Before the airline invited its top executives to act as luggage handlers in an internal email earlier this month, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was seen working with ground personnel on a tarmac while wearing a high visibility jacket.
The photo of Joyce was shot during a routine general visit by the CEO to frontline staff, a Qantas spokeswoman informed Daily Mail Australia.
Joyce, it is believed, was visiting teams on the ground to get input on how the airline was operating rather than acting as a luggage handler.
Colin Hughes, the airline’s chief operational officer, wrote to senior personnel after the picture was taken to let them know that at least 100 managers were needed to fill a range of airport positions for up to five days a week.
There is “no expectation that you would opt into this function in addition to your full-time work,” according to Mr. Hughes, but he said that it was a necessary reaction to the mounting criticism of Qantas’ capacity to meet passenger demand.
According to Mr. Hughes’ letter, “during your participation in the contingency programme, you’ll be an embedded resource inside the ground handling partners.”
This implies that our grand handling partners will oversee and monitor you throughout the live operations, provide you a roster, and schedule you to operate.
Executives would be shown sorting luggage, checking baggage tags, and even operating luggage tugs on the tarmac in the episode.
The unprecedented plan called for management to load up aircraft with passengers’ possessions and shuttle goods between flights.
“It’s our single corporate goal to assist our colleagues as they restore our operation to its proper state and provide our customers the airline experience they deserve,” Mr. Hughes wrote.
The “contingency plan,” according to Qantas, was a reaction to failing to live up to consumers’ expectations.
A spokesman told Daily Mail Australia, “We’ve been clear that our operational performance hasn’t been up to the standards that we demand of ourselves or our clients, and that we’ve been pulling out all the stops to enhance our performance.”
Since Easter, some 200 employees from the head office have volunteered at airports during high travel times, as we have done in the past at busy times.
“We’re continuing that contingency planning throughout our airport operations for the next three months as we handle the implications of a record flu season and continued COVID cases mixed with the tightest labour market in decades.”
Although Qantas said the message was given to top executives, it is unknown at this time if any of the airline’s highest-paid executives had been requested to carry passengers’ baggage.
Joyce has taken some significant initiatives to attempt to enhance operational performance in response to mounting criticism of Qantas’ capacity to meet passenger demand as air travel returns to normal after Covid.
This includes adding more than 1,500 new employees since April, with more than 80% of them working in operational positions like engineers and cabin staff.
To aid luggage crews, Qantas will also extend the minimum connection time between domestic aircraft arriving in Melbourne and Sydney and leaving international flights from 60 minutes to 90 minutes.
The airline is hoping that by doing this, the number of mishandled luggage, which is still higher than pre-COVID levels, would decline.
Nine mishandled bags are handled for every 1,000 consumers at this time. Prior to COVID, it ranged from 5 to 6 per 1,000.
The fact that our operational performance hasn’t been up to the quality that our customers are used to, or that we demand of ourselves, despite the many valid reasons for this, according to Mr. Joyce, is the basic reality.
“We are implementing extra measures to return to our best, which have been moulded by input from our frontline workers who are doing an incredible job under trying conditions,” the company said.
Restoring our operations to their pre-COVID levels and keeping a strong emphasis on safety are our top priorities, he said.