iscover
Qantas Group shares rebounded to $2.65 on Friday afternoon, as investors backed the airline despite the previous day’s huge cuts.
Shares closed out Friday on $2.36, after nearly dipping below the $2 mark when Qantas announced it was grounding all international flights and temporarily suspending 20,000 staff.
Pundits have suggested the surge may reflect confidence in strong approaches taken by chief executive Alan Joyce and senior Qantas management.
Joyce recently defended his decision to temporarily stand down 20,000 of the company’s 30,000 employees.
He said, “We’re not making people redundant and we’re trying this mechanism to make sure we can get through and survive and they have a job at the end of the day.”
The policy allows Qantas staff to use up their leave and/or long service leave while the airline’s fleet remains largely grounded.
“Some people have months of leave so will be paid for months,” Joyce added.
“Some people have very little leave and what we are allowing people also to do is take up net four weeks of negative leave. We will pay for that and that gives them the next four weeks.”
Meanwhile, Virgin stocks fell 5 per cent as speculation mounts as to whether the government would bail out the airline.
