International airlines should operate more services to and from Australia to challenge Qantas, says AirTrunk founder and billionaire Robin Khuda, after claiming his Monday flight to Los Angeles was repeatedly delayed.
Taking to LinkedIn on Monday afternoon, Khuda said his Qantas Sydney-Los Angeles flight, scheduled for departure at 5:45pm, was pushed back three times.
Data from airline tracking service FlightAware shows the QF11 service ultimately departed at 7.33pm, nearly two hours behind schedule.
SmartCompany understands a mechanical issue caused the delay.
Khuda feared the delays would likely cause him to miss a connecting flight between Los Angeles and Seattle, scheduled for 5:36pm local time.
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QF11 touched down in Los Angeles at 4.30pm local time, two hours after its scheduled 2.25pm landing.
“It’s hard to get excited about flying Qantas – old outdated planes, never on time,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“3 delays in same afternoon (and maybe more to come?) and will probably miss my connecting flight and dealing with stress.”
Khuda argued Qantas put “record profit before basic customer service”, which he believes is “a recipe for a long-term disaster of our national airline.”
International competitors should be encouraged to fly more services into and out of Australia, sparking further competition for the Australian carrier, he added.
“Let’s bring more flights from Emirates, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines to improve customer services out of Australia,” he said.
After this report was first published Tuesday morning, Khuda told SmartCompany he missed his originally scheduled connecting flight, and instead pushed out to a later flight to his final destination.
Other delayed QF11 passengers were also moved to later flights.
In a statement provided after first publication, a Qantas spokesperson said the airline has contacted the AirTrunk founder.
“We appreciate this would have been a really frustrating experience for Mr Khuda and have reached out to him to apologise and understand how we can improve our customer service in situations like this moving forward,” they said.
Sky-high competition
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Khuda’s recommendation comes three months after Australia’s Virgin Airlines formally began its partnership with Qatar Airlines, operating services to Doha — a major transit hub connecting Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
The partnership is tipped to provide more competition to Qantas for business travelers and holidaymakers.
But after its 2020 collapse, a US private equity buyout, and its recent listing on the ASX, Virgin Airlines, has some way to go before its international network reaches Qantas’ scale.
Qantas reported pre-tax profits of $2.39 billion in its latest annual report, compared to Virgin’s net profits after tax of $331 million.
That is not to say Qantas is totally naive to public concerns over its customer service.
After struggling with service delays and lost baggage in recent COVID-affected years, Qantas itself has acknowledged the continued reputational risk of poor customer service.
In its annual results, Qantas said, “frequent cancellations, poor on-time performance (OTP), and mishandled baggage could negatively impact customer satisfaction and harm the Group’s reputation.”
The carrier is also wary of other market participants, particularly those with deep pockets.
“Australia’s aviation policies, which favour competition, attract international competitors (predominantly state-sponsored airlines),” it said, referencing carriers like Qatar Airlines — which is fully owned by the Qatari government.
Khuda’s post has resonated with followers on LinkedIn, a historical hotbed of complaints about Qantas.
One commenter had different advice for Khuda, whose personal fortune was estimated at $2.5 billion after selling the Sydney-based AirTrunk for $23 billion sale last year.
“Mate you are a billionaire now,” the poster said.
“Fly private”.
