Qantas is begging senior executives to work as baggage handlers

Qantas has sent a letter to its senior executives asking them to help the airline by working as baggage handlers.

The airline is asking them to work in these roles full-time for up to three months as it continues to battle staff shortages.

It also wants to prevent its standards from slipping any further following a high number of cancelled flights.

Qantas chief operating officer, Colin Hughes, wrote to the senior team last week asking for their support.

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In his letter he said: “There are a range of strategies to get our performance back to where we and our customers expect it to be. While this includes recruiting thousands of new team members into our operation and ongoing recruitment by our ground handling partners, we need to build more resilience into our operation now.”

The Australian airline is looking for at least 100 of its managers and senior executives to muck in and help with the challenges its facing – particularly as the country has had many people struck down with winter flu alongside a spike in Covid and an ongoing struggle in finding new hires.

The letter, which has been shared by MailOnline, said: “We are seeking Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from managers and executives to join this phase of the contingency program.

“People who respond to the EOI will be trained and rostered into the ramp environment at Sydney and Melbourne airports. These people will support our ground handling partners, who are managing the Qantas operation, over a three-month period from mid-August.”

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Mr Hughes made it clear that was 'no expectation that you will opt into this role on top of your full-time position'.

He is looking for senior staff to take on the role three or five days a week for either four or six hours per shift.

In the letter he added: “You will be fully trained to safely carry out the functions you are supporting. During your time in the contingency program, you’ll be an embedded resource within the ground handling partners.

“This means you’ll receive a roster, be scheduled to operate and be supervised and managed in the live operation by our ground handling partners.”

Key parts of the role include loading and unloading the aircrafts, sorting and scanning bags, moving luggage and driving a tug.

While the note was sent to senior executives at Qantas, it isn’t known if it was issued to the airline's highest-paid, several of whom earn more than $1 million a year.

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The letter concluded by saying: “It’s our singular company focus to support our teams to get our operation back to where it should be and provide our passengers the experience they expect from the airline.”

A Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: “We've been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customers' expectations or the standards that we expect of ourselves – and that we've been pulling out all stops to improve our performance.” 

UNILAD has reached out to Qantas for further comment.

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