Qantas’ Geoff Dixon speaks
At the Qantas press conference yesterday, a relaxed and confident Geoff Dixon handled the media with ease, obviously very comfortable in the decision he announced.
Asked how Qantas had secured delivery of the new aircraft in 2008 when suggestions were that Boeing’s order book was full, he said ” well, they haven’t negotiated with Peter Gregg before, have they?”
He laughed when asked whether the increased fuel efficiency would allow Qantas to review pricing and fuel surcharges – “you have to remember that the first of these aircraft will be delivered in August 2008, so I’ll leave that to someone else. God help me but I won’t be here then.”
One moment where he did become animated was when asked to comment on Richard Branson’s assertion that Jetstar International was aimed at getting some of the landing slots that Virgin Blue may be after and that he may look to take Qantas to the ACCC.
“Well, it’s so foolish it doesn’t deserve much of an answer. Does anybody really think the board of Qantas Airways is going to spend billions of dollars buying new aircraft just to stop Virgin from supposedly starting a new operation? It’s absolutely fanciful.”
“We are a public company saying we are buying new aircraft to start Jetstar International. Jetstar is a reality, it’s not a myth, it’s out there. It’s got a CEO. I’d be very surprised if Virgin wanted to start a new International airline that there aren’t slots out there. It’s just bizarre really”.
Asked about the future relationship between Jetstar Australia and Jetstar Asia, he said that Alan Joyce would go on the Board of Jetstar Asia from next month and Peter Gregg would take over as Chairman. “The co-ordination between Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Australia will increase quite substantially.”
When asked by a US reporter why Jetstar International was to fly to Vancouver he said that was primarily a leisure destination and Jetsar was a leisure oriented carrier. “It’s very important for everybody here to remember that the DNA of Qantas is Qantas, and the vast majority of all our flights in the future to the United States, and indeed North America will be by our three class Qantas operation.”
He also confirmed that this deal would have no bearing on the future of Australian Airlines, saying the airline would continue as normal.
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