Brindabella in Receivership

As has already been widely reported around the blogosphere Brindabella Airlines have been placed into receivership with Korda-Mentha being appointed as managers.

This comes on the back of the recent grounding of the fleet by CASA as I recently reported HERE

Read more at Australian Aviation HERE

Airline shares the Christmas Spirit

I am breaking my own unwritten rule and sharing a video with you from WestJet in Canada (not an Australasian airline I know) but this is a pretty awesome effort and something I wish airlines in this part of the world would do occasionally

NZ set to record profit increase of up to 20%

While Qantas has warned of a severe loss, Air New Zealand are forecasting a full year earnings boost of up to 20%.

The New Zealand National carrier has notified the New Zealand stock exchange that they look likely to record a profit of over $307M NZD in the 2014 full financial year.

Short Haul passenger numbers were up 1.6% on the same period last year. Demand
(RPKs) increased in the Domestic market by 2.4%, while capacity increased 3.7%.
Domestic load factor was down 1.0 percentage point to 80.2%.

Tasman/Pacific demand (RPKs) increased 1.2%, with capacity (ASKs) increasing 0.4%.
Load factor for Tasman/Pacific was up 0.7 of a percentage point to 85.1%.  

Air New Zealand have flagged they expect their Before Tax earnings for the 6 months to December 31st to be up 20%, compared to Qantas who expect to loose up to $300M AUD

Read more fro the nzherald.co.nz HERE or read the full Air New Zealand release to the NZX, including full RPK, ASK & LF data and upcoming changes to the Airpoints program HERE

QF warns of losses and job cuts

Qantas group CEO Alan Joyce has announced Qantas is facing a loss of up to $300M AUD in the 6 months from July to December this year.  As a result the group will cut at least 1000 positions in the next 12 months while all executives will have their salaries frozen at current levels and will not receive bonuses in this financial year.

It has also signaled that it will consider selling parts of its business. It has not named potential units which could be sold but there has been speculation that it could consider a part sale of its frequent flyer business.

As expected Mr Joyce has laid blame fairly and squarely on the "unprecedented distortion of the Australian domestic market" ramping up his recent attacks on Virgin Australia being allowed to undertake their equity raising including foreign ownership.  However like many others around the internet I believe Qantas are a victim of their own pigheadedness by trying to retain their 65% line in the sand, by increasing their own capacity on routes to maintain their 65% domestic market share.

Read more on the upcoming Qanta losses and cuts via
Brisbane Times (Fairfax) Business Day HERE or
Australian Business Traveller HERE

Brindabella Airlines

Australian Regional operator Brindabella Airlines has suspended its Sydney-Orange service to restore "schedule integrity".  This comes on the back of the recent grounding of the Jetstream 4100 fleet.

“Brindabella Airlines has been working hard during the past fortnight to restore integrity to its scheduled regular passenger transport services,” the airline said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

Brindabella will present a revised service schedule to councils today which will bring about immediate schedule integrity.

There is plenty of scuttlebutt around the web that Brindabella who merged with Aeropelican earlier this year are struggling, but I for one hope they aren't and wish them well for the future, as it is great to see the Jetstream's still flying the skies, and makes a nice change here in Brisbane from the monotony of the Dash-8 fleets.

Read more about Brindabella from Australian Aviation HERE

A Brindebella J41 at BNE (commons.wikimedia.org)

Tigerair ups BNE

Tigerair have announced they will open a new base at Brisbane Airport as well as introducing flight from Brisbane to Adelaide, Cairns and Darwin.

The new Adelaide service will launch in March while the Cairns and Darwin services are scheduled to commence in April.

All three flights currently look like a single daily services 
BNE-ADL TT313 15:50-19:10           ADL-BNE TT318 20:30-22:20
BNE-CNS TT486 12:25-14:45           CNS-BNE TT491 15:15-17:20
BNE-DRW TT652 20:45-00:25*         DRW-BNE TT655 01:00-05:10

Sounds Air confirm WAG

Sounds Air have confirmed they will enter the Wellington-Wanganui route as previously hinted (See this post from November)

NEW Wellington to Wanganui service has been added today - New flights start on the 21st January 2014 - Available to book online now - Remember at Sounds Air the price we advertise is the price you pay. No credit card fees, no bag fees, no travel insurance fees, no "I feel I am getting ripped off" fees. What we say is what you pay.

