Qantas pilots strike in WA as CEO Vanessa Hudson faces first test

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson is going through her first main take a look at as pilots from the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots (AFAP), employed at Qantas’ subsidiaries Community Aviation (NA) and QantasLink in Western Australia, start an unprecedented six-day strike. The federation added three extra days to an present strike on Tuesday night time that began at midnight. It’s the second strike in per week, after a one-day stoppage final week that noticed 35 flights cancelled; Qantas was additionally pressured to cancel east coast flights to herald plane, and to pay Virgin and different constitution operators to step in.

The strike comes because the Australian Competitors and Shopper Fee issued its newest trade monitoring report that confirmed that about 5% of flights have been cancelled in December, greater than double the long-term month-to-month common. Solely 63.6% of flights arrived on time in the course of the month, effectively beneath the long-term common of 81.1%.

The economic motion comes after three enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) have been voted down by pilots, which stunned even union bosses. AFAP mentioned that Community Aviation pilots are the worst paid within the Qantas group and are denied fundamental circumstances that different pilots throughout the group get — reminiscent of 10 rostered days off, the identical allowances, and safety from early shifts after depart. They haven’t had a pay rise since 2019.

“Qantas administration has angered our community members by strolling away from negotiations and taking beforehand agreed gadgets off the bargaining desk final week,” AFAP senior industrial officer Chris Aikens informed Crikey. “Qantas must recognise that our pilots are solely searching for the phrases and circumstances of employment that each one different Qantas pilots and the airline trade general [have access to].”

Crikey has learnt that the AFAP on Tuesday issued a survey about confidence in administration, chief pilot Evan Bartlett (the goal of a lot ire from different pilots) and office circumstances. Any official vote of no confidence in the chief pilot, which is a regulatory place, would pressure the sleepy airline regulator CASA to become involved. The outcomes of the survey are anticipated to be damning.

“They’ve pushed every thing to the restrict, there’s a poisonous office tradition of blame and bullying,” one pilot informed Crikey. Many others raised questions of safety, reminiscent of drained pilots who’re indignant and pissed off from early mornings and late nights.

“We’re working plane [in] distant places with no assist. In lots of locations there isn’t a visitors management or radar, some runways are brief and marginal, and there may be inaccurate climate reporting,” one other pilot mentioned. 

In the meantime senior pilots are leaving, and the Qantas subsidiaries might shortly be pressured to carry cadets with underneath 500 hours of coaching into cockpits. There’s a worldwide pilot scarcity, with Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Japan’s ANA in addition to US freight carriers reminiscent of Atlas actively recruiting in Australia and providing considerably greater wages and circumstances.

The pitched industrial battle is all too paying homage to the angle of earlier administration to pilots, engineers and cabin crew. It has additionally disguised what appears to be Qantas’ actual plans for its WA subsidiaries — to develop into a second (very) low-cost provider that may slowly take over most of the routes now flown by the much more expensive 737 fleet.

NA has bought 9 A319s, very comparable single-aisle jets to 737s, from US low-cost provider Spirit, saving them from the scrapyards, pilots mentioned. The primary has arrived and is nearly 19 years outdated. The remainder are anticipated to reach in the course of the yr. Crikey understands Qantas is planning for the planes to take over interstate home routes (Adelaide, Hobart, Gold Coast) in addition to short-haul worldwide routes reminiscent of Perth-Bali — all whereas its crews stay the bottom paid within the group. 

In any case, Hudson’s industrial issues are solely starting, as the corporate is now in talks with unions in regards to the mainline short-haul pilots’ EBA due in coming months. As one pilot mentioned: “If she affords 9% folks will surprise what she is smoking,” but when she “rolls over to Community then she will probably be beholden to all of the pilots within the group”.

By means of comparability, troubled Southwest Airways within the US simply inked a take care of pilots for a 30% pay rise with an additional 12% over the following three years. 

Elsewhere, Crikey has learnt that Hudson has introduced Boston Consulting Group (BCG) again to Qantas Loyalty, following a earlier failure there. It’s her third lot of consultants since she began the job six months in the past. The earlier rent McKinsey was to assist her get the planes working on time. BCG was additionally known as in instantly on her appointment to enhance the corporate’s picture — and everyone knows how that’s going.

Count on extra turbulence in a Qantas group cockpit close to you.