It is revealed that some senior executives at Qantas will give up their high-profile careers in order to take on positions as ground handlers as part of a plan to address manpower shortages.
Colin Hughes, the chief operational officer of the troubled airline, wrote an internal letter to staff in which he informed them that the company is seeking expressions of interest for a contingency plan that will take place over the next three months.
Mr. Hughes noted that those who responded to the expression of interest will be taught and rostered into the ramp environment at both Sydney and Melbourne airports.
Beginning in the middle of August, these individuals will provide support to our ground handling partners, who are in charge of overseeing the Qantas operation throughout the course of the next three months.
At least one hundred supervisors will be sought out to assist with the sorting and scanning of bags as well as the transportation of luggage.
Mr. Hughes continued by saying that “there is no expectation that you will opt into this role in addition to your full-time position.”
Following the firing of at least 1600 luggage handlers during the lockdown, the decision was made to outsource the service to third-party organisations. The decision was made despite the fact that the Federal Court determined that this practise was unlawful.
Before the judgement was announced, Qantas stated that they will appeal the decision.
The once-proud airline has issued an apology in recent weeks after receiving a slew of complaints from aggravated passengers who have had their flights delayed or cancelled, experienced long queues at airports, and lost their baggage in recent months.
In order to address the concerns, the airline plans to cut back on the amount of flights they operate during the upcoming month and hire additional staff.
While Qantas was making its way back to normal after the COVID-19 lockout, Qantas’ domestic and international chief executive Andrew David admitted that the airline had been experiencing a lot of problems in the recent months.
According to a spokeswoman for Qantas, the company is dedicated to enhancing the quality of its services.
They issued a statement in which they claimed, “We’ve been clear that our operational performance has not been reaching the expectations of our customers or the standards that we expect of ourselves – and that we’ve been pulling out all the stops to enhance our performance.”
Since Easter, about 200 employees from head office have volunteered their time to assist passengers at airports during peak travel periods. This is something that we have done in the past during busy periods.
“While we handle the implications of a record flu season and ongoing COVID cases mixed with the tightest labour market in decades, we are continue that contingency planning across our airport operations for the next three months.” a record flu season and ongoing COVID cases.