In what appears to be another “survival of the fittest” action by the struggling airline, QANTAS’ CEO Alan Joyce said on Friday in QANTAS’ AGM that the airline would be “renegotiating our arrangements with travel agents”
He did not provide any additional details except for saying that the initiative would create better selling opportunities for the trade and significantly reduce the airline’s cost of sale.
In terms of travel agencies, the two comments appear to be polar opposites, with the latter clearly suggesting to the trade that agency commissions will be cut and potentially even eradicated.
Alan Joyce is in the middle of a cost cutting bonanza, with nothing appearing off the agenda with at the same time, the Transport Workers’ Union taking QANTAS to court over outsourcing of ground handling and also as a result of significant staff cuts across the airline, staff morale is at an all-time low.
Alan Joyce’s target is to reduce QANTAS costs by $15 billion over the next three years, with industry analysts believing that QANTAS will emerge from COVID-19 and its associated impacts as a much less significant and influential airline.
As states open up, QANTAS is facing emerging competition on domestic routes from Virgin Australia, Rex and Alliance, in which strangely QANTAS has a 20% share ownership.
Internationally, except for a very limited number of commercial repatriation flights, it appears being operated by very few aircraft, or potentially only one Boeing 787 Dreamliner, QANTAS has shut down its international operations. This has allowed foreign owned carriers to take over international operations, with Qatar Airways now flying most flights in and out of Australia, followed by Etihad, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and China Southern, who appear to be gaining significant industry loyalty.
QANTAS’ repatriation flights are on a commercial profit making basis with the Federal Government’s coordination, but passengers have to pay an astronomic $A2,150 for the one-way economy flight plus taxes from London, with other flights will from New Delhi and Johannesburg at the end of November, for $1,500 and $1,750 respectively plus taxes.
A report by John Alwyn-Jones
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