Men Who Killed Qantas - Matthew Benns [50]
The exact financial nature of the relationship has never been made public. Qantas would only say that the details of their arrangement were confidential. But there is speculation that, in return for his endorsement, Travolta receives Qantas landing rights at airports, and possibly other advantages such as fuel and insurance. He certainly uses the Qantas facilities to keep up his own and his co-pilots’ 747 pilot proficiency levels. ‘There’s a big Qantas building at the airport and in that building there’s the latest up-to-date simulators for the 747 and we go over there and do it,’ Travolta said. ‘They throw simulated dangers at you. One after another. All day long you are bombarded by fake emergencies, but you have to treat them as though they’re really happening to you so your heart pounds, your adrenalin goes but you handle it.’24 He explained that his love of flying was the reason he only ever acted in movies. ‘That’s why I don’t produce or direct because the time I take to keep up my hours and professional profile as a pilot would be the time I would be producing and directing. You can’t do both. You can be a hired actor and be a professional pilot, but you can’t be a hired actor, producer, director and still be a professional pilot. There’s not enough time in the day. Whenever I’m finished with a movie then I have to dedicate so much time to the flying to keep proficiency.’25
He also has to devote time to helping Qantas promote the airline. In October 2008 he turned up in full uniform with Australian Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John at Los Angeles airport to give the new Airbus A380 super jumbo a Hollywood red-carpet welcome. His attendance helped generate worldwide publicity for the airline. Dixon was on hand to tuck into meat pies and sausage rolls with the Hollywood mate to whom he first presented a pair of Qantas golden wings in 2002.
Meanwhile, back in the less glamorous world of running an airline business, and before Travolta came on board, Strong and his team had won a lot of admirers for the way they steered Qantas through the Asian economic crisis of 1998 without a loss. In fact Qantas profits rose on average 15.5 per cent a year from the time Strong took over. In 1999 the cost of fuel around the world increased by 44 per cent but Qantas managed to offset that by putting in a hedging strategy that cut the effect of the hike in fuel costs by 80 per cent. The net profit after tax for that year was a record $517.9 million.
Even so, Qantas faced a number of challenges. Richard Branson’s Virgin Blue started up, joining Impulse Airlines in battering Qantas and Ansett with cheap fares on major domestic routes. Costs started to rise with landing charges at Sydney airport going up and the airline needed to commit itself to upgraded planes, which cost an awful lot of money.
Little wonder that when Dixon won the internal fight with Toomey and succeeded Strong in the CEO’s office, a cartoon at the time depicted Dixon at the joystick of a flaming Qantas aircraft with Strong wearing a parachute and preparing to jump out. It was the ‘proverbial shit sandwich’. But Dixon had been hoping and longing for the role. His mate Singleton said: ‘It’s not often when you’re older than the CEO you’ll ever get the chance, you know; and Geoff and I often discussed the frustration of him probably never getting a shot at this and, if he didn’t what he would do. We discussed all sorts of options and then, when he got the job, it was like someone who makes the Australian team when they didn’t think much of their chances.’26
Former Qantas company secretary Stephen Heesh told the Australian Financial Review: ‘There was a sense of “I wonder how he’ll go?” Personally, I thought,