Qantas outmanoeuvres Unions – again!

It appears that Boeing 767 aircraft formerly operated by Australian Airlines, Qantas wholly owned subsidiary which will stop flying under its own name at the end of June, will be wet-leased back to Qantas, repainted in Qantas livery and operated by Australian Airlines flight and cabin crews on routes Qantas has taken over from Australian Airlines, with the arrangement estimated to save Qantas about 30% off its normal costs.

Qantas unions are very concerned at this apparent circumvention of agreements with the carrier, with Qantas justifying its decision by saying that it has no plans to wet-lease Australian Airlines aircraft and crews on any routes other than those Australian Airlines had previously flown.

Qantas pilots have responded saying that they would be extremely concerned if the carrier did propose operating these aircraft on other routes.  In the meantime, neither has Qantas announced the full closure of Australian Airline, leading to further union concerns that the Australian Airlines may become Qantas’ permanent wet lease operator, giving some room for the main line to attempt to circumvent agreements with Unions, which do not apply to wet-lease deals.

The scenario becomes more complicated and cause for concern when the situation at Qantas subsidiary JetConnect in New Zealand is explored, with JetConnect set up to operate and crew Qantas flights within New Zealand. 

JetConnect though now supplies flight crews for some of Qantas’ flights between New Zealand and Australia, with JetConnect paying staff at local New Zealand rates which are considerably lower than those paid to Qantas main-line staff in Australia, with the saving estimated to be up to 50%.

Qantas flight attendants are also worried about Qantas plans to hire even more JetConnect crew in New Zealand after the carrier announced that it is retrenching 325 Australia based crew.

Further complication is added when Jetstar International is added into the equation with not only the caps on basing flightcrews overseas not applying to the transfer of Qantas flights to Jetstar International, but when the low cost carrier launches international flights in November, Qantas will turn over in some cases entire routes to Jetstar, whose costs are 40 to 45% lower.

In the meantime Qantas pilots are calling for Jetstar International pilots to be covered under the same labour contract as Qantas pilots, a proposal that Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon has already rejected and is unlikely to receive approval.

So, the plot thickens!

Report by The Mole