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March 12, 2007
Once you privatise a publicly owned business in a globalised world, then that means the shareholders take over, the business is driven by the dynamics of the market, and it is susceptible to private equity takeover. What is put in place the foreign ownership cap for iconic companies--to ensure that there will always be a majority Australian ownership of Qantas.
Alan Moir
Remaining globally competitive becomes the key objective and so it is no suprise that Qantas is looking to move " its long-haul heavy maintenance work overseas Air New Zealand and United Airlines have done the same. It is likely that jobs in catering, flight operations, administration, IT support services will also move offshore. They have to reduce costs in order to remain competitive.
So why protect Qantas, its high prices and gouging the Australian consumer? Why not adopt the price and performance mantra of private equity and, say that if Qantas is an airline run for private profit, then the government shouldn't continue its protection of a commercial operation from competition. So lets let Singapore Airlines compete in Australia and across the Pacific.
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I am one of those who pays 42% more for a ticket so Qantas and United can have a protected market. We usually try and find the best deal we can and it ends up around $1400 to $1600 USD a person. Not cool, especially when DC to London is $350 USD. Am I going to fly east or west given economic choice?