the Prime Minister’s Easter 2024 message
 
March message from Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek
 
A solemn funeral to the late Nazih Nicolas in Sydney
 
One Year of Repair, Reform and Action, and much more to do.
 
Kuwait deplores Israeli occupation's seizure of Palestinian land
 
Patriarch Duwaihi's beatification ceremony to be held in Lebanon
 
One Year of Repair, Reform and Action, and much more to do across Canterbury
 
Have your say on a planning proposal in Carlingford
 
Protecting religious institutions
 
AFIC President, stated that AFIC strongly condemns any act of violence and terrorism and stands in solidarity with the Russian people
 
The community’s hopes and expectations of a Muslim public figure
 
Mr Keating has been a public critic of the AUKUS security pact,...”.
 
Australian-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce held its 2016 Annual Business Luncheon

“I am happy to inform you that we now have a permanent physical presence in Beirut …” Joe Khattar

 “I think if you are talking aviation, tourism and Australia, there is no doubt China is the future.” John Borghetti



Photo LtoR: Ms Doyle, Mr Borghtti and Mr Khattar

Australian-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce held its 2016 Annual Business Luncheon

“I am happy to inform you that we now have a permanent physical presence in Beirut …” Joe Khattar

 “I think if you are talking aviation, tourism and Australia, there is no doubt China is the future.” John Borghetti

18/9/2016

(Translation of this article appears in Arabic section)

The CEO and Managing Director of the Virgin Australia Group, John Borghetti, was the chief guest at a business luncheon hosted by Australian-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce in Sydney. Mr Borghetti, who was interviewed by Melissa Doyle, has more than 40 years’ experience in the aviation sector, having previously held senior positions at Qantas, including executive general manager. He has provided his expertise and knowledge as a director on numerous advisory boards.

Joe Khattar

(ALCC) chairman Joe Khattar told the luncheon that the chamber remains ready to assist its members and those businesses that are interested in expanding operations in the Middle East.

“I have just returned from a trip to Lebanon and I would like to reassure you that, regardless of all the negative news that we always hear, there is a positive side which unfortunately is rarely mentioned. I am happy to inform you that we now have a permanent physical presence in Beirut … our head of trade relations, Michael Rizk, is managing operations in Beirut and is ready to help Australian companies interested in doing business in the region.”

John Borghetti

I suppose I could say it has certainly been a challenging year but I would say that I would be misleading everybody because in aviation every year is challenging let alone when you are a smaller player in the market and are trying to break the monopoly and grow.  I think I’d probably phrase it as an evolutionary era.  The next phase of our evolution is all about getting the balance sheet in order. 

On the Virgin-Etihad relationship

It is so important on so many fronts. When we did the deal, it was really the most important deal for us at the time because it totally gave us credibility that we were a serious player; when someone like Etihad gets involved, you know you are a serious player.

The importance of China

I think if you are talking aviation, tourism and Australia, there is no doubt China is the future.  If we want to grow as a business we have to feature in the China market; that is why we will want, in the next 12 months or so, to fly to Hong Kong, Beijing and other places.

Transforming Virgin

I think the first thing is you need to have a reason for doing it. We had to come out and say we’re going to change all of this, here’s how we are going to look like. And you say “well that’s good, they don’t believe us because it gives us a year where we can get things done while everyone is looking the other way”. That is what happened.

Maintaining staff morale

What do staff want? They want hope; I keep saying management is all about creating hope. I think if you know you have staff onside, the rest of the company will follow or go. You can write memos or emails, you can have big forums but nothing works more than a one-on-one or a one-on-three it’s all about communication. If they accept you and what you say then you are there. You capture the heart and the mind will follow.

Badgerys Creek airport

Any country in the world would kill to have an airport 7 kilometres from the City. Think about London, New York and Rome; those airports are so far out of the city. We have a jewel in Kingsford Smith. What do we do? We limit it to 80 movements an hour but we could take another 10 or 20, 30 or 40. Yes, we need a second airport -- 2025 is as a good year as any if it is done by then -- but I think that there are some inefficiencies with Kingsford-Smith that could be addressed.


 














Copyright 2007 mideast-times.com