Even Jetstar is a better airline than Qantas

IT'S SHOCKING really … but who was surprised that Qantas, having promised to get stranded Australians out of Egypt, left them waiting another 13 hours in the hell of Cairo airport due to "technical problems".

I don't doubt the endless mechanical failures and depressurisation incidents we hear every other day are overblown. No doubt they have always occurred routinely: it's just that passengers armed with Facebook, Twitter and video cameras didn't act as vigilante reporters in days gone by. Still, the dismal diary of "incidents" reported at Qantas is surely filling to the point where the brand - once the best in Australia - is a shadow of its former self.

Moreover, beyond such intangibles as brand decay, there are verifiable facts surrounding Qantas Airways - the ASX-listed holding company that covers all the subsidiaries - which are simply inescapable.

In the case of Qantas International, the company is stuck with archaically old planes and the attempts to refresh the fleet have been delayed, significantly with the dramatic problems in the A380s. The "super jumbos" were shaping up as a potential favourite among travellers until one of them had to make an emergency landing in Asia before Christmas.

The other plain truth about Qantas Airways is that strategically it is being sandwiched - rival global carriers such as Etihad are coming down hard, while its offshoot, Jetstar, is a better business on almost every measure and is moving upmarket.

No surprise then to hear that Alan Joyce, the former Ryanair and Jetstar executive who is head of Qantas Airways, is to run a strategic review of the airline. There is talk of joint ventures, of a renewed thrust into China and other initiatives.

Yet while Joyce hints at these changes, he also comes out with very negative comments about Qantas International - last week he said the division was falling "significantly short of expectations".

Meanwhile, Qantas stock is steady … in fact in recent days, despite a new fuel surcharge, the share price has started to lift. Why? Well, virtually every stockbroker in the market reckons Qantas Airways is a buy - the stock closed for the weekend at $2.41 yet the 12-month price targets from brokers range between $3 and $3.70.

The optimistic forecasts follow suggestions from analysts that Jetstar is now so strong - especially in Asia - it can deal with the drag imposed by Qantas International.

But you'd have to think that Joyce, himself a product of the low-budget Jetstar (and earlier of the ultra low-budget Ryanair), would have to consider closing down Qantas International as a potential way out of the conundrum he faces as boss of the whole show.

Joyce is highly regarded by many in the industry - crucially he has shown the ability to respond in a decisive manner to every issue thrown at him, including the unprecedented spectacle of European airports closed en masse due to clouds of Icelandic volcanic ash.

But would he move to close Qantas International, leaving us with a national airline called Jetstar? … I wouldn't rule it out; Jetstar now has the potential to be a better brand than Qantas.

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