geoff dixon - Orient Aviation

COVER STORY
evolving and Dixon told Orient Aviation he
now favours a model similar to those to have
emerged in Europe, such as Air France/KLM
and Lufthansa/Swiss. “I am quite attracted
to the way in which KLM and Air France put
their carriers together, kept the brands and
kept the managements together.
“If you see their results they are
continually upping the benefits from those
projected when they originally set out on that
journey,” he said.
It is an issue Dixon has often discussed
with Jackson. “If there was an opportunity
to consolidate with a partner that suited
us and we suited them, then it is certainly
something we would look at. But I think
any consolidation, excepting in extreme
circumstances where one of the airlines has
literally fallen over, would always involve
keeping national brands,” he said.
On the issue of Qantas’ multiple forays
into the LCC business, Dixon denies it has
made the company too diverse. “A lot of
others have been just as diverse, but many
have retreated. British Airways had Go
but (sold it and) retreated. The Americans
have all tried LCCs. SIA have got Tiger
and already had Silk Air. They have got
themselves. Is that any different to what
Qantas has got Not really. They don’t have
a domestic operation, but they do have an
equivalent, which is the Singapore-Malaysia
route.”
The core Qantas airline mainline product
will not be diluted and will continue to be
the central and largest part of operations, he
insisted. “It will give up some of the leisure
routes and already has. But principally it will
be much, much bigger than Jetstar and always
will be. Qantas international is still growing
and it will grow on routes where we believe
there is a developing business market, such
as in China and India,” said Dixon.
“We are hoping that as we get new aircraft,
be it the B787 or A350, Qantas itself will go
back into some European destinations. I
still see the biggest growth area as being
Qantas.”
There has to be a realisation that Qantas is
not, by any stretch of the imagination, a hub
carrier, he said. “Whatever experts may say,
we are a carrier on an island with a limited
home population base and we must do it
differently to a hub carrier or a European
carrier with literally hundreds of millions
of people around.
“We are, in our own way, for better or
worse, unique. For worse, it makes it a lot
more difficult to mount the sort of operations
that a hub carrier like an Emirates, or a
Singapore or a Cathay can.
“For the better, we have an incredibly
strong domestic operation which we have
shored up and that gives us additional
strength,” said Dixon.
‘If there was an opportunity to
consolidate with a partner that
suited us and we suited them,
then it is certainly something
we would look at’
Geoff Dixon
A
former journalist and Australian
government information officer,
Geoff Dixon, 62, was appointed
chief executive and managing director of
Qantas Airways in March 2001.
He joined the airline in 1994 and
has had responsibility for all commercial
activities, including worldwide sales and
marketing, network development, revenue
management, fleet planning, cabin crew,
customer service, product development
and airline alliances.
Before Qantas, he was director of
marketing and industry sales at Ansett
Australia and had also been general
manager of marketing and corporate
affairs at Australian Airlines, the
government-owned domestic carrier
that was later merged with Qantas. In
both positions he was responsible for a
wide range of commercial and customer
service activities.
Where would he like Qantas to be
positioned by the time he departs: “This has
got to be a pragmatic business. I have a vision
for Qantas. I run Qantas with a long-term
aim, but a short-term focus. I would hope
that we would have bedded down a longterm
fleet plan.
“I would hope the company would be in
good enough financial shape to meet that
commitment to new equipment from its
own resources, from cash flow and working
capital.
“I am hoping that Jetstar International
will be on the board because we do believe
that is a genuine option. I say again, I don’t
think we are putting complexity into the
business.
“We are taking complexity out of the
main business and saying there are markets
out there that we can take advantage of
through different vehicles.”
For an airline to survive 85 years, let
alone prosper and grow, is a remarkable
feat, particularly when you consider the
more recent historical events of global
aviation, commented Dixon. But the key to
future success will be change.
“We feel the force of globalization. The
world is changing and we have to change with
it. Flexibility and efficiencies are essential
to ensuring we are successful in seeing that
change through,” said Dixon.
DIXON: A BIOGRAPHY
Prior to his career in the airline
industry, Dixon worked for an arm of the
Australian Government Overseas Service
(the Australia Information Service) in
Australia and in postings (for nine years)
to Australian Government missions in The
Hague, New York and San Francisco. He
has also worked in the mining and media
industries.
He is a member of the Qantas safety,
environment and security committee,
chairman of a number of controlled entities
of the Qantas Group and chairman of the
Singapore-based company, OrangeStar
Investment Holdings Pte Ltd, which owns
the value-based carriers, Jetstar Asia and
Valuair.
Dixon is also a director of Leighton
Holdings Limited and Fiji national flag
carrier, Air Pacific. He is on the governing
board of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA).
26 ORIENT AVIATION DECEMBER 2005-JANUARY 2006