• Qantas grounds entire fleet.
    37 replies, posted
Australia's largest international & domestic airline has grounded its entire fleet in response to industrial action. [quote]The grounding means: passengers in 12 planes at airport gates at the time of the announcement had to disembark; 64 planes currently in the air, carrying 7000 passengers, are continuing to their destinations, but passengers with connecting flights will be grounded and given other accommodation; 108 planes at 22 airports are affected; an estimated 13,000 passengers will be affected in the next 24 hours alone. The lockout will begin at 8pm AEDT on Monday, but Mr Joyce has said to maintain safety standards meant the grounding had to be effective from "right now". "We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach agreement with us," Mr Joyce has told a press conference. He has said overseas staff would not be affected by the lockout and would continue to be paid. Mr Joyce said his hand had been tipped by the impossible demands of the three unions: the Transport Workers Union, Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association and Australian and International Pilots Association. "They are trashing our strategy and our brand," he said. "They are deliberately destabilising the company and there is no end in sight." In addition to pay rises, Qantas engineers, pilots and ground staff are protesting at management's plans to restructure the airline, with job losses of 1000 and a new non-Qantas branded offshoot to be based in Asia. The unions claim the restructure amounted to off-shoring pilots, engineers and catering jobs. Qantas management reject this. Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association secretary Steve Purvinas warned industrial action could extend until the middle of next year. Mr Joyce warned yesterday that half the airline would "be gone" within a year - with tens of thousands of jobs potentially at risk - if unions pursued their industrial campaign for that long. "f it goes for more than a year, we estimate we will have to shut down half of Qantas operations. That's 50 per cent of Qantas, gone."[/quote] ..Meaning that the only way to get an international flight into or out of Australia at the moment is through Virgin Airlines, who at the moment are actually lowering their prices to cater for the high numbers of people changing their fights to Virgin rather than abusing their newfound monopoly, a move which I wasn't expecting. [url=http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/qantas-grounds-entire-fleet/story-e6frfq80-1226180315331]source, including periodic updates[/url]
Virgin is being ridiculously clever in lowering their prices. This is something that international customers and Australians alike will not forget, and could potentially win over thousands of future loyal customers.
Meanwhile, despite Qantas pissing $200 million per year, Alan Joyce today accepted a $5 million pay packet, up from $2.9 million last year for doing fuck all and going into a stand off with the workers instead of dealing with the $15 million a week problem.
Well... Qantas, You had a good run, You'll go down in the history book among the likes of Ansett.
I am really annoyed that an Australian icon like Qantas is doing this. If people in Sydney and Melbourne that were doing the OWS protested wanted to protest and fight for something that actually affects Australians here is their fight. God I hope the government steps in and takes some strong proper action.
[QUOTE=Mlisen14;33020763]Meanwhile, despite Qantas pissing $200 million per year, Alan Joyce today accepted a $5 million pay packet, up from $2.9 million last year for doing fuck all and going into a stand off with the workers instead of dealing with the $15 million a week problem.[/QUOTE] People who work hard: you don't get any more money Person who decides workers don't get more money: huge bonuses [editline]29th October 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=-n3o-;33020878]I am really annoyed that an Australian icon like Qantas is doing this. If people in Sydney and Melbourne that were doing the OWS protested wanted to protest and fight for something that actually affects Australians here is their fight. God I hope the government steps in and takes some strong proper action.[/QUOTE] "Strong action" would be forcing people back to work despite their wishes. Fuck Qantas. Let them lose millions of dollars if they want.
...Does anyone know if Virgin is publicly traded or not? [editline]29th October 2011[/editline] Son of a bitch, it's still private, never-mind. Damn.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;33021020]...Does anyone know if Virgin is publicly traded or not? [editline]29th October 2011[/editline] Son of a bitch, it's still private, never-mind. Damn.[/QUOTE] I suspect every airline in Australia is, even if it is a UK company [editline]29th October 2011[/editline] The CEO is a fucking wanker. "Hurr, I'll give myself a payrise of 75% but ignore the 10% everyone else wants" [b]Edit:[/b] It just occured to me, apparently when he quits he get 3 years pay with it. He knew he would get the sack so he doubled his pay.
[QUOTE=-n3o-;33020878]I hope the government steps in and takes some strong proper action.[/QUOTE] Gillard: [quote]"I believe Australians want to see this sorted out, business wants to see it sorted out, passengers want to see it sorted out, I want to see it sorted out. That's why we have made the application to Fair Work Australia." "We need this dispute to be brought to an end."[/quote] I think what this means is that FWA can investigate the Unions' pay claims and enforce their own findings on QANTAS.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;33020971] "Strong action" would be forcing people back to work despite their wishes. [/QUOTE] Fortunately we're not America, and the government is essentially saying that it's bullshit. The opposition leader isn't really commenting.
wtf are you doing qantas
[QUOTE=Contag;33021296]Fortunately we're not America, and the government is essentially saying that it's bullshit. The opposition leader isn't really commenting.[/QUOTE] Actually he did, he said something about how this is proof that Gillard is soft on labour laws. He wants to see them all forced back to work
I don't think I've flown in a qantas airplane for about 10 years.
