Qantas slashing jobs and possibly selling FF program?

[Limewood]

Yeah, it's in the Sunday Age as well.

What a load of croc, just more rhetoric, sorry Al the Gov't and public are not listening. The learned members here on AFF have told you what to do, so we expect some big changes very soon

 

[jetlagger]

What a load of croc, just more rhetoric, sorry Al the Gov't and public are not listening. The learned members here on AFF have told you what to do, so we expect some big changes very soon

It was in the Sunday Mail in QLD. as well.
What a waste of money & print page. :-|

 

[codash1099]

It's easy from opposition:

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen flags government stake as possible option for Qantas assistance - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Flashback]

So did Ansett with that song.

We still call New Zealand home.....?

 

[samh004]

From the latest posts, I'm sure Qantas would still rather call Australia home, but then their competition in Australia should also do the same. I think Qantas would still be "Australian" even if they had over 50% foreign investment.

 

[Sojourner]

"Corporate raider Greg Woolley is leading a consortium of investors who plan to approach Qantas Airways and the federal government with a plan to buy the airline’s planes in a deal that could be worth more than $5 billion.
Mr Woolley, a former Macquarie banker who was part of a failed bid for the airline in 2006, has $1 billion committed from Australian and foreign investors and several billion dollars available in debt.
He plans to approach the beleaguered national icon and the government and offer to buy a large portion of the Qantas fleet, which would be leased back to the company. The federal government would guarantee the lease payments to his consortium."


I gotta say, if the government signs up to this proposal, it would be getting ripped off. If the government had to effectively go guarantor on QF's lease payments, then basically it becomes a risk free proposal from Greg Woolley and his band of raiders. Stump up some cash to buy the planes, lease it back QF for earnings that are effectively risk free.

What a joke that someone can come up with this kind of proposal and think he can succeed. What an even bigger joke that I can actually imagine Abbott signing up to it.

 

[eastwest101]

I gotta say, if the government signs up to this proposal, it would be getting ripped off. If the government had to effectively go guarantor on QF's lease payments, then basically it becomes a risk free proposal from Greg Woolley and his band of raiders. Stump up some cash to buy the planes, lease it back QF for earnings that are effectively risk free.

What a joke that someone can come up with this kind of proposal and think he can succeed. What an even bigger joke that I can actually imagine Abbott signing up to it.

Yes they must think people have not learned from the past failures of privatisation/PPP screw ups. I don't think politicians from either major party would agree to this either, unless they came down in the last shower - it would effectively be a risk free socialize the losses/privatise the profits Macquarie special, with massive government interference in capital markets. The proposal also seemed to imply some sort of preferantial deal where upon failure of QF and or JQ, the taxpayer would pick up the shortfall and the aircraft would be leased to any future operators with leasing rates locked in. This would essentially mean than all operators regardless of profitability and identity would be essentially working the assets to pay for the lease payments to Macquarie, i.e. a "Claytons aircraft leasing" monopoly where heads means that Macquarie wins and tails means that Mac wins... the millionaires factory all over again...

Rent seeking behavior everywhere at the moment - will be interesting to see how all Federal and State Governments of all political persuasions respond to this in the future.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I'm not for a second suggesting that none of these issues are of QF's own making, however you have an airline caught up in a parochial trading environment a la Qantas Sale Act which limits their ability to raise capital from outside Aus, plus some truly ridiculous industrial agreements which offer overly generous working conditions to those on grandfathered agreements which are costing the airline a fortune. Add to that the fact that most major foreign airlines are government owned, and it makes for an unfair playing field.

VA has been fortunate as a start-up with no government restrictions, majority foreign (and therefore government) owned, no archaic union agreements to navigate, and no restrictions on capital raising, yet gets to put an Aussie flag on their fuselage.

There are things they can certainly do much better, but there are a lot of them which are out of their control.

 

[amaroo]

I'm not for a second suggesting that none of these issues are of QF's own making, however you have an airline caught up in a parochial trading environment a la Qantas Sale Act which limits their ability to raise capital from outside Aus, plus some truly ridiculous industrial agreements which offer overly generous working conditions to those on grandfathered agreements which are costing the airline a fortune. Add to that the fact that most major foreign airlines are government owned, and it makes for an unfair playing field.

VA has been fortunate as a start-up with no government restrictions, majority foreign (and therefore government) owned, no archaic union agreements to navigate, and no restrictions on capital raising, yet gets to put an Aussie flag on their fuselage.

There are things they can certainly do much better, but there are a lot of them which are out of their control.

Careful - this is not the thread for logic and common sense.......

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Careful - this is not the thread for logic and common sense.......

Have to agree with this. There has been some pretty incredible posts on this thread.

 

[Awesom Andy]

If the consortium decides to buy all those 747s and old 767s, it can't be a bad thing? I can't imagine there's much of a 2nd hand market left for those types.

 

[Must...Fly!]

If the consortium decides to buy all those 747s and old 767s, it can't be a bad thing? I can't imagine there's much of a 2nd hand market left for those types.

Private equity buy outs only ever favour one party in the long run...can't see how that would be the case, as nice as it would be for QF...

