From the ABC

Howard hails Qantas deal as 'the right balance'

Prime Minister John Howard says he believes federal Treasurer Peter Costello has struck the right balance in approving the sale of Qantas with a number of legally enforceable conditions.

The private equity consortium, Airline Partners Australia (APA), has given an undertaking that Qantas will not be majority foreign-owned and will remain based in Australia.

The $11 billion takeover bid still has to go to the shareholders of Qantas.

Mr Howard says while the deed of undertaking is legally enforceable, no company can forever guarantee every job.

"No company operating in Australia, no matter what industrial relations system we have, no matter what government we have, no matter who the prime minister is, no government, can guarantee and no company can guarantee forever the same work force - that is just unrealistic," he said.

Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile says the conditions placed on the Qantas sale are enforceable.

"If Qantas requires some maintenance to be shifted offshore, we're not going to micro-manage this, but the clear undertakings that have been made publicly by Airline Partners Australia have now been documented or codified if you like, in this agreement, which is an enforceable agreement," he said.

Union fears

But the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says there is every chance that some Qantas workers could lose their jobs under the ownership of the APA consortium.

 

From the ABC

Union accused of using leaked Qantas audit for EBA talks

Qantas has accused the Aircraft Engineers Union of using a leaked safety audit to further its own agenda.

The safety audit found a number of serious problems with work carried out by the Singapore Airlines engineering company last year, such as substandard repairs on floor panels.

The head of engineering for Qantas, David Cox, says the issue has been resolved.

"I think, if you read the quote in the paper today, it says quite clearly if those qualities were not addressed, then we wouldn't continue to use that supplier," he said.

"That's nothing more than what I have said many many times, I don't know how many times I've got to say it.

"We will work very very diligently for every supply to assure that their standards meet our standards."

Qantas says the union is using last year's report to advance its enterprise bargaining negotiations and has assured the community that it has no reason to be concerned for the safety of its passengers.

The union's Steve Purvinas says he is only concerned with the public safety issue.

"It's all risk management isn't it and I don't think risk management's something you should dabble with when playing with aircraft maintenance," he said.

Mr Purvinas says the audit should prompt Qantas to stop offshore maintenance immediately.

 

Pilots launch five-point plan for Qantas

Qantas pilots have launched their own plan for the future of the industry.

The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Ian Woods, says airline management is losing touch with pilots as they play the game of global capital.

"There has been a vacuum created as a result of the aftermath of the APA bid," he said.

"The company clearly lost the plot."

He says the private equity bid for Qantas and pressure on Jetstar pilots to sign Australian Workplace Agreements has put the industry on edge.

"We want opportunities for our experienced co-pilots to be able to move into positions as Jetstar captains, rather than import questionable foreign standards," he said.

"What AWAs give rise to is the ability for a company to bring in from anywhere in the world people with a background which is not homegrown, which is not global international excellence, to satisfy an acute commercial need," he said.

"We don't believe that's in the best interest of the industry or the travelling public."

The association has launched a five point plan which it says will maintain professional standards and give Qantas pilots a bigger economic stake in the airline's future.

 

In other developments: The former suitor for Qantas has confirmed it is no longer circling for another bid.

Being a grumpy old man, I LOVE Monday mornings... The SMH headlines on Mondays always provide the adrenaline of anger — the sort that will make you do anything annoying to satisfy your lulling beef — including picketing the Sydney Airport (or whatever it is called these days) with a couple million mates or fellow sleepers trying to snooze. WELCOME TO SYDNEY - THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS would be the new slogan designed by airlines to attract tourists...

Yes it's that time again, The boffins at Qantas "and other airlines" are demanding the Federal Goiv allow relaxation (sounds like a laxative) of the noise curfew in exchange of "quieter" aircrafts... Being an aircraft expert since World War One, let me tell you the "quietest" aircraft at the moment cruising the Sydney's skies is the A380 of Singapore Airlines and it makes enough noise that in the middle of the night you'd wake up thinking the city was being overflown by four awkward scud missiles...

And I can see it already, the good Honorable Mr Albanese and his lovely Honorable wife Carmel leading the long-lasting blockade of Sydney airport, followed by 3 million bleary-eyed angry mobs whose house value went down by half on the open market overnight. If these good Honorable people did not lead the protest they would loose their good pants to the Greens in a flash... Traffic chaos, Mr Dixon? You ain't seen nothing...

Just take your blood-pressure pills and accept THE AIRPORT CURFEW IS HERE TO STAY...

Pilots fly without controllers

Paul Bibby
July 7, 2008 - 9:27AM

A SHORTAGE of air traffic controllers forced pilots to guide themselves over part of NSW last night - the second time such a situation has arisen in the past 10 days.

A spokeswoman from Airservices Australia said a lack of staff at the regulator's Melbourne office during the night shift meant that an area of air space north of Canberra was unmanned from 8pm till 10pm.

The shortage affected flights between Sydney and Melbourne, and Sydney and Canberra - with pilots required to communicate their position and air-speed to each other.

In a blog Flying Low above I mentioned the A380 as the quietest plane. Today the Sydney Morning Herald in an analysis that did not appear on its website, the SMH places the A380 as the third noisiest... But all their comparative measurements were made at LANDING. A landing plane makes much less noise than on take off... It has been my observation that on take-off the A380 is the quietest plane while the LOUDEST is the DHL's old DC-sumpthin' that makes a terrible racket and often smokes as if the old engines were in need of a tune. As well due to its limited power, this plane takes off at a low angle... Thus as it flies above Sydney's villages, the noise is amplified... More could be said on the noise of planes...

Remind me not to fly to Yourp...

New rules to allow planes to fly at higher ash densities for a limited time will be introduced at noon on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Authority has said.

To fly in the ash zone, airlines will need to get agreement from their aircraft and engine manufacturers.

The authority's move has been welcomed by airlines, regulators and manufacturers.

It comes after heavy criticism of the current no-fly zone system by airline chiefs.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded by the latest raft of flight cancellations following airport closures across the UK.

All restrictions have now been lifted, after the volcanic ash cloud over UK airspace moved away, but knock-on disruption continues.

Airport operators are advising passengers to check for delays to their flights with airlines.

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Qantas says the Boeing 737 with the flight number QF50 that made an emergency landing at Sydney Airport on Wednesday was not really a Qantas flight at all.

The plane was flown by wholly owned, New Zealand-based Qantas subsidiary Jetconnect.

The pilots union and the ACTU are citing the emergency landing, triggered by a faulty fuel transfer valve causing a false alarm, as proof that Qantas is operating Jetconnect as a sham company to lower pilots' wages and conditions.

When QF50 took off from Auckland Airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning, passengers would have been forgiven for thinking they were flying with Qantas.

The pilot and flight attendants wore Qantas uniforms and the passengers ate Qantas food.

Indeed, when the ABC reported the emergency landing that morning it was Qantas fielding media inquiries about the incident.

"Well, it's marketed as Qantas, the aircraft are painted in Qantas livery, Qantas is written down the side of the airplane, in fact it says 'The Spirit of Australia'," Pilots Association spokesman Adam Susz said.

"On the other hand you've got a New Zealand flag and a New Zealand-registered aircraft, so it's quite a contradiction."

It is that contradiction - was QF50 a Qantas or a Jetconnect service - which is at the heart of the dispute that was heard before Fair Work Australia this week.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/14/3191876.htm

See toon at top... Remember the failed sale of Qantas to a private consortium?... Had it been "successful", with the big world finance melt-down that followed, Qantas would now be "in spirit only"... Defunct.