Notes for May 9th

Pacific Blue
Embraer 190 VH-ZPM's tour of NZ has come to a close. Her tour schedule looked like this.
Tuesday 05-May-2009 PPG-CHC
Wednesday 06-May-2009 CHC-WLG-AKL
Thursday 07-May-2009 AKL-HLZ-{PMR-CHC}
Friday 08-May-2009 HLZ-IVC-CHC
Saturday 09-May-2009 CHC-BNE

You will notice the Thursday/Friday schedule looks a little odd, this was due to a rejected takeoff in Hamilton as a result of bird strike, forcing ZPM to overnight in Hamilton while parts were sourced from Australia. As a result the flights to Palmerston North were canceled.

Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand operated Boeing 737-319 ZK-NGJ on NZ739/738 AKL-BNE-AKL on Thursday 07-May-2009 in lieu of the regular A320 service.

Zeal320s EPMU unionised crew began their strike on Wednesday 07-May-2009, it is believed there have been minimal disruptions to the services.

Qantas/Jetconnect
A few issues again for Jetconenct on Thursday 07-May-2009 with the following incidents noted.

• Non standard Boeing 737-376 ZK-JNB operated the morning QF118/47 WLG-SYD-WLG.

• The afternoon's QF48/117 WLG-SYD-WLG was operated by Boeing 737-476 ZK-JTQ and routed WLG-AKL-SYD-AKL with severe delays noted.
  

• The morning's WLG-AKL-WLG flights QF2702/2707 were canceled and Boeing 737-376 ZK-JNC operating QF2759 AKL-CHC instead routed AKL-WLG-CHC.

• There were delays noted over the entire domestic network.

Codes used in this post
AKL - Auckland NZ
BNE - Brisbane Australia
CHC - Christchurch NZ
HLZ - Hamilton NZ
IVC - Invercargill NZ
PMR - Palmerston North NZ
PPG - Pago Pago American Samoa
SYD - Sydney Australia
WLG - Wellington NZ

Notes for May Day

Pacific Blue
Pacific Blue introduced VH-VUQ to international routes on Sunday 26-Apr-2009 when it operated BNE-DPS-PER-DPS.

Pacific Blue (Aust) have altered their flight codes from the standard PBN to PBH, this now separates the Pacific Blue (Aust) PBH and Pacific Blue (NZ) PBN operated flights. Virgin Blue codes remain VOZ, all flights still carry the DJ flight numbers.

Pacific Blue are set to receive their latest Embraer E190 this week with the arrival of VH-ZPM. This arrival is noteable as ZPM is being delivered to the Pacific Blue Christchurch base. Watch this space to see whether ZPM enters service with Pacific Blue or just positions across the Tasman and enters the Virgin Blue domestic fleet.

Jetstar
Jetstar commenced operations from Auckland on Tuesday 28-Apr-2009 with VH-VQD operating the inaugural JQ200/201 AKL-SYD-AKL and JQ240/241 AKL-OOL-AKL. VQD positioned from Sydney on Monday 27-Apr-2009 as JQ7990.

Jetstar continue to scale up their operations, and train new crew and staff, for their June launch into the NZ Domestic market.

Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand's winter schedule seems to be taking effect with the reduction of trans-Tasman services being noted, especially from CHC & WLG to SYD & MEL.

Air New Zealand are also getting the last touches to their contingency plan sorted before the strike by Zeal320 cabin crew members aligned with the EPMU. Strikes are planned to begin towards the end of this week, so don't be surprised if you end up on a trans-Tasman or short haul pacific route and are served by a member of the Air New Zealand senior management team.