Qantas, Rex chiefs wage war of words — again

The heads of Australian arch-rivals Qantas and Regional Express have again traded barbs in the latest escalation of a bitter dogfight between the two carriers. In separate, harshly-worded columns published days apart in the Australian Financial Review, Rex deputy chairman John Sharp and Qantas group chief Alan Joyce did not mince words in criticising each other. Sharp fired the first salvo on 21 April, in an opinion piece titled ‘No Mr Joyce, Qantas’ ‘best game’ doesn’t beat Rex’, where he responded to comments made by Joyce that “when Qantas plays its best game, it always wins”. Reiterating the point that Qantas had always tried to “discredit” Rex and “cast doubts about Rex’s viability”, Sharp claimed that the Australian flag carrier as “technically insolvent”, amid a collapse in travel demand resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Noting that the carrier “continues to burn cash at an alarming rate”, he wrote: “Qantas is now so desperate that it is willing to risk universal ridicule just to get its hands on more cash at any cost.” Sharp also charged that under Joyce’s watch, Qantas “has chalked up one of the biggest corporate losses in Australian history”, and that while Qantas “likes to brag how strong it is” financially, it was a “disturbingly similar” sentiment shared by Virgin Australia right before it entered voluntary administration. Story has more.<br/>