TravelMole Comment: What now for Qantas?
They call the Melbourne Cup the race that stops a nation.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is the man that almost stopped a nation by grounding the entire Qantas fleet on Saturday, disrupting the travel plans of tens of thousands of travellers around the world.
If Joyce’s game plan is to force the three unions in dispute with the airline into arbitration he appears to be succeeding after Fair Work Australia ordered Qantas and the unions back to the negotiating table.
For the next 21 days at least, Qantas will be spared further industrial action while the parties air their grievances in the hope of negotiating a resolution.
If, as many suspect, the strategy behind the drastic decision to ground the QF fleet is to prepare for the Asianisation of Qantas, taking more services and jobs offshore, then Qantas management will be further down that road if new talks fail to produce agreements with the unions, and the parties are forced into arbitration.
Analysts believe arbitration will favour Qantas in that the unions will not receive all they hope for in their various disputes with the airline.
But the key question remains about how much damage to the Qantas brand has been inflicted by the decision to ground the fleet and strand passengers in all parts of the world over the weekend.
The answer will become clearer over the next few weeks as business and leisure travellers reassess their loyalty to the Qantas brand.
Dublin-born Joyce says he is confident that Qantas will retain its 65 percent share of the domestic market in Australia.
And if you believe that, you might also lay a bet on 50-1 outsider Shamrocker winning the Melbourne Cup.
By Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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