A report by Mark Hawthorne in the Age says that Margaret Jackson put on a brave face for her first major public appearance since the announcement of her departure as Qantas Chairman.
As if the failure of the Airline Partners Australia bid for the national carrier, on which Jackson had staked her reputation and, quite possibly, her job wasn’t a big enough burden to carry, Jackson limped into the function on Melbourne airport on a crutch.
“Deep vein thrombosis,” she later quipped to a group of gathered journos. “You don’t have to fly long-haul to get it.”
At least Jackson had the salubrious surrounds of Melbourne’s new first-class Qantas lounge to ease her pain.
The lounge, designed by Australia’s Marc Newson and located right where the new Airbus 380s are due to park, brought Jackson to Melbourne.
“A lot has been written about shareholder value in recent months,” she said during her opening speech.
“So it’s good to do something for the customers.” “This lounge is a wonderful sign that Qantas is in great shape with a great management team.”
Premier Steve Bracks, fresh from his taxpayer-funded US and European jaunt, was on hand to open the lounge.
By the way, his ticket to do important state business with the Governator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vintage Crop (plus one for Mrs Bracks) cost $22,084.16 each, Full Disclosure is reliably told.
But that wasn’t the only sign of opulence on display at Tullamarine.
Qantas trotted out the Dom Perignon, [The Mole asks: I know Dom is fabulous but shouldn’t Qantas be serving Australia’s top quality sparkling wines?] Deborah Hutton and the Neil Perry finger food to prove just how important Melbourne’s business clientele is to the airline.
After all, as Bracks pointed out, Melbourne contributes 25 per cent of the population, 25 per cent of the nation’s economic output and 32 per cent of Qantas’ business travellers.
And those travellers now have a lounge the envy of nearly any airport in the world.
Not bad for a lounge that, Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti later revealed, was drawn on the back of a paper napkin by Newson at a restaurant in Toulouse.
“We had a few too many bottles of red that night,” Borghetti said. “But, we have the lounges in Melbourne and Sydney as a result, so it was worth it.”
Report by The Mole from The Age
