I am sure QF were appropriately remunerated.
QF would have charged its normal price for a charter that doubtless includes a premium, but the overnight delay to QF27/QF28 (departure of the former said to occur on Monday 17 July at 1030 hours, 22 hours late) may well have more than cancelled out any monetary gain from the special working to and from HNL. As a side issue, delaying a major longhaul flight (and its return) for almost a day annoys paying passengers (some of whom to a destination like South America will be on the 'trip of a lifetime') and results in missed connections or a 'lost' hotel booking that due to travel insurance typical excesses of A$100 or A$200 cannot be claimed. As Flyerqf pointed out above it may also result in flight crew having insufficient rest in SCL prior to crewing the Tuesday 18 QF28 back from SCL to SYD, perhaps resulting in a further delay.
Very few transport operators worldwide, surface or air, regard having 100 per cent of equipment or rollingstock in use on a particular day as wise, because apart from deferring maintenance, it leaves no room for failures.
There is an element of greed in using every available (in this case) aircraft of a particular class because it is unrealistic to expect that there will not be an unexpected delay or failure.
Mr Joyce should be concentrating on trying to minimise these disastrous, repeated delays - the last couple of days has seen many QFi flights badly late or in some cases (QF5/QF6 SYD - SIN and return) cancelled - rather than attempting to foist his social policy change ideas on Australians.
While the disposal of the two B744s occurred some time ago, QF failed to heed the advice offered by AFFers such as JohnPhelan to keep them to ensure it had some spares. This would not completely eliminate delays - if a B744 fails in JNB or SCL there would not normally be a spare based there - but it would have reduced the extent and severity of delays.
On Sunday 16 July, QF9, the 2255 hours MEL - DXB - LHR departed at 0014 (Monday 17) with expected DXB arrival at 0815 hours, 70 minutes late. However by reducing the duration of that intermediate stop with a proposed departure only 35 minutes late at 0940, LHR may be as little as five minutes late at 1415 if everything goes to plan.
QF11/QF12 between LAX - JFK and return have become a sea of red - large delays almost daily - on monitoring sites such as FR24's flight records. Some delays due to thunderstorms in the JFK area have been unavoidable, but the schedules requiring the B744 to work BNE - LAX - JFK and return with little chance of picking up time if departure is delayed anywhere, and the connections ex and to MEL and SYD in LAX are problematical.
Sunday 16's QF11 departed LAX at 1036, 136 minutes tardy with JFK arrival estimated 126 minutes behind schedule at 1846. This will delay one or two of the LAX to Oz east coast departures scheduled for Sunday evening USA time.
As at 0830 hours on Monday 17, the previously defective B744 VH-OEF appears to be moving on the ground in SYD so whether that indicates it is ready for its next flight remains to be seen.