Fares are set at $125 (internet only) one way with the flight operating WAG-WLG SA14 in the morning (06:45-07:25) and WEL-WAG SA73 in the evening (18:00-18:40) Sun-Fri (No Sat flight)

Read more at the Sounds Air website or the Wanganui Chronicle HERE - article written by friend of this blog Zac Yates

NZ new Hobbit livery UPDATED

Air New Zealand this morning rolled out Boeing 777-319ER ZK-OKO in the second of the Hobbit liveries, this time featuring dragon Smaug to promote the release of the second Hobbit movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, they also released a timelapse on youtube of the decal being applied




And here is a pic of OKO outside basking in the Auckland sunshine thanks to Colin Hunter

© Colin Hunter 2013

Qantas hit all the 30's

Qantas have hit all the 30's with their announcement today of the A330 interior upgrade program to occur in Brisbane in the new $30 million dollar hangar while recruiting 30 new apprentice engineers. With each aircraft expected to be in the hangar for 30 days.

Qantas today announced its fleet of 30 Airbus A330 aircraft will have new cabin interiors installed at its Brisbane heavy maintenance and engineering facility.Qantas also announced it is recruiting 30 apprentice engineers, with the majority to be based in Brisbane.Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce, who was in Brisbane to officially open the $30 million upgrade to the hangar, said today’s announcements further cements Qantas' commitment to engineering and maintenance in Australia.

 This is good news for Brisbane and means spotters will get to see all 10 A333's and 20 A332's from late 2014 through to 2016

Read the full Qantas release HERE

NZ - The airline of Middle Earth

Air New Zealand continue to embrace their role as 'The airline of Middle Earth' with a new Hobbit video and another one, possibly another safety video due out tomorrow.  All this is in the lead up to the release of the second of the Hobbit movies in December

The latest video "Just another day in Middle Earth" is described by Air New Zealand below, and features cameo appearances from ZK-OKP the Hobbit themed Boeing 777-319ER and ZK-OXB the first Airbus A320 in the new livery as well as the stunning scenery of Queenstown airport.

Here in Middle-earth, everyday tasks can reveal out of this world surprises and before you know it everything can turn a bit Hobbit-shaped.

I am looking forward to see tomorrow's video which by the look of the teaser photo below will be another safety video based on the crew featured in the first video

Photo from Air New Zealand Google+

 and this photo from their facebook page of ZK-OKP in Queenstown

Photo from Air New Zealand Facebook

Airwork launches on market

Auckland based Airwork has launched an IPO with the aim to list on the NZX by December

Aircraft leasing and maintenance company Airwork has launched an initial public share offer to raise up to $40 million and float on the stock exchange.
The Auckland company is offering up to 15.4 million new shares at $2.60 per share and expects to begin trading on the NZX main board by December 19 if the minimum amount of $30m is raised, according to a prospectus issued yesterday.

Airwork operates an engineering arm, a helicopter arm as well as a fleet of aircraft (F27, B733F, B734F, SWM) flying on behalf of New Zealand Post in NZ and Toll Priority in Australia.

Read more on their float from stuff.co.nz's Business Day HERE

Airwork NZ's Fokker F27 ZK-PAX seen at NZWB ©nzompilot

Sounds Air to add WAG?

Picton based Sounds Air look set to replace Air New Zealand on the Wellington to Whanganui route according to a Marlborough Express report.

Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said detailed discussions between the airline and the Whanganui District Council were " a long way through" and an official announcement was pending.
Air New Zealand announced in September that it would drop its five-times weekly service between Whanganui and Wellington from Christmas Eve, citing a lack of demand.
Mr Crawford said Sounds Air would fly at the same times as the current Air New Zealand flights. But it would provide fewer seats than Air New Zealand which uses a 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D.   

This would take the Sounds Air destinations to 5 with Wellington, Picton (Koromiko), Blenheim, Nelson & Masterton* all currently served.

*Masterton was scheduled to start with Sounds Air offering flights to Wellington in place of the scheduled Air New Zealand services

Read the full article from the Marlborough Express HERE

NZ announce first 789 route

Perth is the winner with Air New Zealand announcing its first route with the Boeing 787-9 will be AKL-PER in October next year.

Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon made the announcement at the official opening of the airline’s Customer Innovation and Collaboration Centre in Auckland today. A feature of the centre is the only Boeing 787-9 full cabin interior outside the factory in Seattle.

