Qantas (QF) in the news

[NM]

Think so, the following link suggests that the planned SCL service will be operated by a 744:

They don't have much choice. The 787 won't be delivered to QF by then, so 744 will be their only option.

I wonder if LAN are going to pull out, or if LAN will operate to AKL only? Or perhaps they will share with 3 days each per week?

 

[simongr]

Effectively then the A380 isnt actually providing any real improvement in capacity - its just adding routes? I appreciate that it will add some on the routes currently served by the 744 but that is not a dramatic improvement on current routes is it...

 

[NM]

Effectively then the A380 isnt actually providing any real improvement in capacity - its just adding routes? I appreciate that it will add some on the routes currently served by the 744 but that is not a dramatic improvement on current routes is it...

Replacing a 3-class 744 (14F, 64J, 265Y) with a 500 seat A380 is a 30% increase in capacity.

 

[Keith009]

I wonder if LAN are going to pull out, or if LAN will operate to AKL only? Or perhaps they will share with 3 days each per week?

I am not really privy to load/yield information for LA on that route, but I was vaguely under the impression that QF's planned service will be alleviating undercapacity on the route rather than providing competition. This is seen in the difficulty in getting discount fares to South America on LA, despite the presence of other carriers in the market.

Oddly enough the cheapest way to get to South America is MH's service to EZE via KUL and South Africa...:shock:

 

[serfty]

First Qantas passenger jet makes last flight

First Qantas passenger jet makes last flight. 10/06/2007. ABC News Online

Australia's very first passenger jet made its final flight today from Sydney to the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach in western Queensland.

Hundreds of people, including Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, were gathered at the Longreach airstrip to see the restored plane land.

The boeing 707 was first owned by Qantas in the 1950s ...

 

[QF WP]

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon warns staff that the airline's fuel bill could skyrocket by more than $1 billion a year....

 

[JohnK]

I can tell another fuel surcharge increase is just around the corner.

Mr Gregg said Qantas used about 20 million barrels of oil a year and the fuel bill made up about a third of the airline's total costs, or about $3 billion.

So if you know how much fuel you use and you purchase most fuel in advance why not incorporate this into the base airfare cost?

 

[QF WP]

It is doubtful many Qantas shareholders will celebrate the first anniversary of the collapse of the $11.1 billion bid for the carrier....

One of the enduring questions raised by the private equity bid for Qantas is whether aspects of the deal would have withstood court challenges if it had proceeded....

 

[QF WP]

A former Qantas vice president will serve eight months in prison as part of a plea agreement for conspiring to fix prices for shipping air cargo, the US Department of Justice says....

Another story here

 

[oz_mark]

Cash and crash: how the flying kangaroo sale failed

Cash and crash: how the flying kangaroo sale failed | smh.com.au

THEY hugged, they kissed, they smiled for the cameras.

It was a wonderful day for Qantas, Australia's national carrier, as it prepared to fly off into the bold new world of private equity ownership, and the board and management - especially the management - couldn't have been happier

For those of us observing from the sidelines, it all seemed a little odd. Aren't the board and management supposed to fight for the company, to extract the maximum possible from the bidder? After all, aren't they the employees, hired to work on behalf of the shareholders, the owners of the company?

 

[QF WP]

Qantas's former head of freight in the US, Bruce McCaffrey, has pleaded guilty and agreed to serve an eight-month jail sentence in the US for involvement in the illegal price-fixing of cargo shipments....

 

[QF WP]

Qantas has hinted that it could replace its remaining services to Japan with Jetstar flights, after warning the growth of low-cost airlines in Asia would "increase pressure on the viability of the Japan route in the medium to longer term"...

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has appealed to the airline's staff to help keep disruptions to travellers to a minimum as it shapes up for what could be a protracted pay dispute with its engineers....

 

[QF WP]

The chief executive of Qantas, Geoff Dixon, has confirmed he has placed senior managers on a war footing, ready to step in and do the work of maintenance engineers if airline staff go on strike....

 

[QF WP]

The involvement of Qantas employees in illegally fixing air-freight rates was "extensive", US prosecutors have claimed....

