorrect. Executive Traveller has an accurate summary of what he said:

Qantas to mothball all Airbus A380s until at least 2023

Alan Joyce says the mighty superjumbo is likely to stay grounded "for at least three years."

www.executivetraveller.com

Thanks, thought I must of misheard

 

[jb747]

By the looks of it the A388 flight crews will continue to be stood down, not retrenched. Perhaps one reason is that if they're needed, there would be a huge cost to 'upskill' those from B789s, so it's cheaper to keep the existing staff trained through simulators?

There is no information on just how the 220 pilot reduction is to be handled. Not in the media or to the people concerned.

Only a couple of months ago, the company forced through the introduction of a new EBA. It is very specific as to the handling of RINs, VR and CR.

I cannot imaging how difficult it would be to reliably restart (i.e. return to service) a 380 that had been in long term storage. My bet is that they will never return.

 

[Kendall Roy]

OQI is still in DRS for refurbishment. Will be interesting to see if they fly it straight to the desert.....

 

[Gremlin]

I cannot imaging how difficult it would be to reliably restart (i.e. return to service) a 380 that had been in long term storage. My bet is that they will never return.

Do you mean from an engineering and safety sign-off perspective? Or from ensuring the flight crew have sufficiently up to date skills?

 

[Melburnian1]

There is no information on just how the 220 pilot reduction is to be handled. Not in the media or to the people concerned.

The CEO had said a few days ago that there'd be more details prior to 30 June 2020.

Perhaps a WebEx/Zoom meeting for the employees will deliver more information to them, given the reluctance to have face-to-face meetings at present?

 

[bcworld]

Incorrect. Executive Traveller has an accurate summary of what he said:

If that's what he said it doesn't really make sense.

Joyce said he doesn't expect the Qantas' international network to restart "in any real size from July next year"

If it said until July next year, I'd understand. Or if ET said "Joyce said he expects..."

 

[Hvr]

The CEO had said a few days ago that there'd be more details prior to 30 June 2020.

The people who potentially lose their job, will have huge and everlasting changes on their life. I desperately hope they have enough emotional support to make it through this crisis. And financial planning support.

The people who aren't retrenched in this round will then wonder about the future without knowing whether their role will last until the reopening of the airline. Survivor guilt is real and needs to be appropriately managed.

Everybody in the airline will in emotional crisis and need support. Everybody from AJ to the lowest level employee in the back office will feel the emotional pain.

 

[Melburnian1]

While not specifically related to today's big announcement, the continuing rise in 'community transmission' coronavirus cases today in Victoria - 33 new total cases, but not well broken down yet - is according to Geoffrey Thomas of that aviation site and others likely to cause further problems for airlines.

The Queensland Premier has an election at the end of October, and has previously said that her state's borders would reopen on 10 July 2020. It's not yet clear if she will defer that date, or merely announce a ban on Victorians visiting, or Queenslanders going down to Melbourne/Victoria.

However today the NSW Health Minister said that rugby tickets wouldn't be sold to Victorians. They're a small group compared to Victorian AFL supporters but it still means less interstate travel.

WA Premier has doubled down on no border reopening yet.

No airline or medium sized or larger tourism enterprise can reopen instantly, so some will have been already planning (for instance) to increase staff given that Victorians are either the #1 or #2 source of interstate visitors and spending in the other states.

Fewer tourists means fewer posteriors on airline seats, and fewer pilots/cabin crew/ground staff (and head office staff!) required.

So QF plans to increase flights may turn out to be ahead of demand due to factors it cannot control, such as the incompetence of some State Premiers.

Certainty is what we all like if planning holidays. We lack that.

Business travellers may be more used to short notice trips, but these cannot occur if travel bans remain between states.

 

[jakeseven7]

The Queensland Premier has an election at the end of October, and has previously said that her state's borders would reopen on 10 July 2020. It's not yet clear if she will defer that debt, or merely announce a ban on Victorians visiting, or Queenslanders going down to Melbourne.

However today the NSW Health Minister said that rugby tickets wouldn't be sold to Victorians. They're a small group compared to Victorian AFL supporters but it still means less interstate travel.

QLD premier may well lose the election; the regional tourism heavy parts of QLD have basically aligned to vote her out and the opposition is mounting a campaign on opening borders saying the QLD gov is crushing the state's economy and should be working more closely with the national cabinet.

But she is happy to shell out $200M to VA2, but also at the same time create so much uncertainty they can't fly anywere.... great use of taxpayers money

RE: NSW I'm sure the 3 Victorians that watch their failing rugby league will be duly devasted.

But dragging it back on topic, of course all the border closures and patchwork openings will be causing the QF and VA2 reincarnation plans a headache, all airlines I suppose...

