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©Geoffrey Thomas
Union Discord these categories,” Mr Harbison luxury. Under Joyce, it did it
At the core of the lynching of said. the hard way, but seriously,
Qantas and its CEO are some He added that many air- would it have been better for
unions that have orchestrated lines in Asia have much lower everyone if the airline had
a very effective media cam- labour costs and more produc- simply gone broke like all the
paign against the airline that tive staff than Qantas. others?”
goes back years as they fight “All the major US interna-
the changes that are neces- tional airlines have gone
sary for the airline’s survival. ruptcy, as has Air Canada. “
through Chapter 11 bank-
Australia’s leading analyst In the fullness of
and the founder of Centre In this region, almost without time Mr Joyce will
for Aviation Peter Harbison exception, it’s either govern-
summed up the situation by ment ownership or bankruptcy, be seen to be the
saying Qantas has never had or both, that has secured the
the luxury of going bankrupt airlines’ survival. best chief executive
where it could start again with Among all this carnage, only Qantas has had to
new labour contracts at more Qantas has survived them
competitive rates. all and, by going the difficult this point in time.
Mr Harbison told Asian course, its cost base is greatly
Airlines and Aerospace that reduced thus it is in a posi-
“when judging Qantas’ per- tion to survive. It wasn’t an His successor Vanessa
formance over the last couple accident. Hudson faces huge challenges
of decades, some important “The significance of Chapter with a union movement that
factors are being entirely 11 bankruptcy is that aside has tasted blood and wants
buried in the current [media] from destroying all shareholder higher salaries and better con-
ditions for staff that in many
discourse. equity, it allows the surviving cases are amongst the world’s
“There’s one important fact airline to return to the market highest paid in the airline
that’s being overlooked and with greatly reduced costs and industry.
that is almost every airline a totally refreshed workforce. Ms Hudson also has to battle
Qantas competes with has Essentially, the airline can start the disenchantment and often
either been bankrupted during again from scratch. Staff are rage felt by the public who
the past two decades or is cut, wages reduced, contracts have swallowed the social
government-owned. It’s hard cancelled or shaved.” media misinformation cam-
to think of a single airline that Mr Harbison sums up by paign and the lay media’s
doesn’t fit into one or other of saying “Qantas never had this misguided reporting.•
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