Australian airline and freight carrier Qantas has announced that the company intends to take on shipments of high level nuclear waste in order to boost the airlines profits in the wake of rising oil prices .

To be carried in the belly space on Qantas passenger aircraft, the high level nuclear waste will be shipped from France, via Australia, before returning to the United Kingdom for reprocessing.

Speaking to the decision to carry nuclear waste, an informed Qantas source said that in today’s economic climate it was not in the company’s interest to refuse to carry nuclear waste, instead as profit margins fall, Qantas sees the carriage of Nuclear Waste as meeting the demand of potential clients and getting the most value for Qantas shareholders.

    

Well, of course the above three paragraphs of this article are absolutely false.  Qantas is not going to carry nuclear waste on its aircraft.  Indeed such an occurrence would more than likely contravene the carriage of dangerous goods regulations!

Having said that, why I have decided to write such inflammatory text, is that because Qantas, with a recent decision, has disappointed and angered me to the highest degree.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Qantas has reintroduced selling duty free cigarettes on its international flights, the company justifying the move by saying that there is increased demand.  However anyone with a tiny amount of common sense can tell that this is not about demand but rather cashing in on the sale of reduced price death sticks.

I am absolutely biased when it comes to cigarettes and smoking.  As one could tell from an earlier editorial, (*) I am no fan of either.  And While I begrudgingly admit that cigarettes remain a legal product, in a perfect world they would not even exist.

I blame cigarettes and smoking for the cancer my father suffered, and for his death that still brings tears to my eyes, nine years after its occurrence.  Despite the fact that my father also endured four and a half years of a Prisoner of War camp as well as three wars, there is no doubt in my mind that cigarettes and smoking ended his life.  I miss him terribly.

So the fact that Qantas has gone back to selling cigarettes on it’s international flights is galling and to my mind wholly and utterly wrong.  And while my first three paragraphs of this article was to the extreme, it illustrates perfectly how I feel about the Qantas decision.

For a long time I personally have had a love-hate relationship with Qantas.  The love is for its role as an Australian airline as well as the service I have enjoyed.  Most times I have flown with Qantas I have had just the best time, their staff being just wonderful, indeed my first overseas trip started on a Qantas 767 and concluded with Qantas as well.

In the hate column is definitely is the Qantas board and management.  For a long time, since privatisation in fact, the Qantas board and management have gone about their business with an attitude that to my mind expresses itself as arrogant and uncaring.  The decision to reintroduce the sale of Cigarettes on International flights is merely representative of this ongoing arrogance and uncaring attitude.

Unfortunately, with a new government in Australia it seems as if the cost of air travel is to rise, however should I get the opportunity to fly in the near future, among the many considerations I will take into account when deciding who to fly with, you can safely imagine that I will think twice about flying with an airline that see’s no issue in selling a product that kills people.

Editorial by Findlay Osborn

Source: ABC News

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