This article is written by Tracey Spicer, i have to agree with page 2 of 2. GLTA@QF !
By Tracey SpicerFebruary 21, 2012 There was spontaneous applause when the plane touched down. Only this wasn’t a third-world rust-bucket. It was a Melbourne to Sydney flight on Qantas: Our so-called national airline.
The Qantas A380. Sunday’s drama began with a fuel leak, climaxed with three landing attempts in a fierce electrical storm and ended with the chief steward announcing, “Thanks to your all-Australian crew, we landed safely”. A friend on board praised the captain for his laconic humour. But it got her wondering: Will Qantas retain it stellar safety record if staffed by overseas crews? This kind of question can sound xenophobic. But a Senate inquiry has heard Thai air crew on Jetstar work for up to 23 hours a day, five to six days a week, earning just $400 a month. That’s slave labour. Late last year, former cabin attendant Dallas Finn quit his job because of concerns about safety and fatigue, after flying five international flights in as many days. Mr Finn told News Ltd, Singapore-based crew members were unable to answer the emergency procedure and medical questions at a pre-flight briefing. “It was the first time I’ve actually been scared of flying,” he said. One current employee, speaking to me anonymously, said he’d never put his family on a Jetstar flight because of poorly trained pilots. “Sure, there’s a second pilot on every plane,” he said, “but often they’ve had no experience flying that particular type of aircraft. If something happens to the captain, you’re screwed.” The aviation safety watchdog is watching the airline closely after a string of botched landings in 2011. “There is now ongoing monitoring of the Jetstar cadet scheme to ensure it continues to meet with required standards,” a CASA spokesman told Fairfax. While Qantas hasn’t had a fatal crash since 1951 – a fact made famous by the film Rain Man – there have been three close shaves since privatisation: A 747 runway overrun in Bangkok in 1999; a 747 onboard explosion in 2008; and a sudden dive aboard an Airbus A330 when steering equipment malfunctioned. And air safety authorities have just announced they’re investigating a close call between two Qantas 737s and a small plane coming in to land at Melbourne airport last week. It all begs the question – should the airline have been kept in government hands? Internationally, the airline industry has been on a downward spiral since the arrival of low-cost carriers. In the US, passenger airlines lost $14 billion in ‘08-’09; Air France-KLM’s net debt is 6.5 billion Euros; and British Airways reported a 164 million Pound loss in 2010. Yet Middle Eastern airlines, which are majority owned by government, continue to flourish with a growth rate of 20 percent over the past few years. Emirates has ordered dozens of the fuel-efficient Boeing 777s, while Qantas is stuck with the dud 787s. Page 1 of 2 next >>
By Tracey SpicerFebruary 21, 2012 The point is this: Qantas is not going down the gurgler because of high wages, falling demand or ‘militant’ industrial action. It’s because the previous management bought the wrong aircraft, failed to maintain them, treated workers with contempt and hiked executive salaries. Geoff Dixon, I’m looking at you. For eight years, Mr Dixon was the highest paid airline executive in the world. Talk about history repeating itself. Current CEO Alan Joyce (left) won a 71 percent pay rise while calling for jobs to be axed, sparking the infamous Qantas dispute. But they aren’t the only villains. Qantas Chairman Leigh Clifford has brought an arsenal of union-busting weapons from his days at Rio Tinto. As Chief Executive of the mining giant, he changed the workplace culture by stripping employees’ entitlements. Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories. But it’s interesting that both Rio Tinto and Qantas this week put submissions to Fair Work Australia, calling for changes to federal workplace laws. Qantas wants workers to be fined four hours pay for taking legal industrial action. Why should workers on $60,000 a year suffer because of mistakes made by those earning $5 million? Alan Joyce has announced 500 cuts in catering jobs with a further 1460 maintenance jobs at risk. Flight and back office positions are also under review. This followed a dismal half-yearly result of $42 million net profit after tax – a decline of 83 percent from the previous half-year. “Never in the 90-year history of the airline has the disparity between executive reward and performance been more at variance,” aviation expert Ben Sandilands writes. The Transport Workers Union wants new laws to deal with the “ferocious appetite” of employers to send jobs overseas. But Qantas says jobs won’t be offshored – they will simply disappear. This would be a national tragedy. Australians still feel a strong emotional bond with our national carrier. The federal government has an obligation to be more involved with businesses tied to our identity. That would undoubtedly elicit applause from workers and the travelling public. So, what does the Flying Kangaroo mean to you? MORE SPICER’S SPOTLIGHT Get God out of our schools The great Australian rip off Facebook. What about Breastbook? *Tracey Spicer is a respected journalist who has worked for many years in radio, print and television. Channel Nine and 10 news presenter and reporter; 2UE and Vega broadcaster; News Ltd. columnist; Sky News anchor …it’s been a dream career for the Brisbane schoolgirl with a passion for news and current affairs. Tracey is a passionate advocate for issues as diverse as voluntary euthanasia, childhood vaccinations, breastfeeding, better regulation of foreign investment in Australia’s farmland, and curtailed opening hours for pubs and clubs. She is an Ambassador for World Vision, ActionAid, WWF, the Royal Hospital for Women’s Newborn Care Centre and the Penguin Foundation, Patron of Cancer Council NSW and The National Premmie Foundation, and the face of the Garvan Institute’s research into pancreatic cancer, which killed her beloved mother Marcia 11 years ago. But Tracey’s favourite job, with her husband, is bringing up two beautiful children – six-year-old Taj and five-year-old Grace. Visit Tracey’s website at www.spicercommunications.biz or follow her on Twitter @spicertracey
<< prev Page 2 of 2 EmailMore
5 Responses to this article Wendy Harmer February 21, 2012 Reply
Well, this might sound ‘xenophobic’ or even just stupidly nostalgic. But I remember wheh I was coming back after my first trip OS and I cried when I heard that first ‘G’day’ when I boarded my QANTAS flight home. Are the days of a true national carrier really gone? Like so many Australian icons? That would be a sad thing.
Stew February 21, 2012 Reply
You have drilled down to the heart of the problem at Qantas. Poor management decisions which are now having huge repercussions for Qantas. Unfortunately Alan Joyce & Geoff Dixon are/were so pre-occupied with cutting costs that they seemed to forget that they were supposed to be running a world class, premium airline – and the steady decline in the Qantas product and brand has been the result. Unfortunately that aspect of the current Qantas ‘dilemna’ is all too often glossed over by the mainstream press, with it seemingly being much easier to blame the staff/unions/external market forces. Thank you for daring to point out the key failure so that the blame can be apportioned where it truly belongs.
fabagnale February 21, 2012 Reply
A well crafted article, touching on a wide range of issues impacting the doomed Qantas (doomed if management & government don’t wake up). Just a small comment regarding the Qantas “explosion” and “steering equipment malfunction”. These were technical issues dealt with competently by well-trained crew. A totally different scenario from choosing not to fly with an airline (Jetstar) because you have serious concerns about pilot and cabin crew competencies.
Snoz February 21, 2012 Reply
Well done Tracey. At long last we are given some exposure of fact over spin. The Qantas board and its executives are clearly responsible for the mess of our national carrier.
Annie February 21, 2012 Reply
Bravo Tracey for reporting the truth (along with Ben Sandilands). Something many journalists can’t or refuse to do where Qantas is concerned.
Have Your Say
QAN Price at posting:
$1.68 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)