Qantas 2006 Annual Report Download - page 11

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 11 of the 2006 Qantas annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 148

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148

Report from the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Sharing the Spirit
Qantas continued its tradition of coming to the aid of communities
in crisis, including organising special charter fl ights following the
Bali bombings in 2005, and to North Queensland following the
devastation of Cyclone Larry in April 2006.
In February 2006, Qantas established a “Green Team” of staff
volunteers who donate their time to environmental projects.
Qantas contributed millions of dollars to arts, sporting and
community groups and charities, through sponsorship, donations
and in-kind support in 2005/06.
Highlights on our sporting sponsorship calendar included the
Qantas Socceroos and their 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign, the
Qantas Wallabies and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
This year, we were pleased to include a new category in the
Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards – one of our key Sharing the Spirit
initiatives – the Qantas Chairman’s Community Award. This award
recognises an outstanding contribution from a young individual
working with one of the fi ve key charities supported by Qantas:
CanTeen, CARE Australia, Mission Australia, Starlight Children’s
Foundation Australia and UNICEF.
Board Changes
Jim Kennedy, AO, CBE, retired as a Director on 30 June 2006.
Jim joined the Qantas Board after it became a publicly listed
company and made a tremendous contribution over the more
than 10 and a half years he served.
We welcomed James Strong, AO, as a Non-Executive Director
of the Board on 1 July 2006.
James was Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of
Qantas between 1993 and 2001. In his time as Chief Executive,
James led Qantas through its transition from a government-owned
company to a fully privatised business. His depth of knowledge of
aviation coupled with his extensive business and board experience
will be invaluable to Qantas.
The Future
Our overarching fi nancial goal is for the Qantas Group to
consistently achieve its cost of capital.
We face aggressive competition from mid-point hub carriers in
Asia and the Middle East, which are able to leverage signifi cant
cost and structural advantages such as lower labour rates, low
or no tax rates, cheaper fi nancing, lower airport charges and
favourable accelerated depreciation regimes.
Other legacy carriers are reforming, and that also has major
competitive ramifi cations that we cannot afford to ignore.
We are confi dent, however, that the acceleration of reforms
throughout the Group will continue to improve productivity
and efficiency and ensure that we remain a strong and successful
global airline.
“Qantas is a great contributor to
Australian employment, tourism and the
community.” Margaret Jackson, Chairman
9
Qantas Annual Report 2006