I49 Air and Space Transport

Qantas pilots calls for chairman to quit

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 5 : 26-Sep-23

The Australian & International Pilots Association has urged Qantas chairman Richard Goyder to step down in the wake of recent scandals at the airline. AIPA president Tony Lucas says pilots have lost all confidence in Goyder and the Qantas board, and the morale of pilots has never been lower. Lucas adds that it is galling that Goyder is receiving a pay rise of nearly $100,000 when he has overseen the destruction of the Qantas brand and staff are expected to accept a two-year wage freeze. Qantas announced on Monday that it will spend an additional $80m on customer improvements in 2023-24.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Qantas complaints reach sky-high levels

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Original article by Ayesha de Kretser
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 2-Aug-23

An published draft document from the Airline Customer Advocate shows that it received a total of 6,918 complaints from airline customers in 2022, including some 4,000 complaints about Qantas. However, just 1,426 of the total number of complaints received were deemed to be eligible. The ACA says the 138 per cent increase in complaints year-on-year was to be expected, given that passenger numbers surged in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The number of complaints in 2022 was also well above pre-pandemic levels; the ACA received 2,135 complaints in 2018, including 1,410 that were found to be eligible.

CORPORATES
AIRLINE CUSTOMER ADVOCATE, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Why Australians are paying 50% more for air fares than pre-pandemic even as jet fuel costs drop

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Original article by Jonathan Barrett, Elias Visontay
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 31-May-23

Data from the International Air Transport Association shows that the price of aviation fuel has halved since peaking in mid-2022, and it is now priced at around the levels at which many airlines operated profitably in 2018. However, data from flight search company Kayak shows that this is not being reflected in the price of airfares in Australia. The average domestic airfare is now about 10 per cent higher than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the average international airfare is more than 50 per cent higher. Nick Schroeder from IBISWorld expects the price of international airfares to start falling in the second half of 2023, adding that they could potentially fall to around pre-pandemic levels within 18-24 months.

CORPORATES
INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION, KAYAK, IBISWORLD PTY LTD

Qantas sets a course for $2.5bn profit

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 24-May-23

Qantas has advised that its underlying profit for 2022-23 is expected to be within the range of $2.425bn to $2.725bn. This compares with a loss of $1.8bn for the previous financial year. The carrier’s quarterly update shows that air travel has rebounded from the pandemic-induced downturn; its domestic operations’ revenue is now at 118 per cent of pre-Covid levels, while its international arm’s revenue is at 123 per cent of 2019 levels. Meanwhile, seat capacity is now at 87 per cent of levels prior to the pandemic, and CEO Alan Joyce expects this to reach 93 per cent by the end of 2023.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Next Qantas CEO stares down $12.3b fleet revamp

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Original article by Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 3-May-23

The pressing need to upgrade an ageing fleet will be a key challenge for Qantas veteran Vanessa Hudson when she succeeds CEO Alan Joyce in November. However, she is confident that Qantas will be able to manage the capital requirements of a fleet upgrade while continuing to reward shareholders. UBS estimates that Qants will need to spend $12.3bn on new airplanes between the 2024 and 2028 fiscal years, given that the average age of its fleet increased from 7.7 years in 2014 to 13.6 in 2022. Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has praised Hudson, noting that she has been in her current role of CFO during one of the most challenging periods in the airline’s history.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Virgin IPO could be tough sell as bankers question timing

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Original article by Aaron Weinman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 18-Jan-23

Private equity firm Bain Capital is widely tipped to proceed with an IPO of Virgin Australia in the second half of 2023. The mooted sharemarket float could be well-timed, given that airlines are benefiting from a post-pandemic upturn in demand for travel and the reopening of Australia’s borders to international tourists. However, some observers are concerned that demand for travel may peak ahead of the float, as growing pressure on household budgets due to rising interest rates and energy bills prompts them to reprioritise their spending. Some bankers also suggest that the high cost of international airfares and a lower Australian dollar will benefit Virgin, which has shifted its focus to the domestic market under Bain’s ownership.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, BAIN CAPITAL LLC

Delays to business travel likely

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 11-Jan-23

Australia China Business Council president David Olsson does not expect a significant upturn in business travel to China until March. He notes that airline and rail tickets in China are scarce in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year, so many business leaders are not planning to travel to China until February or March. He adds that there a number of challenges in gaining business visas for China, as it is taking longer than usual to process visa applications and China is not yet issuing multiple-visit visas.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA CHINA BUSINESS COUNCIL

US unions push back against Australian pilots

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 17-Aug-22

Large US airlines are seeking to hire about 13,000 pilots in 2022 and 2023, and some are offering sign-on bonuses of up to $US20,000. However, unions have objected to moves by airlines to recruit pilots from Australia using the E-3 visa scheme, which was introduced via the free-trade agreement between the two nations. The Air Line Pilots Association alleges that some airlines are abusing the visa scheme, which is only accessible to Australian workers. A number of factors have contributed to the shortage of pilots in the US, including the impact of the pandemic and the mandatory retirement age of 65.

CORPORATES
AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Virgin pledges net zero emissions by 2050

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Original article by Lucas Baird
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 8-Nov-21

Virgin Australia has committed to a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with Qantas having made a similar commitment in late 2019. Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka announced its pledge at an International Air Transport Association event, with the Association having voted for an industry-wide net zero commitment in October. Hrdlicka says that sustainable aviation fuels are crucial if airlines are to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, but she adds that there is no sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia at present.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Union scores another legal win over Qantas

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 15 : 22-Sep-21

The Federal Court has rejected Qantas’s push to delay a preliminary remedy hearing with regard to the reinstatement of ground-handling staff whose jobs had been outsourced. The preliminary hearing had been scheduled for 1 October, but Qantas argued that it should be postponed until the carrier’s appeal against the Federal Court’s recent ruling in the case is heard in 2022. The court had found that Qantas’s decision to outsource 2,000 jobs was at least partly aimed at avoiding industrial action; the airline had contended that the move was solely aimed at achieving cost savings of $100m.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA