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.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
RSS