Qantas cutting domestic capacity by 5%

[justinbrett]

It's not strict-strict, I've got a colleague booked to arrive on QF12 connecting onto 1431 (the 1:40 connection) on a single ticket next week.

There might have been leeway to book that connection from the call centre given the cancellation of the original connecting flight and the horrid wait time until the next one after 1431.

I'm on the same flight pair but my SYD-CBR is a separate ticket so I had problems changing that.

If we miss our connecting flight we'll probably just hire a car and drive back to Canberra rather than wait for the next flight 5 hours later.

I’m not sure if there’s an exception for CBR but I had a 1:45 connection to OOL that has now blown out to 5+ hours as it’s no longer legal. It was legal when it was booked.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

My employer (large asx) is pushing the less travel card. No Policy as such, just continued comments around waste and is the trip even worth it, these comments came from the CEO on a recent town hall. You would be surprised how much some companies spend by having certain people travelling around the place just to showcase their ego. I do can without those visits from these people to my office!

Similar story at mine, a large US tech company. My partner works for a mid-sized AU-based subsidiary of a Japanese conglomerate and they've formally pulled back only to essential travel. They also enslave themselves to Qantas despite having no exclusive corporate contract with them and paying the premium, which apparently will now be even higher. Make it make sense.

There's nothing more delightful than "leaders" travelling around the world on corporate junkets to give buzzword-laden lectures to the masses about responsible travel spend. A tale as old as the Corporations Act, now modernly seasoned with AI slop.

 

[PERLHR]

My employer (large asx) is pushing the less travel card. No Policy as such, just continued comments around waste and is the trip even worth it, these comments came from the CEO on a recent town hall. You would be surprised how much some companies spend by having certain people travelling around the place just to showcase their ego. I do can without those visits from these people to my office!

Can't agree more. I remember when in the UK we had over many years some form of travel restriction and even bans (so it's nothing new), but somehow head quarters/ office individuals always seemed to be arriving just to disrupt our working day(s). As far as inter state goes I often don't see the point of wasted days travel, time differences sometimes as much as the flight itself and what really needs to be done F2F compared to a teams call...(Unless the travel is for say 5 days consecutive work). My other half now just travels away on a Sunday to work destination for a couple of days of meetings. She seems to have lost the reality check that Sunday is actually part of weekend that she is not paid for to be travelling for work!
As for the reduction in routes/timetables etc...i see it as simply something the airlines are doing on thin or multiple routes where they can use fuel costs as an excuse to stop/reduce/amalgamate without bad press!

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

As for the reduction in routes/timetables etc...i see it as simply something the airlines are doing on thin or multiple routes where they can use fuel costs as an excuse to stop/reduce/amalgamate without bad press!

And of course raise fares. As this thread has noted, demand is down as both consumer and business confidence plummets, so restricting demand is a great way to help push those fares up even higher, while also setting the stage for shareholders re: yields, "efficiency", "right-sizing", etc.

I get it. Fuel is very expensive which rationally necessitates higher costs and justifies reductions as demand falls. I also get that this is a company that is very good at using bad circumstances to exploit them even further for its own gain. "Never waste a crisis." Good for shareholders; bad for everyone else.

 

[Quickstatus]

Frequent flyer status extension/retension?

so restricting demand is a great way to help push those fares up even higher, while also setting the stage for shareholders re: yields, "efficiency", "right-sizing", etc.

Stay profitable by cutting as much costs as possible

 

[Laptop Jockey]

I've noticed a lot of flights getting the aircraft scaled down too, Dash 8s on routes normally 737/A220, 737s in lieu of A330 etc. presumably because of lower fuel burn and maximising Loadout.
Just had a bunch of CBR-MEL flights changed to dash 8s which is a pain due to the restrictions,.

 

[Rabs97]

Perhaps QF believes the reductions in routes/frequencies will only be temporary, and presumably it needs staff (flight deck/cabin and others) to operate Project Sunrise, but it's a bit surprising it hasn't announced redundancies or incentives to retire/resign.

