QANTAS CEO, Alan Joyce, has claimed its Asian offshoot, Jetstar Asia, needs to pay ”Asian rates” to be competitive against low-cost rivals.
His comments, reported by the Brisbane Times, have infuriated the airline’s pilots.
Joyce told a business luncheon in Sydney that ”it was just crazy” to think that it could operate its Singapore-based offshoot,
Jetstar Asia, with pilots on Australian conditions, because to do so would make it uncompetitive against other low-cost airlines such as Tiger and AirAsia.
“It is an Asian carrier operating in an Asian environment. Some of the unions, I think, have gone past cloud-cuckoo land and have gone onto a planet where competition doesn’t exists,†he said.
The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Barry Jackson, said Singapore-based pilots were paid about 30 percent less than their counterparts in Australia.
”Can I get a Qantas CEO on Asian rates?” asked Jackson.
”You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise where this is all going.”
