Qantas Shutdown

[Scott L.]

I booked an international flight to LHR with them on the Monday night, after the grounding was lifted.

I am not looking for compensation but it took some faith from me to punch my credit card into the Qantas website when making the booking.

[Adrian B]

Interesting article HERE in the Herald sun from Bruce Hearn Mackinnon, a lecturer at Deakin Uni concerning the FWA Act and QF management.

[Kirk C]

Last night was the deadline set out by FWA, Neither the 3 unions or Qantas could come to an agreement, and its now up to for FWA to seal the deal.

[Bernie P]

QANTAS pilots have come out swinging against CEO Alan Joyce after he remarked that grounding the airline's fleet had been "positive for the brand".
Mr Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet in October as part of an industrial dispute with unions.

"I think it has ended up being positive for the brand," he told The Australian today, after the paper named him as one of the most influential business people in the Australia.

But the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) has described the remarks as "bizarre and worrying".

It says the move, which stranded tens of thousands of people around the world, has caused the airline "catastrophic brand damage".

"Any polling and basic commonsense will tell you that ... it is going to hurt Qantas's reputation," AIPA president Captain Barry Jackson said.

"Yet, Mr Joyce thinks, overall, it has improved the brand and that's incredibly worrying."

Capt Jackson said Qantas needed to focus on repairing the brand damage sustained in 2011.

"In order to do so we need a leader who is in touch with passengers and not just business leaders," he added.

"Mr Joyce needs to wake up and realise that the big end of town is cheering him on because they like the idea that someone is crazy enough to deal out huge damage to the company they lead in the name of industrial battle."

Capt Jackson said the fleet's grounding didn't end the industrial dispute.

"It merely forced it into compulsory arbitration, which will, ultimately, result in a less-than-ideal result for all sides and the airline as a whole," he said.

Fair Work Australia delivered the arbitration ruling in the wake of October's mass grounding, and also banned members of the Transport Workers' Union and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association from taking industrial action.

Source: news.com.au

[Jason PM]

I am only a small business person, however, I have moved my business to VA and aligned airlines as I want assurance on service.

I also have concerns about the ethics related to QF management.

[Bernie P]

They cant take a trick at the moment can they...

THE Transport Workers Union (TWU) is challenging a court order to pay Qantas more than $750,000 in compensation over strikes at four Australian airports.
Qantas ground staff belonging to the TWU held four-hour work stoppages at Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth airports on the morning of March 30, 2009.

The industrial action, which caused widespread delays, was in protest at Qantas hiring casual staff.

But the Federal Court ruled in May 2011 that the stoppages contravened the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

Two months later, Justice Michael Moore ordered the TWU to pay Qantas $707,345 plus interest in compensation, and $20,000 in penalties.

Six TWU officials, including national secretary Tony Sheldon, were personally ordered to pay Qantas an additional $18,000 in penalties.

The TWU appeared in the Federal Court in Sydney today to launch an appeal against the payment of the compensation component.

The union's lawyer, Adam Hatcher, argued the court did not have the power to order payment of the compensation.

"Our submission, on the appeal, is that the provision is not authorised," Mr Hatcher told the court.

"We are not concerned with the quantification of the amount, merely the order."

The TWU is not appealing the penalties component nor the Federal Court's ruling that the work stoppages were illegal.

The case, before Federal Court justices Peter Gray, Robert Buchanan and Neil McKerracher, is continuing.

Source: news.com.au

[Bernie P]

- AKL-LAX and SIN-BOM being discontinued in May 2012
- JFK upguaged to the 747 with the new product
- SYD/BKK to switch to A330 equipment from June 2012
- SYD/NRT to see 744s 6 x weekly due rebound in market
- SYD/AKL to become solely operated by 73H once AKL-LAX finishes

And also:
QANTAS has announced a half year net profit of $42 million - a whopping 83 per cent drop from last year.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/brea...#ixzz1mUkWZ98J

[Andrew M]

News not as big as was expected really!

Nothing huge, just small changes for now, besides all the 744's that are getting retired over the next year or 2

[Mark Grima]

I don't really know why. However I am upset that QF1, will no longer be routed via BKK. I liked the fact you could get to London on QF by a number of routes.

That said its good to see that the Japanese market can support 6, 744s a week. I must get there one day.

I heard rumors of Frankfurt being dropped, do these announced changes mean that wont happen?

Cheers

M

[Rod Sloan]

I hear Rob Fyfe is leaving AirNZ at years end. I'm sure he could sort Qantas out