By Ben Schneiders Matt O'sullivan
PILOTS will appeal directly to Qantas shareholders to vote down the airline's remuneration report and also vote against the re-election of four directors.
In a new campaign to start today, the Australian and International Pilots Association will
launch a website, qantasshareholders.com, which will tell shareholders how to assign a proxy and vote against key motions at the October 28 annual meeting.
The association's vice-president, Richard Woodward, said the union had received support from the public and disgruntled shareholders and now wanted to harness this.
''We are genuinely trying to get the remuneration package overturned,'' he said. ''Our pilots are incredibly concerned about the fact they've been blamed for the downturn at Qantas while at the same time Alan Joyce and his team have rewarded themselves with outrageous pay rises.''
Analysts at Macquarie Equities estimate that the disruptions from the work stoppages since August have cost Qantas between $10 million and $20 million in lost revenue and other costs. Analysts also warn that Qantas risks handing to Virgin Australia a bigger share of the lucrative premium travel market at a time when its rival is improving its services and products.
Virgin has about a 13 per cent share of Australia's corporate travel market, and wants to raise it to 20 per cent in the next two years.
''We suspect Virgin is in a far better position from a product and service perspective to retain some of these passengers, given the domestic business-class roll out, lounge revamps and improved Velocity frequent-flyer program,'' analysts said.
But one of the biggest worries for Qantas will be a growing backlog of planes needing maintenance. In 2008, a 10-week long stand-off with engineers led to widespread delays and cancellation of Qantas flights due to a backlog of work that took months to clear.
A resolution to the increasingly acrimonious dispute is seen as crucial to Qantas regaining the confidence of investors and the travelling public.
The union had also spoken ''extensively'' with the Australian Shareholders Association, which is separately recommending a vote against the Qantas remuneration report.