How Qantas CEO treated a 10-year-old vs how Pakistani police treated a young engineer

First, of all let’s be clear that there is no comparison between both of these stores. But how we react to a situation or scenario is where both stories have a point of relevance. On March 27 Qantas Group Ceo Alan Joyce invited a 10-year-old boy named Alex Jacquot to the Qantas headquarters for a meeting. Alex Jacquot calls himself as the CEO of new airline Oceania Express. But way before this Alex Jacquot wrote a letter to Alan Joyce that made rounds on social media.

Alex Jacquot wrote in his handwritten note to Alan Joyce saying he wants to start his new airline and had already taken the first steps in starting an airline and was wondering what to do next. He wrote “I have already started some stuff like what type of planes I’ll need, flight numbers, catering and more,” Alex wrote. But right at the begining of the note he implored Mr Joyce to “please take [him] seriously” as he and his friend — who is also the co-founder — had already hired a chief financial officer as well as heads of IT, maintenance, on-board services and legal.

On 19 February Alay Joyce wrote back to Alex Jacquot “first, I should say that I’m not typically in the business of giving advice to my competitors. Your newly appointed head of legal might have something to say about that too. But I’m going to make an exception on this occasion, because I too was once a young boy who was so curious about flight and all its possibilities.”

Then Qantas CEO offered up some advice and, in the process, delivered a masterclass in seizing an opportunity to weave advertising into a cute post that would go viral on social media. And then said he would be in touch about finding time for the high-powered meeting. So this meeting happened where Alex Jacquot and his Deputy CEO Wolf Stringer visited Qantas headoffice.

On the other hand, an aspiring engineer who is said to be a labourer decided to fly a plane that he built taking inspiration from the internet. But he was arrested and FIR was lodged against him and he had to scramble to get a bail instead of getting his plane up in the air. The most worrying part is that he approached authorities beforehand to get permissions but he was ridiculed. And no one from any Pakistani airline or aviation group or flying school has reached out to this young man.