SPECULATION is rife that Australian national airline Qantas is planning to establish an offshore operation, involving its pilots and engineers, in South-east Asia. The airline has not commented on the matter yet.
Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) public relations officer, Anil Lambert, told TTG Asia e-Daily that although Qantas’ plan to ship its operations to Asia is mere speculation, “the airline’s refusal to deny or comment on this matter, its refusal to agree on the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) AIPA has brought to the table on behalf of its members, what AIPA members have been hearing, and the numerous media reports that were written last Friday including a report in The Australian, all seem to point in the direction that Qantas is pursuing the offshore option.”
Lambert added that AIPA members were gravely concerned about the speculation, due to the assumption that the main focus of offshoring operations would involve pilots, citing Jetconnect – Qantas’ subsidiary plying trans-tasman routes – as an example.
Until recently, Qantas’ New Zealand-Australia routes were flown using aircraft painted with its livery, using Qantas flight numbers, and with pilots donning Qantas uniforms. However, these routes were in fact operated by Qantas subsidiary Jetconnect, employing pilots and crew on overseas wages and conditions. Lambert said pilots were worried that this would be the first of several steps that Qantas would take to base operations out of South-east Asia at a cheaper operating cost.
Qantas pilots have been in a nine-month negotiation process, with the airline refusing to give in to their demands. The EBA has requested for job security clauses to include all viable, existing Qantas routes flown by Qantas pilots, and that whenever Qantas codeshares with another airline from within its organisation (e.g. Jetstar), it must be flown by pilots on the Qantas long-haul EBA. In addition, when a Qantas long-haul route is scrapped but replaced by Jetstar within 12 months, that Jetstar pilots be employed under the Qantas long-haul EBA.
Lambert added that Qantas has applied for a Malaysian Air Operators certificate. According to The Australian, this was denied by the airline’s spokeswoman, Olivia Wirth. But she said the airline’s international review was considering all options to include new products, new routes, existing and new markets.
By Faith Chang
