Qantas Airways Ltd chief executive Geoff Dixon said Australia's largest carrier will offer its workers a 3 percent pay rise as the airline improves labor productivity, simplifies its fleet and cuts overheads.
Dixon said he met 50 union officials in recent days to discuss the wage increase.
"We made it very plain that we appreciated their support and we obviously appreciate the support of all our people," Dixon told Channel Nine's Business Sunday program. "What we're doing is investing hugely in the company and they understand that."
Last week, the Sydney-based carrier said net income rose 1.5 percent in the six months ended Dec. 31 to a record A$357.8 million (US$276 million) as a surging Australian dollar reduced fuel and equipment costs. The airline saved A$73 million in labor productivity and A$113 million in fleet simplification.
This week Qantas will release details about its Jetstar discount airline, which is schedule to start in May, Dixon told Nine. The company started Jetstar in an effort to win back sales from Brisbane-based Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd, which has grabbed about a third of the domestic market since it started offering a discount service in August 2000.
Jetstar, which will be based in Melbourne, will start with 14 Boeing Co. 717-model planes. The service will expand with 23 single-aisle Airbus SAS A320 planes, which can carry 150 passengers each.
The airline's routes will be "quite extensive" on Australia's east coast traveling as far north as Cairns, Dixon told Nine. Qantas plans to extend the business to the western seaboard later, he said. Dixon wasn't specific.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS