QANTAS Airways Ltd will establish a base for 400 international flight attendants in London from June 2005, saving $18 million annually
“As a global airline with very significant offshore operations we cannot continue to source all our people and services in Australia alone,” Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said today.
“We must strive for an internationally competitive cost base against many competitors who, through government ownership and subsidies, do not operate to the same economic disciplines as Qantas.”
He said the airline’s existing Australia-based cabin crew would be given priority for the London positions, and that there would be no job losses as a result of the new base.
By: steve rowell - 28th June 2004 at 05:25
UNIONS will tell Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon that they will not accept the use of offshore labour as a means of driving down wages.
The unions are due to meet Mr Dixon in Sydney to get an update on the state of the airline and discuss plans to double the number of flight attendants based overseas..
The airline announced on Tuesday it would establish a base in London for 400 flight attendants by the middle of next year to generate $18 million in savings.
Mr Dixon refused to rule out further moves overseas, but said there was no immediate plan to send other work offshore.
But unions believe the flight attendant move is the thin end of the wedge.
“They are denying that there are any other plans, but we’re well aware that there are, and that they’re actively investigating other options,” ACTU senior industrial officer Richard Watts said.
“Clearly, those depend in some part on who they’re going to hold hands with in the future.”
Under the London plan, Australian flight attendants would be given priority to work under contracts of up to three years for a wholly owned British-based Qantas subsidiary.
The airline is expected to discuss remuneration and other issues with the Flight Attendants Association of Australia next week.
But Mr Watts said unions already had a general idea of the package and it was “not looking too good”.
Flight attendant salaries comprise a base rate, plus penalties and allowances accrued on trips.
Mr Watts said the incomes of some people not based in London would be cut because they no longer got to work on longer trips. But the key question was whether the motivation for overseas bases was to lower wages by contracting out jobs.
“I think it fits into their overall strategy … of having a section, if not a large percentage, of their workforce contracted out, to add to the competitive mix,” he said.
Mr Watts said the London plan faced logistical difficulties. The airline would have to renegotiate an enterprise agreement with flight attendants which capped offshore jobs at 370.
By: KabirT - 23rd June 2004 at 02:35
These kinds of moves arnet really helping Qantas make a global airline image.
By: Ja Worsley - 22nd June 2004 at 22:28
You should here the uproar down here about this guys, Geoff Dickson has gone to ground because people are protesting outside his house!
By: Pablo - 22nd June 2004 at 22:05
Logistically it would be a huge operation. BA already dominates T1 and T4 (the largest terminals) and T2 isn’t really geared to serving large numbers of widebodies. Given that T5 will be for all BA flights anyway, I don’t see the point in doing so for such a short space of time. Better to reorganise once BA relocates to T5 in my opinion.
By: SHAMROCK321 - 22nd June 2004 at 21:45
How big of a problem would it be for all 1 allainces airlines to go to the same terminal.I can understand BA being so big and the vast number of Star airlines but couldnt Korean come to T2 to meet up with Air France,Alitalia and CSA.
By: Mark L - 22nd June 2004 at 13:56
Yes, it will go directly to T4 instead of the MAN shuttles that go to T1.
By: Pablo - 22nd June 2004 at 13:38
Interesting. I remember QF doing a similar thing immediately after terminating their own service to MAN in the 1990s, only they used a BA 732 on that occasion. I suppose the main advantage would be allowing passengers to connect at the same terminal at LHR?
By: Mark L - 22nd June 2004 at 13:31
Qantas already codeshare on the majority of BAs LHR-MAN flights.
However Qantas acquired the old FlyBe slots from Heathrow, but due to late regulatory approval they have been unable to operate an Oz route from LHR with these slots.
Instead of letting the slots go unused for a whole season they have employed Flightline to fly a 146 between LHR and MAN to bring passengers down for connecting flights. Whilst hugely inefficient in itself, it is more efficient than not using the slots at all, which is why it is in operation for the Summer 2 season, starting next month I believe.
By: Pablo - 22nd June 2004 at 13:11
Are Qantas going to fly LHR-MAN with Bae146 using their extra slot until they start the new services.I belive I read that in a Airliner World magazine recently.
Thought they already had a codeshare agreement on BA MAN-LHR flights.
By: SHAMROCK321 - 22nd June 2004 at 13:09
Are Qantas going to fly LHR-MAN with Bae146 using their extra slot until they start the new services.I belive I read that in a Airliner World magazine recently.
By: Ren Frew - 22nd June 2004 at 12:31
What’s all this…? An Austrailian company allowing non aussies to work for it ? Wonder’s will never cease. (lol) 😉
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June 22, 2004 at 7:44 am