Alan Joyce flies to Melbourne to discuss Qantas HQ and maintenance relocation to Victoria

[jakeseven7]

Joyce, Andrews meet over plan for Qantas to call Melbourne home​

Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have met to discuss moving the airline's headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, potentially bringing 5000 jobs to the state as it starts its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Joyce travelled to Melbourne on Wednesday - two days after the border with NSW reopened - to meet the Victorian premier to discuss a relocation of Qantas' head office staff according to sources familiar with the meeting.

The pair also discussed restarting Victoria's tourism sector and how to increase flights in and out of the state, the sources said.

Qantas employs around 5000 staff in Sydney that could potentially shift to Melbourne.

Mr Joyce also toured Melbourne Airport on Wednesday to scout out potential locations for Qantas' operations. Qantas has said it is looking to move its Brisbane-based heavy aircraft maintenance facilities, which employ 750 workers, as well as its flight training simulators currently based in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Andrews, whose government this week unveiled a $49 billion budget spending spree to create 400,000 jobs over the next five years and drag it out of its COVID-19 recession, said in September he would pitch aggressively for Qantas to call Victoria home.

Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi said he was proud to be contributing to Victoria’s efforts to lure Qantas south.

“We think there's a really strong proposition that would be incredibly hard to match anywhere else,” Mr Strambi said. “The most recent commitments to airport rail underscore just how highly Victoria values aviation.”

Joyce, Andrews meet over plan for Qantas to call Melbourne home

Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have met to discuss moving the airline's headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, potentially bringing 5000 jobs to the state.

www.smh.com.au

Qantas in talks with Andrews on Melbourne move

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the government is in talks with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce on a potential move to Melbourne which could bring up to 5000 jobs to the state.

www.afr.com

Joyce in talks with Andrews to shift Qantas to Melbourne, say reports

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has visited Melbourne to hold talks with Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews over moving the airline's base, say reports.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[OZDUCK]

Joyce, Andrews meet over plan for Qantas to call Melbourne home​

Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have met to discuss moving the airline's headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, potentially bringing 5000 jobs to the state as it starts its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Joyce travelled to Melbourne on Wednesday - two days after the border with NSW reopened - to meet the Victorian premier to discuss a relocation of Qantas' head office staff according to sources familiar with the meeting.

The pair also discussed restarting Victoria's tourism sector and how to increase flights in and out of the state, the sources said.

Qantas employs around 5000 staff in Sydney that could potentially shift to Melbourne.

Mr Joyce also toured Melbourne Airport on Wednesday to scout out potential locations for Qantas' operations. Qantas has said it is looking to move its Brisbane-based heavy aircraft maintenance facilities, which employ 750 workers, as well as its flight training simulators currently based in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Andrews, whose government this week unveiled a $49 billion budget spending spree to create 400,000 jobs over the next five years and drag it out of its COVID-19 recession, said in September he would pitch aggressively for Qantas to call Victoria home.

Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi said he was proud to be contributing to Victoria’s efforts to lure Qantas south.

“We think there's a really strong proposition that would be incredibly hard to match anywhere else,” Mr Strambi said. “The most recent commitments to airport rail underscore just how highly Victoria values aviation.”

Joyce, Andrews meet over plan for Qantas to call Melbourne home

Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have met to discuss moving the airline's headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, potentially bringing 5000 jobs to the state.

www.smh.com.au

Qantas in talks with Andrews on Melbourne move

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the government is in talks with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce on a potential move to Melbourne which could bring up to 5000 jobs to the state.

www.afr.com

Joyce in talks with Andrews to shift Qantas to Melbourne, say reports

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has visited Melbourne to hold talks with Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews over moving the airline's base, say reports.

australianaviation.com.au

I have no real knowledge about this matter so, naturally, I will offer a suggestion. I assume that this is another attempt to start a bidding war between the states.

 

[jakeseven7]

I have no real knowledge about this matter so, naturally, I will offer a suggestion. I assume that this is another attempt to start a bidding war between the states.

Yup probably but it’s not unheard of that companies move their offices.

Only Melbourne and Sydney really have a shot.

Melbourne actually has a lot of big pluses over Sydney.

