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There was a whiff of fresh air for embattled Australian flag carrier Qantas on Tuesday when a survey made by booking Web site wotif.com found that the Flying Roo is the favourite of Aussie travelers.

The survey discovered 41 per cent of 14,800 Aussie respondents pointed to Qantas as their preferred air carrier.

However, the survey was made before Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce made known of 5,000 job cuts spread over 3 years that is part of a $2-billion cost-cutting programme of Qantas.

After Qantas came Emirates with 15.8 per cent preference rate, then Virgin Australia (15.7 per cent) and Singapore Airlines (13 per cent).

But when the respondents were asked if they were loyal to an Aussie carrier, 53 per cent admitted they were not. However, 56 per cent of the remaining 47 per cent who said they were loyal to an Aussie carrier said their loyalty would change if a foreign investor takes over the airline.

A major factor in determining loyalty to an air carrier was the price of tickets, said Helen Demetriou of Wotif.

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Meanwhile, Qantas said that it would write to employees assigned at the Sydney International Airport to clarify its redundancy offer to the airport staff after spending Monday morning at the Fair Work Commission in Sydney.

The commission reminded Qantas that it did not act properly under the terms of its enterprise agreement with employees. Qantas had placed a March 21 deadline on workers to accept a voluntary departure package or convert to part-time from full-time worker.