At SYD at the moment and saw a Virgin Australia 777 under the call sign Velocity 9949 to SIN.

No wonder Qantas management cries foul! It might be an icon, it might be the second oldest airline in the world but if its not playing on a level playing field how can anybody expect it to make money? Alan Joyce or even Tim Clarke isnt going to fix it unless their competitors are playing the same game as Qantas is. I understand if Qantas needs to be saved as an Australian icon but pepole need to understand that sometimes that might not exactly mean that its the most profitable airline in the world. It can be like the car industry where the goverment helps for awhile until they decide to not go any futher.

Atleast the falling AUD would mean that keeping operations here wont be not as expensive as sending it overseas. 

No wonder Qantas management cries foul! It might be an icon, it might be the second oldest airline in the world but if its not playing on a level playing field how can anybody expect it to make money? Alan Joyce or even Tim Clarke isnt going to fix it unless their competitors are playing the same game as Qantas is. I understand if Qantas needs to be saved as an Australian icon but pepole need to understand that sometimes that might not exactly mean that its the most profitable airline in the world. It can be like the car industry where the goverment helps for awhile until they decide to not go any futher.

Atleast the falling AUD would mean that keeping operations here wont be not as expensive as sending it overseas. 

Alot of information here! thanks for sharing guys :-)