John McCubbery writes:

I fly to Japan (Tokyo) 12–15 times
a year with Qantas out of Melbourne and Sydney, and have never had a flight
without a fully fluent Japanese speaking staff member on board.
Now I say this through gritted teeth
as I do not appreciate the monopoly Qantas (and code sharing JAL) have on this
sector, I intensely dislike the lousy food and service on these flights and am
incensed that Qantas cut back the Airbus to the distinctly old 767s they fly out
of Melbourne.
The in-flight entertainment – and I use that term in the loosest possible sense –
has yet to work on all seats on all flights, with tape decks that slow down
during the music, whole rows with no audio or audio through one side only,
repeated audio in two months, the unfunniest new comedy channel in the air,
movies that may start while everyone is still awake (but usually don’t) and
consistently running out of the “meal of your choice”. Possibly none of this is
fixed, despite complaints, due to the cost cutting Qantas has imposed, but this
has nothing to do with cutting back and jeopardizing safety.
So believe me, I am no flag bearer
for Qantas, but… although your anonymous correspondent might be right about the
ill-fated Perth
flight, I completely contradict the rest of their account based on the Qantas
Japan flights that I have taken.


A Crikey reader writes:

Qantas has several Japanese speaking Cabin Crew in
its Long Haul Division, along with other Asian language speakers no longer
flying the routes they were employed for, because as you have pointed out, there
is cost saving on allowances if operated by Short Haul Domestic. Qantas still has 7 Tokyo-based Flight Attendants
whose jobs have been protected by Japanese Courts, however none will be replaced
should they resign. Should we expect the same on Jetstar International? You can bet this arrangement will change following
the forthcoming inquiry.

An anonymous tipster writes:
Qantas’s announcements of today/yesterday re expansion of Jetstar to
international routes are stirring up enormous trouble at the Australian
and International Pilots’ Association (AIPA), the union which
represents all mainline pilots and many subsidiary airlines’ pilots.
The current EBA is about to be voted on and current leadership of AIPA
have totally lost the confidence of the membership. The EBA is highly
likely to be voted down. Elections are also currently being held for
half of the committee (20 of the 40 committee positions). A group called the
‘AIPA Reform Group’ have put together 21 candidates and seem likely to
sweep to power. This group is headed by Captain Ian Woods who has
recently been instrumental in having the superannuation surcharge tax
removed. He is likely to be elected AIPA president after the coming
committee election.

Many of the Qantas mainline pilots are extremely concerned about
their career prospects and are demanding that AIPA stand up to Qantas
industrially. With the likely change in leadership coming, industrial
action by the pilots is becoming more and more likely especially if
concerns over the loss of flying and promotional prospects resulting
from Jetstar expansion can not be addressed effectively.

The current president of AIPA – Captain Robin Holt appears to be incompetent and
totally out of touch with the members he is supposed to represent. He will
almost certainly be gone in the very near future (possibly to a management job
in Qantas – as happened recently with another former AIPA president Captain Chris
Manning who is now Qantas’s chief pilot, and former flat-mate of Robin Holt.
Conflicts of interest abound in the recent history of AIPA’s leadership.)