A five per cent cut to domestic flying is significant.

You only make redundancies if there’s a long term forecasted drop in flying. Redundancy payouts are usually 12-18 months, so you need to ensure that the forecasted drop in flying is going to go on much longer than that to justify redundancy packages.

This war started on Feb 28 and not even 6 weeks later is closer to the end than the start. Within a week or two there should be a longer ceasefire and an agreement to restart oil flow through Hormuz. It may take 2-3 months for fuel shipments to get back into place, and for oil prices to drop to pre war levels.

Also give it a few months post war and people would’ve probably forgotten about the attacks on Dubai and Qatar, and start rebooking on QR and EK. Whilst international performance may be strong for this northern summer it’s very unlikely to continue after that.

So by August the war may be over and the industry may return to a pre war state. You don’t make staff redundant now if you need them in 4 months time. To recruit, hire and train a pilot alone takes 8-10 months. The last thing they want is to be caught short like after Covid, the so called V shaped recovery

 

[Himeno]

I've noticed a lot of flights getting the aircraft scaled down too, Dash 8s on routes normally 737/A220, 737s in lieu of A330 etc. presumably because of lower fuel burn and maximising Loadout.
Just had a bunch of CBR-MEL flights changed to dash 8s which is a pain due to the restrictions,.

I had a dash 8 on BNE-CBR before (QF2567, Nov 2013). I hope that doesn't happen again.

I've also had a dash 8 on CBR-MEL at some point (also had a 767 once on that route, but mostly 717s and A220s)

 

[Quickstatus]

Before redundancies. Encouraging staff to take paid leave, then unpaid leave, then standing down workers is the usual path before termination.

When Qantas workers were stood down during Covid, they still had employment when work became available but they could not access sick leave

 

[Saab34]

New Hires might be dropped if they have barely or not started training, those on the verge of retirement might be pushed a bit sooner. Recruitment likely put on hold for a period also. That is more for ME based carriers who don’t have labour laws as tight as here.

Qantas has many pilots it can keep drawing from its academy, the great thing about that program is it’s not internal anymore, so they can pull people from the pool as they wish, and turn the tap off if required. The provider is FTA who still makes a profit by pumping graduates out, the student pilots still rack up a huge debt, and the airline can go fishing whenever it pleases without carrying what was in prior programs, cadets on the payroll.

I am fairly sure it was the the QF group is still short of pilots in its subsidiaries so cutting capacity wont likely impact the current pool of pilots.

 

[clifford]

This is all good banter, but surely what Qantas is really doing is to conserve fuel (with a few side benefits). If it can't guarantee fuel supplies after mid-May, then all bets are off.

 

[Melburnian1]

You only make redundancies if there’s a long term forecasted drop in flying. Redundancy payouts are usually 12-18 months, so you need to ensure that the forecasted drop in flying is going to go on much longer than that to justify redundancy packages.

This war started on Feb 28 and not even 6 weeks later is closer to the end than the start. Within a week or two there should be a longer ceasefire and an agreement to restart oil flow through Hormuz. It may take 2-3 months for fuel shipments to get back into place, and for oil prices to drop to pre war levels.

Also give it a few months post war and people would’ve probably forgotten about the attacks on Dubai and Qatar, and start rebooking on QR and EK. Whilst international performance may be strong for this northern summer it’s very unlikely to continue after that.

So by August the war may be over and the industry may return to a pre war state. You don’t make staff redundant now if you need them in 4 months time. To recruit, hire and train a pilot alone takes 8-10 months. The last thing they want is to be caught short like after Covid, the so called V shaped recovery

I don't share your optimism about a longer ceasefire coming within a week or two.

 

[Quickstatus]

but surely what Qantas is really doing is to conserve fuel

The other explanation is that forward airline bookings have collapsed reduced or expected to reduce, rather than an altruistic attempt at fuel conservation. Qantas does not store jetfuel.