 

[jase05]

Interesting. I thought they might move more of their business out to SWZ when it’s completed as that will end up being the major freight hub of Australia but no reason why HQ can’t be in Melbourne

 

[milehighclub]

I've got my theories below from another thread as to what will happen but in regards to this meeting, I suspect it would've been about keeping JQ in MEL.

This is my guess on what will happen:

- HQ to remain at Mascot. That facility is simply amazing and provides everything any company could want - especially an airline. It is close to everything that they need to be close too and anyone can be on a flight in as little as 20 minutes if required. They also have that power plant they built to power HQ and T3 (at some point). They also are able to provide adequate parking for not just office staff, but anyone who requires to be at either terminal. They even make honey for first class there!

- Sims could end up anywhere as they have to be moved because of the road works that will take place but again I think it will remain in SYD because the majority of pilots are based there and you add costs if you have to overnight pilots all year long.

- Engineering to remain in BNE but would place MEL as the only other contender.

- JQ to move to Sydney. There is enough room at HQ for them to be accommodated not to mention the facilities that could be shared by both airlines (meeting rooms, press rooms, crisis centre etc).

 

[Gold Member]

Surprised Joyce even knows where Melbourne is let alone how to get there.

 

[TheInsider]

I honestly believe that MEL would be quite close at getting the QF offices, and would also quite confidently say that the offices would be at Tullamarine.

 

[sudoer]

Really just posturing to get some money out of the NSW gov.

I suspect Joyce will get what he wants too. A significant portion of the Mascot business precinct is built around Qantas HQ's existence so there's more than 5000 jobs at stake.

 

[Melburnian1]

I honestly believe that MEL would be quite close at getting the QF offices, and would also quite confidently say that the offices would be at Tullamarine.

Apart from the huge debt that Victoria's state government is getting into - way beyond NSW - what about the dislocation of QF office staff having to shift residence from one state to another? This has big costs, irrespective as to whether individuals own their house/apartment or rent. Employers "may" pay some costs but perhaps not all. Many people don't like switching states if they can avoid it as for their children, it means transferring schools. The NSW and Victorian curriculua would not be identical.

Granted, some staff might choose to 'fly in fly out' on a weekly basis but that means that (assuming the person has a family), one key member (most often the male) is frequently away from home. If there's a sudden crisis at work, they then are away even more than expected.

And while as a lifelong Melburnian I love the variable weather, including cool to cold winters (although not as severe as Europe's), that's not a view shared by many Sydneysiders who refer to Melbourne in disparaging terms.

Much of the financial world remains in Sydney. Mr Joyce as a promoter of us travelling would be the last to consider that WebEx meetings were a good substitute for meeting investors/bankers/airport operators.

If the offices were to be at Tullamarine, it's not exactly surrounded by Melbourne's 'better suburbs' where management would want to live if they had to shift states. And there's no rail line yet to make commuting cheaper.

I'm sure Joyce wants to extract more grants/concessions to keep JQ HO in Melbourne and QF HO in Sydney.

 

[antycbr]

Alan is looking at VA and their $200 million funded by the Queensland Government credit card and quite rightly wondering where his $600 million is (to reflect QF Group's much larger size)...

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Alan is looking at VA and their $200 million funded by the Queensland Government credit card and quite rightly wondering where his $600 million is (to reflect QF Group's much larger size)...

Bain’s Qld credit card apparently has a 7% interest charge and a limit of $180m. Well that’s the rate of return being claimed by Qld Government press release - plus speculative reporting that $20m got 2% stake

 

[jb747]

I guess we could take bets.

I'm perpetually amazed by the size of management 'tail' on QF. Of that 5,000, I wonder how many could simply be removed? All of HR for a start.

 

[TheInsider]

I guess we could take bets.

I'm perpetually amazed by the size of management 'tail' on QF. Of that 5,000, I wonder how many could simply be removed? All of HR for a start.

Well just for a customer service agent, there is about 8 levels of management until Joyce. That's not including all the 'made' up roles and their management.

 

[jb747]

That's not including all the 'made' up roles and their management.

