Qantas: An airline in its death throes?

Opinion is divided over the extent of the damage to the Qantas brand following the decision to ground its entire fleet over the weekend, stranding passengers around the world.

Writing in The Australian, Ken Phillips said, “The grounding of all Qantas flights was a dramatic demonstration of an operating airline going through its death throes.”

Greens Member of Parliament for Melbourne, Adam Brandt said, “Qantas is now on a conveyor belt to arbitration, where the employees are likely to struggle to get the kind of job security protections they are seeking.”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called Qantas’s action in grounding its fleet, “extreme and irresponsible”.

Again in The Australian John Durie writes, “In battle terms, Qantas chief Allan Joyce has timed his first strike brilliantly when the risks were raised on all sides, forcing the federal government to act where it least wanted to, against the trade unions.

“Whether he wins the war depends on his ability to help broker a peace deal with a deeply disenchanted workforce, angry customers and a government that will be going out of its way to help rivals, such as Virgin, ensure the national flag carrier’s market power is weakened.”

Virgin Australia, which added around 7,000 extra seats across its network and offered special fares to stranded Qantas passengers, is ramping up the pressure on Qantas.

It is by offering double status credits on all flights booked with the Virgin Australia group of airlines; Virgin Australia, V Australia, Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue and with its airline partners; Etihad Airways, Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Malaysia Airlines. 




Qantas, meanwhile is tipped to cut prices across its international and domestic network, offer grounded passengers special promotional deals, and take out one of the biggest national advertising campaigns in its 90-year history in a bid to win back disenchanted travellers.