The Men Who Killed Qantas by Matthew Benns

Author:Matthew Benns
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2009-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

BRUCE MCCAFFREY LOOKED at the human resources woman in stunned disbelief. For 26 years he had been the efficient head of Qantas freight in America. Now this woman, flown in especially from Australia, was telling him his job was finished, ‘based on performance’.1 But his performance had been exceptional. His performance reviews year after year were excellent. He had built the Qantas share of Australian freight flown through the United States from 15 per cent to 25 per cent and had hit budget for 24 of his 26 years in the top job – one of those he missed was during 9/11. How could he be sacked based on his performance? ‘Actually, we don’t have to give you a reason,’ she said.2

McCaffrey did not have to wait very long to find out. The next day Qantas in Australia announced that it had been involved in a price-fixing cartel between 2000 and 2006 and agreed to pay a $A68 million fine to the United States authorities. In return for rolling over, the airline secured an agreement with the US Department of Justice not to prosecute company executives or employees. Six employees were exempt from the deal not to pursue a criminal prosecution – one of those was McCaffrey. He was being thrown to the wolves.

‘Maybe I should have seen this coming,’ 65-year-old McCaffrey said in an interview with the US trade journal Air Cargo News before he was jailed:

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