The cabin mock-up has outlined how Air New Zealand will outfit its interior with 302 seats in a 3 class layout.  18 lie flat Business Premier seats, 21 Premium Economy seats and 263 economy seats.  All seats feature a new entertainment system which is slimmer and has a higher resolution than that on the 773.

'We've taken advantage of new inflight entertainment hardware and that's allowed us to introduce new monitors and also allowed us to slim down the back of the seat considerably from those which have had inflight entertainment. (in the past) That allows much more personal space."

Air New Zealand program director Kerry Reeves with in flight service manager Priyanka Girish
Photo / Dean Purcell /nzherald

Read more on the new 789 cabin and the first flights to PER at Air New Zealand's Flying Social Network HERE or the nzherald HERE

VH-XZJ QF Special Livery

As previously mentioned on this blog, Qantas have re-introduced the Aboriginal art special livery on their soon to be delivered Boeing 737-838 VH-XZJ.

With the arrival of VH-XZJ coming closer, Qantas have introduced a countdown timer to delivery which can be viewed HERE 

VH-XZJ is named Mendoowoorji and the first photos of it have now appeared online

Photo from Airliners.net © Bernie Leighton 2013 

Mendoowoorji is based on a painting that "captures the heart of the Kimberly" but there has already been some criticism online of this scheme as it is not "all over" like the previous liveries and does look "half finished" but I think it will grow on me.

Have your say on this new livery in the comments

Latest safety video offering from NZ

Air New Zealand have released their latest incarnation of their safety video - this one featuring Betty White and going "old school style"

Check it out for yourself below & comment letting me know what you think of it

VH-VKA nears home

With Jetstar's first Boeing 787-8 VH-VKA set to touch down on Australian soil tomorrow its a great time to showcase an awesome video from Boeing (via ausbt.com.au) of the aircraft coming together.

Route news

Australian Aviation have published a slew of new or adjusted routes from local airlines so here is a summary

TigerAir Australia have announced they will introduce SYD-PER directly operating a new 6x weekly back of the clock (red-eye) service with departure from SYD at either 1955 or 2155 and return from PER at either 2250 or 0100.

Read more HERE

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Virgin Australia have announced the introduction of a twice weekly BNE-CNJ (Cloncurry) service operating with Embraer E190 aircraft.  This marks the return of direct links between Cloncurry and the state capital.
Read more HERE

Virgin has also announced an increase to PER-KTH (Karratha) services adding 2x weekly F100 services bringing VA to a total of 38 weekly services on the route
Read more HERE

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Air New Zealand have made some adjustments to their ROT-SYD service including suspending it during winter. The Sept-April service will now operate on Mondays and Thursdays allowing for more weekend visitors to ROT
Read more HERE

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Jetstar have launched a new service PER-LOP (Lombok) the first airline to fly direct from Australia to Lombok.  The new service will operate 4x weekly with the Jetstar staple Airbus A320
Read more HERE

QF Special livery

After what most thought was the end of the special Aboriginal art schemes on Qantas jets after the retirement of Boeing 747-300 VH-EBU 'Nalanji Dreaming' and the repaint of Boeing 747-400 VH-OEJ 'Wunala Dreaming' back into standard colours, leaving just Boeing 737-838 VH-VXB 'Yananyi Dreaming', Qantas have announced its return.

VH-VXB will be joined by a second Boeing 737-838 in a new Aboriginal Art scheme with the new Boeing set to be painted into the livery at the Boeing factory before being delivered to Qantas.  As yet Qantas have not announced the name of the scheme or the Aboriginal artist who designed it.

Read more on the 'revival' of the aboriginal art schemes at austbt HERE

Boeing 737-838 VH-VXB Yananyi Dreaming (commons.wikimedia.org - Chris Finney)

1st Flights

 

Two new aircraft for local airlines have recently had their first flights.  Both are new Boeing 787 aircraft VH-VKA a 787-8 for Jetstar and N789EX (to be ZK-NZC with Air New Zealand) the first Boeing 787-9

photo via Airchive .com

VH-VKA took to the air for the first time on Saturday 14-September-2013 at 16:40 local time on a 1hr 33min flight to/from Moses Lake.  Read more from Australian Aviation HERE or Ausbt.com HERE

photo Boeing via Australian Aviation

The first Boeing 787-9 has taken to the air as part of the Boeing test/certification program for the model.  The frame will become ZK-NZC the third 787-9 to be delivered to Air New Zealand in 2015 after it has finished its Boeing test program.

