By Mike Bowen
G’Day from Downunder and Melbourne, the longest lockdown city in the world.
I was totally confused and frustrated after receiving hundreds of phone calls and emails, all looking for clarification on the rules on traveling home, to and from Ireland. Almost everyone said that they were either scared to plan or book flights because the media were sending out constant negative messages regarding flight availability due to lockdowns and lock-out laws. The overdose of negativity that was being pumped out by print and social media was enough to send any sane person into convulsions.
To get clarity for all those who were lost in the confusion of the negative mixed messages, I decided to request an interview with the most prominent Irishman in Australia, Dubliner Alan Joyce. Alan has been at the helm of Qantas, the safest airline in the world, since his appointment as CEO in November 2008.
Having met and interviewed Alan a number of times over the past twelve years, I know he’s a no-nonsense person and there would be no ifs, buts or maybes in his replies to my questions. Alan would have to be the busiest person in Australia with the massive task of getting Qantas back in the skies after the devastating damage caused by Covid-19 and the lockouts of some Australian states. The sort of man Alan Joyce is, nothing short of extraordinary considering the demand on his time with the enormous task ahead. Yet, within twenty-four hours of my request to his office I received a reply granting me time with the busiest person in Australia. His office at Qantas headquarters in Sydney was to be the venue for our meeting.
I set off early from Melbourne and headed to the airport in torrential rain for my 9 am flight and mid-day meeting in Sydney.
The sad sight of seeing the empty Qantas check-in departure hall was a scary reminder of the devastating affect Covid-19 and the lockdowns have had on the aviation industry. Empty check-in halls equate to empty flights and empty flights equate to vanishing airlines, and gave me a stark reminder of why I was heading to Sydney get answers, and some assurances, from Alan for all those seeking clarity and were anxious to travel again.
I’m sure that my arrival at Qantas HQ gave the receptionist the impression that I was an arctic explorer with me wearing layers of clothing to fend off the torrential rains that must have followed me from Melbourne.
To my surprise I was greeted with a “welcome Mr. Bowen one of our senior managers from Corporate Affairs will be with you in a few minutes.” I was happy to hand over my overnight baggage and dislodge my Uggie bear clothing to show more formal business attire. A warm welcome, a treated coffee and a prior briefing before meeting Alan.
I was shown into the Board room to be greeted with a warm Irish handshake by Alan. “Welcome Mike,” he said in a typical Dublin accent. “I see you brought the good weather with you.” I replied yes I did, I thought you might have missed the rain. After the formals and a few laughs we settle at the table to go through some of the readers concerns.
Mike Bowen (MB): Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to clarify some of the unclear messages that are clouding air traveler’s fear to travel. I have a short list of questions, from some of the hundreds of inquiries I received.
Alan Joyce (AJ): I’m more than happy to give clarity to those concerns.
MB: The most asked question Alan is, ‘is it safe to travel?’
AJ: We are making it as safe as we possibility can.
MB: Is full vaccination required to fly Qantas International?
AJ: Yes, but we have medical exceptions defined by a target. You can apply to our medical team to get an exemption, we have a requirement of a double dose full vax, before you travel. The Qantas policy for children is the same as the Australian Government’s.
MB: Will passenger numbers be limited on international flights and if so how will that impact the price of airfares.
AJ: In terms of airfares, what we’re doing now is trying to put as many of the aircraft back in the air as we can to get our people back to work. I’ve said repeatedly over the last year, that our major objective is not to make money in the short term but to generate cash and that means that airfares are going to be very attractive. Airfares will become competitive once more airlines take to the skies.
MB: I downloaded my vaccination certificate from the Vic health site and put a copy in both Irish and Australian passports. Is that right or will we have to have a government stamp showing we have been vaccinated?
AJ: The requirements in a lot of countries are that you will have to show that you are fully vaccinated; we’re trying to make it easier with the IATA digital pass that we will be launching before Christmas. It will allow you to upload the documents needed by each of the governments that you’re going to and will make it clear what they are. We’re making the vaccination system is as automated as we can. With the new system, we will let you know a week before you travel what the requirements are and again four days later before travel, also another reminder seventy-four hours before you travel. We’ll hold your hand through the process as you’re traveling to tell you what you need to do for the various countries that you may be traveling to.
MB: Will there be any changes in the Frequent Flyers program?
AJ: The big changes that we made are that there are 50% more ‘Classic Flight Reward’ seats available on international and domestic flights, then we had this big sale a couple of weeks ago of Frequent Flyer points and there were half a billion points redeemed in one day. In the first two weeks of October we had two point seven billion points redeemed, one chap, a fairly industrious individual, booked 38 flights in the one day using his Frequent Flyer points.
We will be making a lot more available and that’s one of the reasons why we brought back our A380s to make more premium seats available for people to upgrade going to LA and London.
MB: Will I be able to fly direct to New York from Melbourne on Qantas as I did before Covid? I well remember flying to New York back in May 2010 for the ten-year anniversary edition of The Irish Connections Magazine that had published the story /interview I did of yourself at the Irish Embassy there. I think that that was the second A380 flight to the US at that time. I was privileged to interview Captain John Killingback on that flight over.
AJ: Yes, we will be reentering New York in early 2022 or maybe a little later. New York is very important to Qantas and our intent is to get New York back again. Our customers love it, it’s a great service route for us as we had a huge amount of traffic out of New York before Covid. Qantas had a 787 service from LA to New York that was always full.
MB: Will Qantas have a domestic servicing in the USA?
AJ: We can only pick up people coming and going to Australia. I often think Mike, if we could pick up local traffic there we could kill it but local traffic is a lockout for us.
MB: Have you been to the USA recently?
AJ: Yes I have. On my recent visit there we talked about Chicago/New York. Qantas sees the huge potential of the American tourist returning to our shores. That would be very helpful in rebalancing whatever losses we might have from the Chinese fallout. The Americans see us as one of the safest countries in the world to visit, so we’re keen to break back into the US tourism market, starting in April. We think it will be very big here, much the same as it was before Covid.
MB: So a Qantas Australia, Chicago service looks like coming on line?
AJ: One exciting plan we had before Covid hit us was that we were going to start flying to Chicago. which was due to begin in March. Our intention now is, to restart that in the early part of 2022, pending how the market recovers. That will be quite exciting for our American customers also.
MB: Alan, as we were speaking about the USA, Paddy McCarthy the publisher of the Irish Examiner USA, who is also on the New York St Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, asked me to ask you would you ever consider attending the parade there?
AJ: Yes there is a possibility that I could be there. I’ve never seen the St Patrick’s Day Parade. If all the planets can line up for it, that would be on the cards. I’ll let you know.
MB: If the traveling public seek further information can they access it from the Qantas Web site?
AJ: Qantas has a very informative website that is regularly updated.
MB: Will you be able to get in and out of Ireland next year, to visit your favorite restaurant, ‘Fishy Fishy’ in Kinsale?
AJ: I expect to, I’ll have my fingers crossed also to make sure.
MB: Thank you again Alan for taking time out of your frantic schedule to meet with me. I wish you and your Qantas family all the very best and safe flying.
AJ: You’re always welcome at Qantas Mike, you do a great job for your readers, the traveling public and Qantas.
Until next time be good to those who love you and Slainté from Downunder