Lost guns, damaged planes: Qantas’ slew of complaints to ground handler revealed

[AnotherFSO]

From: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/lost-guns-damaged-planes-qantas-slew-of-complaints-to-ground-handler-revealed-20240613-p5jlhe.htmlLost guns, damaged planes: Qantas’ slew of complaints to ground handler revealed"Mishandled firearms, damaged aircraft and unbalanced plane loads are some of the issues occurring at airports around the country due to poor training and understaffing at one of the world’s biggest ground handlers, according to its own staff.

"Swissport services Qantas and a number of other airlines, including Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines, which fly in and out of Australia daily. It takes care of services “under the wing” including aircraft refuelling, baggage handling, water and ground power."

<snip>

"Senior staff speaking to this masthead on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly said they were concerned about a lack of training within the ground handling provider and feared a serious safety incident could occur if standards were not lifted."

[kitchen bench]

That's outsourcing for you .....................................................

[dragon man]

Lost guns, damaged planes: Qantas’ slew of complaints to ground handler revealedhttps://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_NaLJVd0TyBr1xBlnQJ950HlqYznBXDuG0IrvmquAs4_TisZ1C9O6Ijo 4cNd2d8in2kDTvanFbAWsyFyPZkVl6TYmkaiIDgc89XxVLD8SOEIJxHZeZpK wBlj0oCa=s0-d-e1-ft#https://archive.md/puGPW/50600661a73bb4caa08a420a72f7a25ceb5f8df8.webpBy Amelia McGuire (https://archive.md/o/puGPW/https://www.smh.com.au/by/amelia-mcguire-p4yvpi)June 17, 2024 — 5.01am
Mishandled firearms, damaged aircraft and unbalanced plane loads are some of the issues occurring at airports around the country due to poor training and understaffing at one of the world’s biggest ground handlers, according to its own staff.
Swissport services Qantas and a number of other airlines, including Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines, which fly in and out of Australia daily. It takes care of services “under the wing” including aircraft refuelling, baggage handling, water and ground power.https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_Nb673G8Y9VbdPoSQV-4isJZlmrdqlDFcH8hirpcPGzT0h_GK7Uy_rcSDjPOzVT7B7Uirkox08Sl-epNqnAKeDBRkxOX77DvIoOp8pTiNCzb561hhmXggxoYYwx4=s0-d-e1-ft#https://archive.md/puGPW/2f52708bd883ec62e6c87af4b9f8086945c60db3.webpQantas has complained to Swissport on multiple occasions this month after incidents ranging from damaged aircraft to unbalanced plane loads. CREDIT: APInternal incident reports reveal employees at the ground handler are committing more than one error a day on Qantas international flights, ranging from mishandled bags to losing the wheelchairs of Australia’s Paralympians and damaging the airline’s wide-body aircraft.
Senior staff speaking to this masthead on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly said they were concerned about a lack of training within the ground handling provider and feared a serious safety incident could occur if standards were not lifted.
In March, three firearms that were supposed to travel from Melbourne to Sydney were lost by Swissport. Qantas discovered the guns were not loaded onto the aircraft despite being tagged as such and was then forced to rush them onto two separate flights so they could meet a connecting flight with their registered owner. Qantas has since undertaken a review of its firearm procedures to avoid any further mishandling of firearms.
At least 15 incidents have been flagged with Swissport duty managers by Qantas this month, with the carrier demanding improvements on multiple occasions, according to internal emails seen by this masthead.
On one occasion two weeks ago, a Qantas engineer discovered an engine of one of the airline’s Boeing 737s had been dented by a ramp. The carrier had not been notified of the incident until the engineer found the damage, a contravention of Swissport’s incident protocols. Two of Qantas’ wide-body aircraft have been damaged by Swissport over the past three months.
This month Qantas has lodged multiple incident reports pertaining to poorly loaded aircraft and loose freight, which unbalances an aircraft and can cause nose or tail heaviness midair if not corrected. Every flight carries a mix of freight, which can range from standard packages to more sensitive items such as biomedical supplies.
One incident report reveals flammable materials were haphazardly loaded onto an aircraft, threatening its balance and causing a fire hazard. Others refer to cargo hold doors being left open and freight being left on an aircraft for more than a day after it was supposed to have been unloaded.Multiple bags have been sent to the wrong international location or not loaded onto an aircraft at all every week over the past three months due to Swissport employees misreading bag tags.https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_NYo8onfHHiW-ha3IpUL9JbjRpb-XlB3o_a2Istei_Xk_x_Qa4b37me6kMU3sRDJhnybyVNe1o5u6tk9Ntr7terZ XHVJ6TjMrBrEmD8qFstUdTWMd4IK-WjaIrDk=s0-d-e1-ft#https://archive.md/puGPW/76edb99461e45a57061384349a790d3836a5d4c6.webpBags have been sent to the wrong international location or not loaded onto an aircraft at all every week over the past three months.CREDIT: DOMINIC LORRIMERA Qantas spokesperson said its average mishandled-baggage rate had sat at 4.6 in every 1000 bags for the past three months. This is substantially lower than during the same period in 2023.
“We are concerned whenever customers’ baggage does not arrive when it should, but misplaced baggage levels have improved significantly over the past couple of years and are now below what they were pre-COVID.”
On June 10, a Swissport tug driver damaged a critical aircraft guidance system at Melbourne Airport with a ramp.
A day later, six members of the Australian men’s Paralympic basketball team travelled from Dallas to Melbourne Airport but were unable to disembark the aircraft in their own wheelchairs as the chairs could not be found. They instead had to use the airline’s aisle chairs.
“As you can imagine, the customers were very unhappy as their own chairs give them the independence to do things such as go to the bathroom ... and they were also stressing as they had a tight connection to Perth that they needed to make,” an excerpt from Qantas’ complaint to Swissport reads.
A Swissport spokesperson said strict safety and service standards were paramount but did not respond to specific questions regarding the individual incidents in this article.
“We take any incidents that contravene these standards seriously and have procedures in place to thoroughly investigate them,” Swissport said. “Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our people, and we are committed to providing them with the support they need to excel in their roles.”
Swissport was first accused of chronic understaffing by the Transport Workers Union in 2022 (https://archive.md/o/puGPW/https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-p5bg63) after internal staff memos revealed plane load imbalances, cargo doors left open and firearms loaded onto carousels.
At the time, Swissport said the company had one of the highest safety standards in the industry and the issues occurring were “far from normal

