They are strange times we live in, when Australia’s national carrier could soon return to London before flying Sydney to Perth.
Project Sunrise has been hailed as the holy grail for Qantas. 230 years since the first fleet set sail on a months long voyage, modern aviation has linked far flung corners of the globe.
Qantas set out a challenge to Boeing and Airbus to deliver an ultra long-haul jet capable of linking the east coast of Australia, namely Sydney and Melbourne, to New York or London. Hopefully with a good entertainment system to boot.
Project Sunrise route map from Australia’s east coast.
Project Sunrise setback
In May, Qantas announced that Sydney would be the first city to launch Project Sunrise.
Right now, m Australia is locked up, with Western Australia becoming the hermit kingdom, completely separated from Sydney and Melbourne.
While Qantas chief Alan Joyce fumed at the domestic border closures, it could be the airline’s international arm that drags the Qantas group back to profitability.
Throughout the pandemic, New South Wales has been the anti-lockdown state, preferring to focus on keeping business humming and reluctantly heading into lockdown.
New South Wales residents are fast on their way to receiving 6 million vaccination jabs, seemingly hungry to reopen despite the rise in cases to above 1000 per day for the first time during the pandemic.
It’s the same strategy used by the UK, and requires a leader who can hold their ground despite rising case numbers.
In Australia, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is the closest you can get to the British PM.
A Qantas 787 Dreamliner
Freedom day
And just like the UK, may look to a freedom day whereby restrictions are dropped once the population hits the 80% vaccination mark. NSW is among the fastest in the world to take up the vaccine in recent weeks.
Governments with the means to verify the authenticity of tests or vaccinations and the identity of those presenting their certificates.
Airlines with the ability to provide accurate information to their passengers on test requirements and verify that a passenger meets the requirements for travel.
Laboratories with the means to issue certificates to passengers that will be recognized by governments, and
Travelers with accurate information on test requirements, where they can get tested or vaccinated, and the means to securely convey the results/certificates to airlines and border authorities
That could see Qantas almost do the unthinkable opening up travel from Australia to London before internal borders are open.
A sign of how far Australia has come, or how far it has to go.
Staff at warehousing giant Amazon have walked off the job to protest the company’s return-to-office program
Over 1,900 Amazon employees pledged to protest globally over proposed changes to the company’s climate policy, layoffs and a return-to-office mandate.
The activist group behind the rally is known as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), who are seeking a greater voice for employees.
“Our goal is to change Amazon’s cost/benefit analysis on making harmful, unilateral decisions that are having an outsized impact on people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable people,” organisers said.
Over 100 people gathered at the heart of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Wednesday. The company said it had not witnessed any other demonstrations.
AECJ said the walkout comes after Amazon made moves “in the wrong direction”.
The company recently has recently overturned a desire to make all Amazon shipments net zero for carbon emissions by 2030.
The company maintains a pledge on climate change.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Reuters the company is pursuing a strategy to cut carbon emissions.
“For companies like ours who consume a lot of power, and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish.”
AECJ protesters also sought support for the 27,000 staff, who had lost their jobs in recent months —around 9 per cent of Amazon’s global workforce.
The company has also mandated a return-to-office program.
As employees recover from the height of the pandemic, the Great Resignation has come to light
The pandemic saw the term ‘the great resignation’ coined as thousands of people resigned from their jobs across the U.S. in 2021 and 2022.
Karin Reed, the author of ‘Suddenly Hybrid said the great resignation was a period of employees taking control of their future.
“A lot of people realised in their current environment they were not happy with what they were doing with their job. They chose to vote with their feet and go elsewhere,
In other parts of the world, a spike in resignations was not reported.
However, a higher degree of workers began reporting post-Covid burnout, as they made a return to the office.
“There’s been a blurring of the lines. You have work that’s not confined by a physical space.
“Instead of closing the computer and walk away, our computer is in the next room.”