31 Results

The last time calls for direct government invention to save an airline were voiced in Australia was after the collapse of Ansett on September 14, 2001.

If you want to see a pretty pack of pollies, you need look no further than James Packer’s new political mates. From NSW Labor heavyweights Karl Bitar and Mark Arbib to NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell.

Amid all the words written about the Qantas dispute this morning, no one has mentioned the most important bit of information: money.

It’s the last blue day today for the Virgin brand in domestic airlines as the myth making cranks up a notch or two for tomorrow’s launch of Virgin Australia.

It seems like the widespread criticism of Ralph Norris’ $16 million pay packet for 2010 is perhaps harsh — in relative terms.

What the two most successful airline CEOs in Australian history will do in concert with the body charged with growing inbound as well as domestic tourism is not known, but it won’t be lacking in spectacle or clout.

Until company directors start to realise that money doesn’t necessarily buy quality executives, don’t expect the gravy train to dry up any time soon.

Crikey names the businesses who made a splash in 2009 — for all the right and wrong reasons.

The proposed 4.4 billion pound merger between British Airways and Iberia of Spain is so full of holes that it could very well sink without a trace at the slightest bit of opposition.

The most urgent question for shareholders at next week’s Qantas AGM in Perth isn’t the lavish reward to former CEO Geoff Dixon, but whether the group’s toxic management culture will destroy his replacement Alan Joyce and cripple the carrier.

Qantas shareholders meet next week in faraway Perth — well away from where the majority of shareholders actually live. What is Qantas hiding from?

As the final annual reports trickle in, the truly horrific picture of just how much Australia’s richest CEOs were paid last year is being fully revealed.

Earlier this week Qantas confessed to shareholders it paid former CEO Geoff Dixon $10.7 million for five months work. Not only were the payments extremely high, they were also largely unwarranted.

As profits took a tumble, former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon earned almost $11 million for nine months’ work in the last financial year, four of them as a consultant. Current CEO Alan Joyce must be looking on wistfully.

Qantas landed its record before tax profit of $1.408 billion amidst the damage maintenance issues have done to the carrier’s reputation, writes Ben Sandilands.

The firestorm surrounding Beyond Blue chair Jeff Kennett has taken a new twist: a check of all the funding grants from Beyond Blue for the last five years has only thrown up one, yes one, grant for g-y and l-sbian mental health, and that was only for $50k for HIV related depression. Other anti-depression groups, such as […]

Alan Joyce’s ascension to the top job at Qantas means that Australia’s most iconic brand is now being managed for an expat. An Irish airline can’t buy Qantas but an Irishman can run it, writes .

Fancy turfing CEO Geoff Dixon straight after the worst Qantas safety incident in history and not even giving him some quotes in today’s CEO succession press release, writes Stephen Mayne.

The appointment of Alan Joyce, the CEO of Jetstar, as the new Qantas CEO, comes as a shock, writes Ben Sandilands.

The Liberals aren’t happy with Jamie Briggs winning the Mayo pre-selection. He’s an outsider and not a local. Local Liberals are now worried that the seat could seriously be lost to the Greens given the retirement of Downer. Labor will pump a huge amount of money into the Greens to try and make some mileage. […]

The Qantas-slashes-itself-lightly media event this morning was the vaguest ever given by its management, writes Ben Sandilands.

Truth is turning into an early casualty as Qantas management, the ACTU and the Australian Licensed Engineers Association get ready for ‘possible’ peace talks on Monday, reports Ben Sandilands.