Borghetti rejects "absurd" Qantas allegations
Qantas’ objections to Virgin Australia’s $350 foreign capital injection have been branded “offensive and absurd” by chief executive John Borghetti at the airline’s annual general meeting.
Speaking to shareholders in Queensland’s Fortitude Valley, Borghetti rejected claims the airline is driven by unsustainably low pricing and “irrational” behavior.
“When you bring competition to a monopoly, prices do go down. If this is affecting our competitor’s bottom line, I am not going to apologise,” he said.
“Australian travellers and the Australian economy are benefiting and ultimately, shareholders will too.”
Meanwhile, Borghetti celebrated the airline’s achievements in transitioning to the SabreSonic reservations system, the acquisition of Skywest and a 60% stake in Tigerair Australia in the space of one year – the third year of its five year Game Change Program strategy.
“Any one of these initiatives in any given year would be deemed significant,” he said. “The fact that we were able to complete all three, in a difficult market, is a credit to all of our team members.”
The swathe of changes over the course of the year mean the carrier is poised for growth going forward, according to Borghetti.
He outlined priorities for the coming year as the optimisation of its investments in Tigerair Australia and Skywest, a strong balance sheet and accelerating its global growth through platforms such as SabreSonic and Velocity Frequent Flyer.
Excluding Tigerair Australia, Virgin will achieve its domestic capacity guidance of between 3% and 4% in the first half of the 2014 financial year, Borghetti revealed.
However, he declined to provide guidance beyond H1, saying only that the airline is focused on “maintaining the flexibility to adjust to changing market demand”, with corporate growth high on the agenda.
“And, given the uncertain economic environment, we reiterate that we are unable to provide profit guidance for the 2014 financial year at this time.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
agm airlines john borghetti qantas virgin australiaLatest News
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