[QUOTE=Best4bond;33020778]Well... Qantas, You had a good run, You'll go down in the history book among the likes of Ansett.[/QUOTE] Except Ansett was a great Australian company and you can blame Air New Zealand for buying them out and driving them into the ground.
Damn... and my parents are about to fly into the US on the 4th of november :L
virgin is actually a really good airline i've flown tons of others and most are shitty but virgin is great
It's a real shame such an iconic Australian brand is going down because one person wants more money for himself. Grounding the planes is only a desperate move to make the union protesting look bad, The lockout for anyone involved in the union is utter nonsense too. It's almost like the CEO is running everything in to the ground so he can blame someone else.
The best quality flight I've ever experienced was a Washington D.C to Copenhagen (denmark) SAS business flight on the same model airbus that Air France crashed into the atlantic
[QUOTE=Mlisen14;33020763]Meanwhile, despite Qantas pissing $200 million per year, Alan Joyce today accepted a $5 million pay packet, up from $2.9 million last year for doing fuck all and going into a stand off with the workers instead of dealing with the $15 million a week problem.[/QUOTE] This, basically. I wouldn't be surprised if he drives the company into the ground. Good. Qantas will stop monopolizing the Australian airline industry.
Just for those who are wondering, from the thread about Alan Joyce's "bonus", apparently the pay raise they want is only about a dollar more per hour.
Why are airlines the only companies that actually work together when one of them has a problem?
I've never been on a plane, but my girlfriend was talking about how Qantas was supposed to be crappy or something. I don't understand.
[QUOTE=stealth_camo;33021402]wtf are you doing qantas[/QUOTE] They're taking the Enron way out. :v:
[QUOTE=ewitwins;33020736]Virgin is being ridiculously clever in lowering their prices. This is something that international customers and Australians alike will not forget, and could potentially win over thousands of future loyal customers.[/QUOTE] Virgin is more of a People type of airline than a Corporation type of airline, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't. Kind of like Southwest
[QUOTE=TheTalon;33027687]Virgin is more of a People type of airline than a Corporation type of airline, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't. Kind of like Southwest[/QUOTE] I was reading a blog post from Richard Branson on the Virgin site once where he said he lost a bet with a friend and had to be a flight attendant on one of his flights. Imagine being served by Richard Branson.
When we went to Aus a few years ago, we flew Qantas, it was the best flight we've had. It's a shame that it's all messed up.
Fuck you Alan, you little Cockmeat sandwich. You don't give a shit about all the families you are going to leave short of income. My father could lose his Job, just after he got promoted. Seriously, fuck yourself you greedy Asshole. Wanna know something? H's sending a fucking messenger to EACH WORKERS house to tell us to stop trying to get some security. [editline]30th October 2011[/editline] All we are asking for is that we have some job security, if this shit goes down badly for the union, Qantas are going to get under trained staff in. Do you know what happens when you load a plane full of bags improperly? It crashes. People Die. It's happened before. Same thing with giving the engineers longer hours and bringing in under trained staff. You will get under trained foreign pilots who speak little English. Not to say foreign pilots are bad, just that they do have quite a different safety standard. Fuck your shit Alan, Fuck it.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;33020736]Virgin is being ridiculously clever in lowering their prices. This is something that international customers and Australians alike will not forget, and could potentially win over thousands of future loyal customers.[/QUOTE] Such an easy business decision that so many companies are blind to see
What an absolutely terrible decision, fighting industrial action by fucking shutting everything down is only going to give more power to the unions demands. They deserve what they get
[QUOTE=TheTalon;33027687]Virgin is more of a People type of airline than a Corporation type of airline, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't. Kind of like Southwest[/QUOTE] Southwest? The airline that kicks people off for [url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/passengers-too-fat-to-fly-ordeal/story-e6frg8ro-1226058063132]being[/url] [url=http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/15/southwest-airlines-has-a-big-fat-kevin-smith-problem/]too[/url] [url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/18/another-too-fat-to-fly-controversy-hits-southwest-airlines/]fat[/url], [url=http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/09/l-word-star-kiss-/549137/1]kissing people of the same sex[/url], or [url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20638479/ns/today-today_people/t/thrown-plane-outfit-deemed-too-skimpy/]wearing a 'slutty' mini-skirt[/url]? Yeah, real people-oriented.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.