[That lights normal!]

My experience: As a FIFO worker- 15 years not a single bag lost. Since outsourcing: Every second trip my bag doesn’t make it. (I’m not exaggerating, to be clear, a “trip” is three flights.)
It’s an appalling degradation of service.

[Chronic Snoozer]

Swissport: "Safety is our number one priority"
QANTAS: "Safety is our number one priority"

Someone's lying.

[Australopithecus]

Swissport: "Safety is our number one priority"
QANTAS: "Safety is our number one priority"

Someone's lying.

Making you think that safety is our number one priority is our number one priority

[Gne]

Swissport: "Safety is our number one priority"
QANTAS: "Safety is our number one priority"

Someone's lying.
It's instructive that, all over the world, when I'm conducting audits of organisations that make this claim and I ask line folk, "What is your number one priority?" I never hear "safety". Usually it's OTP.

Therein lies (excuse the pun) the problem.

Gne

[Chronic Snoozer]

It's instructive that, all over the world, when I'm conducting audits of organisations that make this claim and I ask line folk, "What is your number one priority?" I never hear "safety". Usually it's OTP.

Therein lies (excuse the pun) the problem.

Gne
"Safety" is like oxygen, it's essential for life but it is the means not the aim. I never hear people say "my number one priority is to breathe". It doesn't require the current overthinking prevalent in organisations which is all image over substance.

[dragon man]

The number one priority in Qantas is the cheapest option….

[neville_nobody]

The number one priority in Qantas is the cheapest option….


That can’t blow back onto senior management. Outsourcing is the perfect example. No one can blame management because the staff are all hired by someone else and not their problem. Even if there is a fatality not much risk is being borne by the airline management it’s all on the contractor.

[Abbey Road]

Swissport: "Safety is our number one priority"
QANTAS: "Safety is our number one priority"

Someone's lying.

They are both lying. And they do so because they can, as they know there is near-zero consequence for doing it.

The behaviour is common, and I have commented on it on this forum before:
"The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point." This sort of trite, fallacious nonsense trips so easily off the tongue of the automatons answering questions these days. It isn't true or sincere, and only a fool would believe it. It is merely specious 'filler', to take up space and/or fill time when questions are asked. It is enough to make you vomit.

It appears to be an ingrained behaviour very common to those whose lives are lived on the internet. It is in the same vein as those who 'apologise' for having said or written something highly incriminating months or years earlier, with the subsequent 'apology' clearly lacking any sincerity whatsoever. But once the 'apology' is published, they feel their penance is complete, done and dusted, and truly feel there should be no further mention, or consequence, of their historical outburst/s.

"Safety" is like oxygen, it's essential for life but it is the means not the aim. I never hear people say "my number one priority is to breathe". It doesn't require the current overthinking prevalent in organisations which is all image over substance.
A very good way of describing it!