Probably be quite an efficient airline if we could just get rid of that bunch. Amazing how (and this applies to many businesses), these made up roles slowly displace real roles. You outsource engineering, whilst employing office dwellers. I'm sure the noise of the aircraft was upsetting to them.

As for governments, getting involved in these games is silly. You spend what are now scarce public funds. The jobs never live up to the claims.

 

[RichardMEL]

I agree with sudoer - this is almost certainly to put pressure on NSW to get more out of them. I would be shocked if QF HQ leaves Sydney. Chances are it moves from Mascot to near Badgery's Creek more than to MEL. Yes JQ is here, but I don't think that has a lot to do with it. This is about putting pressure on NSW IMO.

 

[Bundy Bear]

I would expect Jetstar to move from Melbourne to Badgery's Creek in about 6-8 years.

I am sure Qantas will move some jobs to Badgery's creek because the land is going to be cheap but head office will stay at Mascot.

 

[Robert K]

moving to Melbourne would be a good way to cull the legacy contracts of the workforce.

 

[muppet]

moving to Melbourne would be a good way to cull the legacy contracts of the workforce.

True, but as one of the world’s most profitable airlines .... surely some of those staff have some qualities worth paying for ....

 

[Carrots]

True, but as one of the world’s most profitable airlines .... surely some of those staff have some qualities worth paying for ....

You'd think so, but the bottom line speaks louder in the short term

 

[RAM]

Apart from the huge debt that Victoria's state government is getting into - way beyond NSW - what about the dislocation of QF office staff having to shift residence from one state to another? This has big costs, irrespective as to whether individuals own their house/apartment or rent. Employers "may" pay some costs but perhaps not all. Many people don't like switching states if they can avoid it as for their children, it means transferring schools. The NSW and Victorian curriculua would not be identical.

Granted, some staff might choose to 'fly in fly out' on a weekly basis but that means that (assuming the person has a family), one key member (most often the male) is frequently away from home. If there's a sudden crisis at work, they then are away even more than expected.

And while as a lifelong Melburnian I love the variable weather, including cool to cold winters (although not as severe as Europe's), that's not a view shared by many Sydneysiders who refer to Melbourne in disparaging terms.

Much of the financial world remains in Sydney. Mr Joyce as a promoter of us travelling would be the last to consider that WebEx meetings were a good substitute for meeting investors/bankers/airport operators.

If the offices were to be at Tullamarine, it's not exactly surrounded by Melbourne's 'better suburbs' where management would want to live if they had to shift states. And there's no rail line yet to make commuting cheaper.

I'm sure Joyce wants to extract more grants/concessions to keep JQ HO in Melbourne and QF HO in Sydney.

There is one slight sticking point for AJ's shameless 'show me the money'. A long term lease on a purpose-renovated HQ at Mascot, 47,000 sqm in fact.

Q has been trying to sub lease around 20,000 sqm of this for months wiht no success. Given how many staff are scheduled to be laid off (if Q can get its hands on all the cash required to actually payout their entitlements) - that explained a large amount of the 20,000 sqm of space.

Trouble is though if you get a very purpose built (& expensive) fitout - they often don't appeal to anybody else. With working from home being too successful (seeing quite a few companies offering it for post-CV due to the savings on expensive space, cleaning, power...) it makes the likelihood of Q finding somebody to take its 47,000 sqm Sydney HQ pretty low. One thing for sure - the Victorian Govt is not in a position to move Victorian public servants into them are they?

Whether this is part of a more elaborate ploy such as:

• encouraging some more HO staff to take VO.
• take headlines away from the now free to fight VA MkII
• remove some of the focus about Q's plans to outsoure another 2,000 jobs
• remove the focus from Q's parlous financial position

Who knows.

Q has around 2,000,000 sqm of leased space around the world, 90% on airport which for 98% of its international leased space (other than its US heavy maintenance base) is all cost & zero benefit.

AJ presenting a 'move or resign' ultimatum to long term Q staff would not surprise many at Q - so this is not a 0% event - but let's just hope the NSW Govt has more backbone & does not get pulled into subsidising Q with taxpayers' money. After all - imagine the benefit from 4,000 fewer vehicles heading to Sydney Airport in the morning!