 

[eminere]

For those that'd like to read today's announcements direct from the source here are links to the Qantas Newsroom:

CEO speech – Qantas Group Post-COVID recovery plan
QANTAS GROUP ANNOUNCES POST-COVID RECOVERY PLAN AND EQUITY RAISING FOR A STRONGER FUTURE

 

[TheInsider]

The people who potentially lose their job, will have huge and everlasting changes on their life. I desperately hope they have enough emotional support to make it through this crisis. And financial planning support.

The people who aren't retrenched in this round will then wonder about the future without knowing whether their role will last until the reopening of the airline. Survivor guilt is real and needs to be appropriately managed.

Everybody in the airline will in emotional crisis and need support. Everybody from AJ to the lowest level employee in the back office will feel the emotional pain.

In terms of ground staff (above and below the wing), I'm quite sure there will be quite a few that will be more than happy to take this VR. Some have been hanging on for it for years.

 

[AIRwin]

But dragging it back on topic, of course all the border closures and patchwork openings will be causing the VA2 reincarnation plans a headache, all airlines I suppose...

The topic here is specifically QF not VA...

 

[BD1959]

Interesting couple of sentences on that "COVID PLAN" page:

"CEO speech – Qantas Group Post-COVID recovery plan
So our centenary year is, perhaps, a new beginning. The start of our ‘next century’.

And while we have to make some very painful decisions, we have to focus on that future.

We know that flying will return. Our people will be back in the skies. No aircraft will sit idle. And new ones will be arriving – including for more ultra long-haul flights. " (My highlighting)

This seems to fly (sorry) in the face of everything else being stated with respect to the response. I just found it very, very odd.

Regards,

BD

 

[p--and--t]

While the 6,000 reduction in staff is devastating for those involved, I am a bit surprised the figure isn't much much larger.

Many of the well known names in the industry overseas have announced reductions in staffing of 30-50%.

This announcement is only around 10-12% of Qantas staff.

I do realise many more are currently stood down. I think the airline is hopeful the Premiers will lift border restrictions soon and enable domestic traffic to recover so they can be brought back to work.

 

[moa999]

. And new ones will be arriving – including for more ultra long-haul flights. "

Well ultimately everyone will need new aircraft.

And QF still has planes under production.
There is a painted 789 on the Everett ramp ready for its first test flight and two more scheduled in coming months.

While these can be delayed for a while, they eventually will have to take delivery

 

[jakeseven7]

I do realise many more are currently stood down. I think the airline is hopeful the Premiers will lift border restrictions soon and enable domestic traffic to recover so they can be brought back to work.

That would require certain premiers having an IQ higher than their shoe size and this is yet to be determined

 

[lang_13]

Incorrect. Executive Traveller has an accurate summary of what he said:

Qantas to mothball all Airbus A380s until at least 2023

Alan Joyce says the mighty superjumbo is likely to stay grounded "for at least three years."

www.executivetraveller.com

Maybe they’ve updated article - from ET

“All Airbus A380s will be grounded “for at least three years”, Joyce revealed, with most international flights not expected to restart until mid-2021 and the Boeing 787 becoming the workhorse of that fleet.”

 

[JackMiles]

Look, I know nobody saw CV19 coming and I know this is a well-worn gripe, but this seems to me to be a striking example of the nonsense and self-serving nature of most share buy-back schemes. What a pity they didn't just hold on to that cash for a virusy day, eh?
QAN's Final Share Buy Back Notice was only last November (I realise the money was not all spent immediately before the Notice), and the figures therein show they paid an average of $5.56 per share, which shares they are now effectively selling for $3.65. Great work, guys!
As every good stockbroker will tell you; buy high and sell low!

 

[Melburnian1]

In terms of ground staff (above and below the wing), I'm quite sure there will be quite a few that will be more than happy to take this VR. Some have been hanging on for it for years.

While they were government organisations, which was once a long time ago the case for QF, that was the general experience when railways have had large scale redundancies in the past.

25-30 years ago, one friend who worked for what was at the time VicRail couldn't wait to get out. He received a handsome payout, and while sombre at the time, within a year he was happy he'd taken 'the package.'

One problem with voluntary redundancies may be that (counter intuitively) 'the best and brightest' decide to leave, but not those who are not great at pulling their weight.

Subscribing to the Hvr view that 'all need support' is fallacious. Some will, but others take almost all events that life's curved ball throws in their stride, momentarily feeling sad but very quickly moving on. Others may be even ebullient as TheInsider suggests.

 

[TheInsider]

One problem with voluntary redundancies may be that (counter intuitively) 'the best and brightest' decide to leave, but not those who are not great at pulling their weight.

That's the thing with the airline industry, especially with Qantas.
The duds will stay on because they know deep down they will never be able to find another job elsewhere.