[Peetwo]

BM on Oz Airline bailouts, while GA struggles to survive -    

Via Michael West: 

Qantas Smiles: shareholders and executives grin, customers and staff grit their teeth

Big pay, big say

Since then, Qantas itself has wolfed down more than $2bn in public money and shed 9400 staff. Some 2000 were axed unlawfully, according to the recent Federal Court decision. And now its chief executive Alan Joyce is back making acquisitions again, using the public rescue to buy other companies and a bunch of new planes. And his pay, along with other executives, is once again on the rise.

Joyce topped Australia’s pay leagues in 2018 with a thumping $24m and has been one of Australia’s best paid executives over the years, if not the best, taking this mantle from the infamous Macquarie bankers, also ironically the winners from another government bail-out during the Global Financial Crisis.

But what has the public got in return for its Morrison government largesse? Look no further than the MacBank logo for this answer … a slick donut.

Well actually, we did get airport queues and chaos, a deluge of customer complaints, rising acrimony, falling service standards and another company simply too big to fail.

In effect, Joyce has has been rewarded for breaking the law (he is appealing the Federal Court’s decision on unlawfully sacking 2000 Qantas staff, using Qantas subsidised shareholders’ funds, to the High Court). It has raked in more subsidies than any other company, and the government has sponsored Joyce’s restructure of the airline and its new fleet, enhancing the value of Joyce’s own stock in the process.

And then from BM via FB:

MICHAEL WEST GIVES IT BOTH BARRELS:  QUESTIONING THE NON-BAILOUT BAILOUTS GIVEN TO QANTAS DURING PANDEMIC

Independent journalist Michael West has published an eviscerating opinion piece this week 13th June, bringing into question the government aviation support package given to QANTAS during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article makes for an interesting read and raises some poignant questions.

All up, QANTAS, REX and a handful of smaller regional airline operators we're the direct beneficiaries of the Government's $4.5billion total public tax-payer funded support package.

Then Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack MP, famously stood in front of a  camera and stated that; "...it was not for the government to pick winners or losers".  In practicality however, the airlines did win enormous support and everyone else across the aviation industry did not.

External to the airlines the national general aviation charter, flight training and maintenance business community were all left in the dark and expected to fend for themselves, with only the JobKeeper support available.

As a result of the above, many general aviation businesses closed up shop, unable to pay their bills or function with the aviation industry shutdown around them.  The losses incurred by our small to medium sized aviation industry have been staggering, with the largest loss of people, skills and trades in the history of civil aviation in Australia.  In many respects, it was a wipe out.

During this time, AOPA Australia sought assistance from the Government and the Deputy Prime Minister for these businesses, and at every turn was either ignored or brushed off.  Without question, small to medium sized general aviation was left to die on the vine, expected to deal with it themselves.
Meanwhile, between 2019 to 2021 the government airline sector support package grew, month by month, starting out at several hundred million and growing until it peaked at some $4.5billion in total Government support.
 
All of the support to the airline industry was provided without any requirement for the money to ever be repaid.  Billions handed away, free money.

The rub, is that every last participant of the general aviation industry that works hard and pays tax, along with the broader Australian public all funded this $4.5billion dollar largess.  The Government was not handing away its own money, it was handing away the public's money, reaching into the pockets of those within our communities that are doing the toughest.

Sure, the airline industry needed the support and I doubt that anyone in the aviation industry in Australia would disagree with that position.  The real issue here, is that it was given away, not loaned.

And, how does the airline industry feel about this free money?  Take a look at the following news article:

REGIONAL EXPRESS AIRLINE PREPARES $12 MILLION IN EXECUTIVE BONUS SHARES AFTER COVID-19 BAILOUT


Australia wants a strong airline industry, and we very much value the contribution that the airlines make to our aviation industry ecosystem.  But equally, Australia must have a strong and vibrant general aviation sectors, providing small charter, flight training, and aircraft maintenance.  Without this, the industry cannot survive.

The airlines can and must play a role in helping the general aviation industry recover and be a major catalyst for recovery.

Imagine how much stronger the aviation industry would be, if the airlines (without government intervention) took it upon themselves to repay the COVID-19 support package? That all the support money be re-invested into an aviation industry development and innovation fund managed by the general aviation industry's peak-bodies, for the purpose of supporting the recovery of the small to medium sized general aviation sectors and industry.

That would be nation-building, and it would be profound.

During the airline industry's toughest hours, the Australian people extended their hand of support to them, and it is now time for the airlines to return the favour.

QANTAS, REX and the others, now have an opportunity.  The question is, do they have the moral fabric to do it.

Just my thought of the day.

 
 
MTF...P2