Qantas warned: Go to Asia or go broke
Former Australia Civil Aviation Safety Authority chairman Dick Smith has warned that Qantas International will go bankrupt unless it moves its operating base to Asia.
Smith told The Australian that high wages and government policies that have opened up routes to/from Australia to too many carriers have put Qantas’s mainline international operations in danger.
His comments have infuriated Qantas pilots and engineers who are in the process of negotiating new workplace agreements with the airline, in part, to keep jobs onshore.
Ahead of a July 24 announcement by Qantas of structural changes to the airline, Smith claimed that QF was in a similar position to manufacturers forced to move offshore because of an inability to compete with lower-cost competitors.
He told The Australianthat servicing an aircraft in Singapore was 50 percent cheaper than in Australia, and many airlines were operating at much lower costs than Qantas.
“The politicians have decided that we should have this open skies [regime] where you have to compete with completely different wage scales and salary scales,†Smith said.
“If they [QF] don’t move virtually everything up into Asia, they will go broke.”
Ian Jarrett
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
Overseas travelers to the United States declined by 2.5% in 2025