Qantas reports $1.9bn loss - plans $400m buyback, COVID losses tally $7b

[moa999]

Or probably the billions that Virgin got by going into administration and cancelling onerous contracts including aircraft leases.

The relative position to the competition is always important.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QANTAS received money from the government to keep paying workers and to break even on repatriation flights, not all the other expenses that were still incurred.

IIRC QF made a significant profit on repatriation flights? These should have been cost zero IMO, being taxpayer funded.

 

[mviy]

I think the government funding would have been to guarantee they at least broke even, so they would only need to pay up if they made a loss on the flight. Though not sure on that.

 

[SYD]

IIRC QF made a significant profit on repatriation flights? These should have been cost zero IMO, being taxpayer funded.

Plenty of companies provide services to the CoA (tax payer funded) and do so at a reasonable profit. If anything, the unknown risks of operating those flights with quick turnarounds (same crew) warranted a premium.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Plenty of companies provide services to the CoA (tax payer funded) and do so at a reasonable profit. If anything, the unknown risks of operating those flights with quick turnarounds (same crew) warranted a premium.

Not disputing that… and all fine if through a competitive tender. Not sure the QF flights were subject to tender, and were even necessary on many routes where other airlines continued to fly. We are only just starting to find out that perhaps things weren’t as transparent as they should have been during covid

 

[SYD]

Not disputing that… and all fine if through a competitive tender. Not sure the QF flights were subject to tender, and were even necessary on many routes where other airlines continued to fly. We are only just starting to find out that perhaps things weren’t as transparent as they should have been during covid

VA was hardly in a position to compete and offer long haul repatriation charter flights.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

VA was hardly in a position to compete and offer long haul repatriation charter flights.

No, but there were several foreign airlines with mountains of spare capacity. Instead of chartering QF jets we could have upped the caps on those flights already coming in, for free. Charters might have been required for one or two places where there were no commercial flights operating, but those too could have been out out to tender to include international companies. Without transparency we don’t know if we got VFM.

 

[SYD]

No, but there were several foreign airlines with mountains of spare capacity. Instead of chartering QF jets we could have upped the caps on those flights already coming in, for free.

For free? They’re the airlines that we’re dumping anyone not on a full fare J ticket.

Without transparency we don’t know if we got VFM.

VFM went out the window early on. That argument and bureaucratic process would have added months of delay to the thousands stranded overseas.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

For free? They’re the airlines that we’re dumping anyone not on a full fare J ticket.

VFM went out the window early on. That argument and bureaucratic process would have added months of delay to the thousands stranded overseas.

Agree… but that was down to the caps. The seats/spaces made available to the charter flights could have been easily resolved, at no cost, by upping the caps on the flights operating. Could have saved the tax payer how many millions of dollars that went on chartering QF jets?

 

[coriander]

Alan Joyce, the man who wasn’t there

The Qantas CEO is just another monopolist, staying at the front of the field and slowing his competitors down.

www.afr.com

 

[mviy]

Agree… but that was down to the caps. The seats/spaces made available to the charter flights could have been easily resolved, at no cost, by upping the caps on the flights operating. Could have saved the tax payer how many millions of dollars that went on chartering QF jets?

However the states didn’t want to risk an outbreak and kept limited caps in place and the Feds supported this by funding lockdown support rather than telling the states our Federal health advice is the lockdown should end so we won’t fund any more support. If the Feds had done that they could have seen how long the lockdown remained in place when the states had to pay for all of the financial support not just some.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

However the states didn’t want to risk an outbreak and kept limited caps in place and the Feds supported this by funding lockdown support rather than telling the states our Federal health advice is the lockdown should end so we won’t fund any more support. If the Feds had done that they could have seen how long the lockdown remained in place when the states had to pay for all of the financial support not just some.

An alternative to Qantas jets flying to London empty and returning with 200 passengers would have been to accommodate passengers from all over Europe on Singapore airlines flights and have them transfer to a smaller plane in Singapore to take them direct to quarantine facilities in Darwin.

That might have been significantly cheaper but we won't know unless there was a transparent tender process.

 

[RooFlyer]

Alan Joyce, the man who wasn’t there

The Qantas CEO is just another monopolist, staying at the front of the field and slowing his competitors down.

www.afr.com

Paywalled, but I googled the headline. What a take-down; some issues there I wasn't aware of (where Joyce delegated his authority for the decision to a subordinate to sack the baggage handlers - hence "the man who wasn't there").

 

[openseat]

Alan Joyce, the man who wasn’t there

The Qantas CEO is just another monopolist, staying at the front of the field and slowing his competitors down.

www.afr.com

Oof. That piece doesn't pull any punches. One wonders if the large shareholders are thinking something similar.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

...(where Joyce delegated his authority for the decision to a subordinate to sack the baggage handlers - hence "the man who wasn't there").

Very cunning and very smart.
Guess that is why he got paid so much.
But he will never be held accountable, because that is what businesses do. ie, to outsource non core activities.

 

[RooFlyer]

But he will never be held accountable, because that is what businesses do. ie, to outsource non core activities.

Well, I would have thought getting people's baggage to the same place as the pax was a core activity, but then, I don't run an airline.

 

[RichardMEL]

So wait.. was Joyce claiming the government by apparently NOT giving much assistance was not "match fit"? Asking for a friend...

back, briefly, to the compulsary acquisitions / small parcels.. sure, I've had that happen in rare occasions.. but as noted this is for usually small companies, or for orphans created and/or with takeovers. My point was more that in this case Poochie's fears are unfounded as this is an on market buyback AND QF is too big a company for this kind of thing (not saying it's impossible to ever happen, but pretty unlikely imo).

and yes, I would prefer QF either reinvest in the company and/or pay down debt, but I suspect this is a deliberate strategy as noted a few pages back.