Richard Branson: not making John Borghetti CEO "was Qantas' biggest mistake ever"

[JohnK]

I agree one of Qantas' biggest mistakes.

 

[whatmeworry]

Sounds like Mr. Branson spinning his angle again... To his own advantage.

 

[shifty]

No comments from Red Roo on this thread, lol

 

[cove]

I look at the share prices and SRB made the most by floating a bit of a dud onto investors at the highest possible price. VAH is still languishing in the forties and real profits have eluded them from the start thru to now. VAH has a dreadful IT record and is the talk of the AFF community in connection with their website.
I hope JB succeeds in moving Virgin out of being an LCC to one with a successful business class. The list of major shareholders is way more impressive than the share price and Branson is a seller at the moment and is trying for a great price when the figures do not support the price.
Lining up great shareholders to help boost Virgin bookings seems to be JBs greatest success so far but it is still a work in progress.
I am a shareholder of VAH,QAN and REX so I watch what is happening to airline shares.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Coys normally restrict the good guys from jumping ship.

 

[serfty]

Coys normally restrict the good guys from jumping ship.

Bit hard to do this for any substantial length of time after they "passed over" JB to appoint AJ.

 

[777]

Coys normally restrict the good guys from jumping ship.

From memory he left with a fixed term non-compete clause and virgin signed him shortly after it expired.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I agree it appears a mistake for QF to miss out on JB......but QF did know of JBs track record within QF. Was it great? Was it good? Was it lousey? I've no idea.

JB had a few well placed wins early on which lifted his rep no end, but it hasn't been all plain (plane?) sailing. He's extracted the LCC fares and replaced them with full service legacy carrier fares but doesn't have the legacy carrier overheads........nor for that matter has he fully succeeded in providing the full service to match the fares, nor do I think he intends to any time soon. I personally believe he's trying to lure QF into a "reduce the benefits" style of programme which QF seem to be rejecting so far. There are still plenty of glaring shortfalls with regard to VA letting go of it's LCC security blanket. His wins are also dimming rapidly into the background and the monumental stuff-ups (ala Sabre and computer systems) are indeed proving to be a real hurdle for him (which he's currently not succeeding in clearing).

Let's not forget that AJ had the union strife that rightly or wrongly gave JB a massive free kick and although DJ had their fair share of computer troubles (which came and went and now seem to be back again and firmed entrenched), people seem to just recall the QF problems and not only forgive the VA stuff-ups.....but actually make excuses for them :shock:. I think we also need to recognise that VA are still a long way short of being a comfortable long term premium carrier and lots can still go wrong for them....and us. Let's not forget the "partnerships" are just hobbled together (a feat in itself, but still just hobbled together) with no sign of joining (or being accepted) into a formal alliance.

I'm still very much flying VA, but if QF increase some of their services into my most popular ports, I'll certainly be jumping ship. The big benefits of DJ are now history and VA still have plenty of obstacles to overcome. JB also presided over a discusting way of treating their loyal FFers to chase the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and I know I'm not the only one who has burnt the VA loyalty banner. I certainly now treat them with little more than contempt and I'll certainly shaft them every chance I get.

Having said that, I'm not so naive not to hope my fears don't materialise. I certainly hope JB continues to push VA forward, but I no longer have those VA rose coloured glasses on.....and that's also JBs legacy.....lost loyalties! How many are there like me I wonder?

 

[Must...Fly!]

I used to believe this, but over time what JB has done has been well....uninspiring to me. Acquire regional airline, acquire low cost airline, push VA upmarket...sounds a lot like QF but without the loss-making long haul.

 

[Fruitcake]

I agree with serfty that it's naive to assume that JB would have engineered some sort of messianic resurrection at QF. QF is, in my view, disadvantaged as much as advantaged by its former flag carrier status and high public profile. Issues like heavy maintenance locations or serving bacon for breakfast which generate weeks of media coverage and "outrage" for QF are never an issue for VA. JB as QF CEO would have had to deal with the same union structure that has impeded AJ, and he'd also face the same fleet planning problems caused by the delay of the A380s and most crucially the 787s. Other than dramatically cutting 787 orders and buying a heap of A330s back in ~2008, I'm not sure what could have solved that problem. But, of course, back in 2008, the 787 was being delivered in 2009. And then in 2009, it was being delivered in 2010.... etc.

...sounds a lot like QF but without the loss-making long haul.

As an aside, I think JB's contribution to stabilising VA long haul has been valuable. They spent a couple of years throwing 777s to all sort of random places (HKT, JNB, NAN), where the aircraft was either too big / poorly configured (NAN and HKT) or didn't have enough engines (JNB). And trans-pac schedules were erratic for quite a while. Of course AUH only works because of the Etihad partnership, but for all the justifiable observations about JB creating a poor man's QF, VA was the first Australian airline to pursue a deep relationship with a ME carrier.

But it's a testament to the experience of QF that when they did it, the reservations systems talk to each other, status benefits worked well off the bat and QF even had enough clout to get EK to add a platinum tier to their frequent flyer program. Meanwhile, plenty of the less visited DL SkyClubs will ask you, "what's a Velocity?"