 

[VHOEJ]

As a QF employee, I have to say the latest marketing campaign is pointless..........and a waste of money. Again, everyone else is told to cut costs but marketing can spend millions on campaigns that do nothing.

 

[Ansett]

As a QF employee, I have to say the latest marketing campaign is pointless..........and a waste of money. Again, everyone else is told to cut costs but marketing can spend millions on campaigns that do nothing.

Some cost cutting is only serving to devalue the airline in my opinion, especially things like the cafe breakfast in business, the new amenity packs that now seem cheap when compared to other airlines i.e. Emirates.

I believe, and its only my opinion, that this drop in product offerings is not helping to attract and maintain premium passengers, myslef included with 3 flights booked on alternative airlines next year thus far.

The price difference between QF and other Full service reputable airlines is too much and is also another reason for people moving else where.

The constant warnings from AJ that QF could go under surely is also not helping the airline, how many people have changed travel plans due to uncertainty as to whether QF will be around when they come to take the flight that they booked.

To me what is needed for QF to be great again is,

1) Management to acknowledge issues and provide REAL plans and initiatives that are measureable to resolve said issues.

2) Detract from the constant negative media campaigns and issue good news stories ie QF ........... struggling to think at the moment

3) Bring back value and quality offerings to all cabins, cost cutting in service and things like ammenity packs only serves as a negative impression.

4) Reinstate some code share flights from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok to Europe to attract back passengers based in those regions,

5) Introduce new innitiatives such as allowing ASA's on other one world airlines and key partners so that those based in Asia in particular have more choice and ability to utilise the points earned.

6) Re invest back into QF rather then sending the money offshore to ventures that are not proven such as Jetstar Japan, Hong Kong etc. Business 101 tells you trying to expand in a difficult market is not wise when the core business that is used to support that growth is bleeding. Lets get back to QF core businesses and get them right first. This may well mean selling off Jetstar.

7) Give QF the 787's so that it can operate more competitively and be more profitable.


I agree that there are a lot of issues that was not of AJ's doing however his failure to return QF to its greatness is something he and the board need to take responsability for. Its time to move on AJ and allow some one with experience and the ability to run a premium airline to get in and fix this mess up. It is not the governments and or tax payers job to bail out an airline that has been poorly run for a number of years now.

 

[Flashback]

If you want to see what poor amenity kits are like come try Air France, Lufthansa, United etc.

 

[Ansett]

If you want to see what poor amenity kits are like come try Air France, Lufthansa, United etc.

I agree that there are worse ones however my point was more refering to the cost cutting and lowering of standards especially in the premium cabins

 

[DaveB]

Capital intensive companies have never had it so good with the historic low interest rates that surely will change once (if ever) the EU and US wind back the QE market tampering. Fuel prices have also been relatively stable in recent years. The October passenger figures showed only a minor 1.3% YTD drop with 2013 so ticket pricing must have fallen dramatically which they should have known by the November AGM.
Qantas is not a major bank and doesn't deserve to be bailed out. The likely necessary watering down on foreign ownership should also involve a relaxing of routes access.
No company can turn around without clear direction and leadership sincerely involving staff in the process. QF management seemingly has zero goodwill and changes must be made from being so reliant on bean counters and spin.

 

[OATEK]

"4) Reinstate some code share flights from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok to Europe to attract back passengers based in those regions"

I think I hear more from fellow travellers about the lack of connection through Asia than anything else. I am now looking more at CX/BA options though HKG, my preferred route, than DXB with QF. And you can pick up an A380 with BA, or the excellent 777 with CX for the long leg.

I hear that is quite easy to pickup last minute flights via QF9, because they are having trouble filling it. We could soon be down to one QF metal flight into LHR, whereas a year or so ago there were at least three from SIN and one to/from HKG. I hear all the arguments about yield, but surely getting pax to fly with you is a precursor, and they must be down on the numbers via DXB as opposed to via SIN!

 

[Ansett]

I think I hear more from fellow travellers about the lack of connection through Asia than anything else. I am now looking more at CX/BA options though HKG, my preferred route, than DXB with QF. And you can pick up an A380 with BA, or the excellent 777 with CX for the long leg.

I hear that is quite easy to pickup last minute flights via QF9, because they are having trouble filling it. We could soon be down to one QF metal flight into LHR, whereas a year or so ago there were at least three from SIN and one to/from HKG. I hear all the arguments about yield, but surely getting pax to fly with you is a precursor, and they must be down on the numbers via DXB as opposed to via SIN!

I agree with you I prefer going Via Asia hence 3 flights on SQ already booked. I still cant understand why they completely dropped Asia for QFi onto Europe (yes I am aware of the EK Agreement ) I for one would have thought atleast one flight per day or every other day and code sharing with other OW partners would be appropiate.

Why on earth would you fly QF to SIN, HKK or BKK then not be able to conect onto a QF flight number, code share or not, when you could choose a multitude of airlines that offer a completely truely seemless travel experience and earn and burn points at good rates?

I still believe that QF have made a BIG mistake dropping Asia the way they have

 

[777]

The difference between now, a year ago and five years ago: Corporate raiders are still circling Qantas but now they want a government guarantee before they will touch it.