Due to a lack of workers, Qantas has urged top executives to quit their comfortable positions and work full-time as luggage handlers for up to three months.
The airline was searching for at least 100 managers to work in a range of airport jobs for up to five days a week, Colin Hughes, the chief operational officer, wrote to high-level personnel last 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.
The airline’s COO added, “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.
Alan Joyce, the CEO, makes $2 million a year in salary and incentives paid in shares. The value of his 669,000 shares is $3.7 million.
In the 2021 fiscal year, Andrew David, the domestic and international CEO of Qantas, and Gareth Evans, the CEO of Jetstar, both received a basic pay of $1.4 million.
CFO Vanessa Hudson and Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth each made $1.25 million in base pay.
According to statistics from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, QantasLink topped the list of flights cancelled in April of this year with 591, followed closely by Qantas with 426.
With one out of every 13 Qantas flights cancelled in May, that number increased to 7.6% of all flights, up from 5.1% in April.
However, Qantas disclosed in a statement to the ASX in June that four senior executives will get additional compensation in the form of company shares for a combined total of more than $4 million.
While Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans will earn $1.22 million, Qantas domestic and international CEO Andrew David will receive $1.15 million, and Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth will be eligible for $985,000 in stock, Qantas CFO Vanessa Hudson will receive $1.15 million.
If the executives accomplish their performance goals, the bonuses will be paid in August 2023; however, Mr. Evans has since resigned.
In late 2020, the Transport Workers Union sued Qantas when it was determined that the airline had fired approximately 2,000 ground crew members, cleaners, and luggage handlers without authorization before contracting out those positions to foreign firms like Swissport.
Qantas is appealing the Federal Court’s ruling that the airline had broken the law in the High Court.
With a goal of wiping $1 billion off the airline’s books, CEO Alan Joyce has been working to reduce expenses. The majority of it was paid to the employees.
Customers continue to complain misplaced baggage, long hold times at contact centres, cancelled flights, and a lack of employee communication as operational problems.