 

[QF WP]

Hot off the presses - information from the AGM in Perth:

Qantas Won't Provide FY Guidance As Conditions Remain Uncertain

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) said Wednesday that conditions for airlines continued to remain uncertain and declined to provide earnings guidance for this fiscal year.


Speaking at the Australian airline's annual meeting in Perth, Chairman Leigh Clifford said the global economic outlook remains uncertain, but hinted that the worst
conditions for aviation may be behind the group.
"We are seeing some encouraging signs and certainly no furtherdeterioration," Clifford told shareholders.


Last month, the airline said that yields on its flights had stabilized but in August flights had stabilized but in August were still down around 23% on its international flights and 13% on domestic flights
compared with a year ago.

Qantas posted net profit for the year to June 2008 of A$117 million, down 87% on-year, but remained one of few global carriers to remain profitable.

However, in the second half of fiscal 2008, amid slowing passenger demand and heavy price discounting as competition intensified, the airline recorded a loss of around A$93 million.



-By Bill Lindsay, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4694; [EMAIL="[email protected]"][email protected][/EMAIL]

 

[Danger]

I know more than 12 months has passed sinced this thread was last added to but as it's a news thread I thought it might be staying open.

Qantas under 'threat' from union demand, by Geoffrey Thomas (The West Australian, p. 16, Monday 26 March 2011).

Qantas' international operations face oblivion within months if unions press ahead with their claims for guaranteed job security, Australia's leading aviation consultancy warned yesterday.

Peter Harbison, executive chairman of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, said that Qantas' international division was "seriously fragile" and simply could not win in the looming confrontation.

"If they (Qantas international) cave into the union demands they will be wiped out and a prolonged strike will have the same result," Mr Harbison said.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce said he would not capitulate to demands that would cripple the airline's ability to compete.

"Some of these demands would put us out of business," he said.

Qantas faces a winter of discontent from it international pilots, engineers, baggage handlers, refuellers and caterers, who are pushing the common themes of job security and no overseas outsourcing in their enterprise bargaining agreements.

Mr Harbison warned the unions the reality is that Australia's airlines, particularly international, have to compete with lower-cost operators.

"Many of these demands take out all the flexibility to deal with the constant shocks that airlines go through," Mr Joyce said. "There is simply no way we can agree."

At the heart of the Australian and International Pilots Association log of claims is a requirement that the same pay and conditions Qantas pilots enjoy apply to any flight operated by another airline that replaces a Qantas flight or that carries a Qantas flight number.
​

 

[Danger]

Airline has to face new conditions, by Geoffrey Thomas (comment) (The West Australian, p. 16, Monday 26 March 2011).

When Ansett collapsed 10 years ago, then-Qantas boss Geoff Dixon warned that Qantas' future was not guaranteed.

The reality today is that its future may well be the same as hundreds of airlines around the world that have collapsed because they failed to embrace the rapidly changing market and labour conditions.

The stark reality is that Qantas is losing international market share - and fast.

In December, Qantas' share of international traffic - into Australia - was only 17.4 per cent, down from nearly 35 per cent in 2003.

The problem for Qantas' long haul pilots is simple - their salaries are among the world's highest.

That reality was brought into persecptive in November when Qantas chartered Cathay Pacific A330s with full crews during the A380 groundsings.

Qantas found they made more money from those flights [emphasis added].

Qantas must have the same flexibility in the labour market as competitors or it will simply disappear.


​

 

[anat0l]

This whole pay situation is starting to make the QF workforce and problems look like BA and vis-a-vis similar comparisons between BA/VS and QF/DJ (although I'm assuming DJ staff get paid a nice amount, too).

Needless to say if rolling strikes or deliberate service drops are going to be a feature of flying QF then I'm not liking it.

 

[QF WP]

I'm hoping they aren't happening (the rolling strikes) when we are on our big trip in a couple of months - BA have to fly us LHR/PRG but more importantly CDG/LHR to connect to QF30 LHR/HKG.

At least I have the backstop of CX CDG/HKG and BA won't like having to get us 1xJ and 2xF for that sector - it'll cost them quite a bit.

If I had another OW option CDG/LHR I'd do it, but on a booked AA OW award ticket

 

[Danger]

Former CASA chairman warns Qantas's international operations in danger of bankruptcy, by Geoffrey Thomas, ATW Online, 14 June 2011.