Qantas under fire as it struggles to handle return to normal travel

Australia's national carrier Qantas is under attack after controversies and complaints that have raised concerns about its ability to handle the return to normal travel.

In recent weeks, the airline has been heavily criticised for a series of delays, cancelled flights and lost-baggage incidents, as well as complaints from customers who waited for hours to speak to call centre staff.

There has been an outpouring of public anger towards the airline in the media and on social media, especially after it received generous government support - an estimated A$2 billion (S$1.9 billion) - during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline sacked thousands of workers during lockdowns and border closures, and now appears to be struggling to provide adequate services as travel demand grows.

New data this week showed that it cancelled one in 13 domestic flights last month. Just 62 per cent of its flights arrived on time, behind its main domestic rival Virgin Australia, whose on-time arrivals were 66 per cent. Both were well below the long-term average of 82 per cent.

During Covid-19 shutdowns, Qantas' long-serving chief executive Alan Joyce led the call for the authorities to reopen domestic and international borders, but the airline struggled to maintain its pre-pandemic level of service as travel finally resumed.

Mr Joyce has blamed airports in Australia for some of the problems, such as baggage delays.

Qantas announced yesterday that it will be cutting flights owing to concerns about rising fuel prices.

It will scrap 5 per cent of domestic flights from next month to September, adding to a 10 per cent cut in flights announced last month.

The airline will also give a A$5,000 payment to up to 19,000 employees as it desperately tries to ensure it has enough staff to meet the sudden surge in post-lockdown demand.

Mr Joyce said the one-off payment was intended to acknowledge "the sacrifices our people have made, including long periods of no work and no annual wage increases".

Other airlines and airports have also struggled after emerging from Covid-19 slowdowns. But Qantas has faced particular criticism, especially as it prides itself on its service and reputation.

Mr Joyce's decision to slash staff numbers during the pandemic received widespread media coverage and is now adding to the outrage.

One of the most prominent recent incidents involving the airline occurred last week, when hundreds of passengers due to travel on a long-haul flight from Dallas, Texas, to Sydney were stranded overnight after it was cancelled because of an engineering issue.

Many of them spent the night at the airport and were angered by the airline's lack of communication and support.

One passenger, Ms Brynn O'Brien, wrote on Twitter: "This is more a word of warning than a consumer complaint. @qantas isn't what it used to be."

The airline later apologised to passengers for the inconvenience.

Qantas and other airlines are now bracing themselves for Australia's busy July school holiday period, which has raised concerns about a repeat of the travel chaos during the April holidays, when queues for check-in and security sometimes snaked outside airport terminals.

Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said the July holidays were set to be busier than the April holidays.

"It's terrific to see the ongoing demand for air travel," he told reporters this week. "But we won't sugar-coat the fact that the terminals will be busy during the school holidays, and there will be queues."

In a market update yesterday, Qantas thanked "customers for their patience and understanding while the airline works through what has been a challenging restart for the industry globally".

But there are growing questions about whether some of its problems have been self-inflicted.

Sydney Morning Herald journalist Anne Hyland wrote in an opinion column yesterday: "Other transport companies and even the hospitality industry have come out of a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, but some would argue they are doing a better job at meeting their customers' expectations than Qantas."