rip qantas, page-8

Bluefire,

Whilst I agree that Qantas needs to engage Asia to the greatest extent possible, the the way they are going about it is fundamentally flawed.
1. There is no way a new premium start up airline is going to be able to compete with the likes of Sing Air and Cathy on their own turf. Especially in single aisled narrow bodied A320's. Do you think that Sing air and Cathay will just move over and give them a helping hand. No way! They will get eaten alive.
2. Jetstar have been flying into Japan for years now with poor results. Why? The japanese dont like Jetstar. Full stop.
3. By removing the safety aspect of Qantas by farming out flights to other airlines and outsourcing jobs to Asia, it removes the reason to fly Qantas altogether. People do not fly Qantas for the pricing, new shiny aircraft or great service. They fly with Qantas for the safety reputation. With that fundamental key aspect of the brand gone, people will flock to the competition in droves.
4. This whole adventure will cost approx 9.5 billion in aircraft alone. Imagine the retention of market share if that sort of capital had been injected into Qantas mainline to make its hard and soft product the equal of its competitors.

BTW your points re the B777 are wrong. The earlier models may have been unsuitable but certainly not the later versions. The B777 burns nearly 40 tonnes of fuel less than a B747 400 on the Syd Lax route with equivalent payload. Times that saving by the number of flights each year and yes the fuel savings are 100's of millions.

The strength of the Qantas mainline is its brand. The strength of this brand lays with its product and people. Not investing in that brand over the years has led to the detrioration of market share. There is no other reason. This was a management decision and no other. Please do not tell me that the greedy pilots and staff are to blame. Let me give you an example. Some years ago I heard the Qantas pilots were asked to make efficiencies of $8 million. They did as was asked of them via pay freezes and increased productivity. You know where that 8 mill went? To fund the lions share of Geoff Dixons 9 million golden handshake......