Four Corners: Sept 5

Monday’s Four Corners story “Flight Risk” by Stephen Long, reports the inside story of the decline of Qantas.

Until recently Qantas had a reputation envied by airlines all over the world. But now the Spirit of Australia is in damage control, beset by customer complaints and a demoralised workforce.

“It is gut-wrenching to see the company that we loved end up like this.” Former Qantas worker

On Monday Four Corners reports the inside story of the decline of Qantas. Reporter Stephen Long has spoken to current and former staff including pilots, flight attendants and baggage handlers. They tell a story of ruthless cost cutting and a divide and conquer culture.

“The cuts that have come from the decisions of management have been incredibly, incredibly deep. (It) is now impacting upon not only the customer experience, but … it just makes us feel like we’re disposable and almost like the company hates us.” Flight attendant

While Qantas has blamed its recent problems on labour shortages and COVID illness, current and former staff point to a deliberate corporate strategy to outsource jobs as contributing significantly to the chaos inside the airline.

“I think what’s happened is we’ve taken an AFL standard team of ground handlers and ground staff and what we’ve done is, we’ve actually recruited the under 19s from the local park to replace them.” Pilot

“We’re working longer hours. We are redlining, running at max capacity in a very dynamic, challenging environment. There’s a lot that can go wrong.” Pilot

Monday 5th September at 8.30pm on ABC.