Qantas again rejected Kaine’s comments as an attempt to “discredit the safety of outsourced ground handling”, saying data had showed a lower rate of incidences compared with ground handling in-house.

The practice of asking corporate suits to help with frontline duties is not exclusive to Qantas: Sydney and Melbourne airports, as well as Virgin, have also previously asked executives to assist with customer service and directing queues, a move Kaine criticised.

“To suggest office workers will be ready to hit the ground running in a couple of weeks should be ringing alarm bells for the whole industry, including the travelling public,” Kaine said.

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