Owen Zupp is an accomplished journalist and author that has written for some of the worlds leading aviation publications. He maintains an active interest in General Aviation when he’s not commanding a Qantas 737.
Owen recently posted a message to family and friends on his personal Facebook page addressing their concerns for him during Qantas industrial action. A friend of mine in Hong Kong sent me Owen’s text in an email. Owen’s message had gone viral! He’s given me permission to repost it here.
It should be understood that this is a personal message and Owen initially had no intention for it to be read outside of close family and friends.
It’s nice to see that the Qantas flight crew maintain a firm grasp on reality… even if their CEO doesn’t.
We’ll talk to Owen another time on other aviation related bits and pieces.
Attention. The world has not ended.
Thanks for all the well-intentioned phone calls, emails and FB messages about the recent events at QANTAS, but I feel there has to be some perspective offered. Millions are facing starvation in the Horn of Africa, our troops are losing their lives in Afghanistan and every day children everywhere are fighting the brave fight against terminal illnesses.
As my fellow Ambulance Officer FB friends will testify, we are all so much better off than a range of folks. I only spent four years in the service, starting at nineteen, but it gave me enough perspective and sense of appreciation to last a lifetime.
Am I happy with the events taking place at my workplace? Definitely not, but neither am I shocked. I witnessed the ’89 dispute at fairly close range as a young charter pilot flying across the country while major airports stood at a standstill. In 2001 my airline career went majorly backwards when Ansett collapsed and overnight I went from having a 737 command in sight to joining the queue at Centrelink. Life goes on and things have still worked out well; even if not as planned.
Ultimately, it is a job and it comes an extremely distant second to my family. I am passionate about flying and aviation; from its history, to the wind in the wires of an old biplane, or those crisp sunrises from 37,000 feet. I’ve strapped my backside into around 70 different types of aircraft for around 17,000 hours of my life and cherished nearly every moment. Worst case, if the balloon went up tomorrow I’d fly something somewhere for somebody and it doesn’t have to be a Boeing. In fact a Piper Cub doing laps of a western NSW airfield holds real appeal. Or I might return to the noble pursuits of the Paramedic ranks. Who knows?
I feel for my workmates and their families and the uncertainty that is hovering around. I have seen it before as Ansett slowly unwound and it is not a pleasant situation. Nevertheless, for me, the bottom line is that I have the world’s best wife and the world’s best kids living in the world’s best country. Thanks for the well intentioned calls and emails, but really, life’s good.
Related posts:
- Qantas to Resume Operations – Industrial Action Terminated by FWA
- QF30 and CASA
- Alan Joyce audio from the Qantas Press Conference (grounding the airline): 29th October 2011
- New Qantas Advertising Campaign
- Qantas QF32 A380 Damage
- Jetstar Inaugural Service into Fiji
- Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO, on Inside Business
About Marty
Dear Aviators,
Its not nice to see whats happening at Qantas and its totally unnecessary,,because Qantas management
practices are just plainly Anal.They dont make sense and are based on American founded union busting practices that are un humane and cruel ..and thats what joyce is doing here in this great country/
Jetstar and the flying fat lady miss dubanski was created to union bust the quality staff Qantas has and the graet airline qantas was because of this Anal manager called A Joyce.
They are charging more for Jetsar fares and if they could they would charge you
to go to the restroom .Qantas fares seem to be lower ..you fly with the grat Airline it always was and you get all the perks for less money..try to work the mentality of Qantas management… to ruin an Aussie icon that identifies living and grat Austalians for an ugly cheap Union busting Airline like Jetstar…
absolutely crazy.
thanks for your time now you know the truth ..thats how great Airlines like Eastern in the USA was destroyed by union busting anal practices that dont take into account anything only the bottom line and the new Harvard way of management ..no common sense
John, I honestly believe you should leave the conversation for the grown ups. Are you a union stooge who’s still butt-hurt by the Industrial Relation Commissions decision?
Not once in your ad hominem attack about Alan Joyce did you actually cite a specific example of Alan Joyce’s managerial strategies that have allegedly busted any union. I think you should take off the rose coloured glasses and see just how Qantas was being bled to death by a thousand cuts thanks to the unscrupulous behaviour of the TWU, and how AJ had no other choice than to force the federal government (which had repeatedly ignored Qantas’ pleas for help) to act by grounding the fleet.
You mention airlines like Eastern, but I think you’ll find that these airlines fail to exist because they failed to evolve with the times and deliver a desirable product over their rivals – just like Qantas. People want choice John, and when there’s 3 other airlines offering the same product with the addition of reliability, it should be no wonder why over 40% of QF’s loyal passengers decided to fly with someone else during the dispute, especially since so many who stayed loyal to the brand were regularly delayed and inconvenienced by QF staff.
BTW, you should spell check your submissions before hitting the “Post Comment” button, it will prevent many thinking you’re a fool.
I wrote a 2000 word reply to your comment in support of some of the comments John made before I decided it was just easier to call you.
It’s no secret that the Joyce agenda was always to Jetstarise Qantas and destroy any and all union ‘control ‘over the airline. It’s little surprise that John Borghetti was not successful with his claim to the CEO throne when the strategies of the two individuals are diametrically opposed. Borghetti wanted to create a competitive airline. Joyce wants to destroy it.
Marty, it’s gone way beyond the strategic prowess of either Borghetti or Joyce, since the introduction of the “Fair Work Australia” act, it’s become a hotbed of union activism – all condoned and legislated by the federal government. Just as we’ve all seen with various unions such as the teachers union, the police unions and all manner of public service, industrial action has risen over 400% since the introduction of such retrograde legislation. We have literally not seen as much industrial action since the 1970′s, and we have a house of cards government held together by factions and powerbrokers which is intent in not upsetting anybody in the left factions such as the unions. The political scene has directly affected Qantas’s bottom line, and as I mentioned earlier pleas by Qantas to the government to intervene in solving such a hostile union campaign were ignored for the reason I outlined above.
Like all airlines Qantas is a business of high turnover, low relative yield. If its customer base and therefore sales are shrinking thanks to industrial disputes, and costs are going up markedly thanks to wage claims and strikes, then it’s a pretty simple equation as to what will happen i.e. Less money plus higher costs equals a loss, and eventually the creditors are going to call the administrators.
Laying the blame squarely at Alan Joyces feet is naive in the extreme; are we forgetting the shareholders meeting the day before where his proposals for the airline into the future received a whopping 98% support from investors? I tell you solemnly, it is completely ignorant of us to lay blame at one individual who has been given the task of fixing something of which there are hundreds happy to see destroyed in order to prove a vainglorious point.