The 789 departed Everett this morning (17-September-2013 local) at 11:02 and performed a five hour flight testing the aircraft's systems and structures.

Could SA replace NZ in MRO?

While its a bit of a stretch to think its SA code namesake South African Airlines would replace Air New Zealand Link on services into Masterton, there is a chance that Sounds Air may bring services back to the airport.

Sounds Air would not look to replace the national airline on its Masterton-Auckland service rather operating a new Masterton to Wellington service to offer passengers an alternative to traffic queues and exorbitant parking charges at Wellington.

While criticism continues of the national carrier's decision to can its Masterton-Auckland route, Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford told The Dominion Post his airline would meet Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell on Monday to discuss stepping into the breach from November.   

Sounds Air would offer an early morning departure from Masteron in one of its Cessna C208 Caravan's on the short flight to Wellington where passengers can then connect onto an Air New Zealand service to Auckland or Christchurch.

Read more on the potential offering HERE

Airways New Zealand, flow and arrival management

Airways New Zealand have launched a world first flow and arrival management system at Auckland.

Airlines operating into and out of Auckland are set to save tens of millions of dollars in fuel following the implementation of an integrated flow management and arrival management system. In what is said to be a world-first deployment, airlines are already benefiting from significantly reduced airborne delays and optimised flight profiles.

There is evidence that in 2007 the average airborne delay into AKL was 3.5 minutes and since the introduction of this service the average airborne delay is just 23 seconds.

This looks to be a well worth it system based on the information contained in the article from Australian Aviation on their website HERE and is something that I think Brisbane Airport and Airservices Australia should be VERY keen on considering the epic airborne delays in Brisbane airspace.

NZWB/BHE set to grow

Photo from Marlborough Airport website

Blenheim's airport terminal, at Woodbourne (NZWB/BHE) is set to more than double its footprint in expansion plans unveiled yesterday.

It was expected to take six months to complete the work, which would see the passenger area expanded to the south, increasing existing floor space from 92 square metres to 240 square metres.
A mezzanine floor was also being considered to further increase passenger space.   

The current terminal opened in 1995 and passengers numbers have grown to 230 000/yr and are expected to continue to grow, especially with more Air New Zealand flights moving to the Q300 aircraft.  Even if Air New Zealand replace 2x 1900D flights with a single Q300 flight that is still an increase in capacity from 38 to 50 seats.

Marlborough Airport is served by 3 airlines Air New Zealand operating a mix of B1900D & Q300 aircraft to AKL, CHC & WLG, SoundsAir operating C208 Caravan & C208B Grand Caravan Aircraft to WLG and Air2There operating a C208 Caravan between PPQ, BHE & NSN - Air2There codeshare on the SoundsAir BHE-WLG route.

Read more on the terminal expansion via local newspaper The Marlborough Express reporter Cathie Bell HERE

NZ regional changes

In what appears to be a common trend Air New Zealand is slashing more 1900D services with AKL-MRO and WLG-WAG being cut, and AKL-ROT going to Q300 for morning services.

This follows in the footsteps of earlier changes including a morning Q300 service on the WLG-BHE route replacing two 1900D services.  The extra Q300 capacity is due to the new ATR 72-600s being introduced to several Q300 routes.

The Auckland to Masterton route ends in February 2014, while the Wellington to Wanganui service ends in December this year.

Blaming uneconomic operations and lack of demand, Air New Zealand executives told Wairarapa mayors today the service from Masterton Airport would cease from February 5.

In scuttlebutt around the internet there is word that Air New Zealand subsidiary Eagle Air is looking to sell 8 of their 1900D fleet but this is yet to be substantiated by any proof.

The main article for this on the NZ Herald website appears to have been removed despite being a trending topic and most read story with the links returning you to the home page, however the article can still be seen at the Wairarapa Times-Age site HERE (which itself is a subsidiary of the NZ Herald)

JQ launch ADL-AKL

Jetstar have launched a new 3x weekly service between Auckland and Adelaide from December 16th.

The service will operate Monday's, Wednesday's & Saturdays utilising the mainstay of the JQ short haul fleet the Airbus A320.

Jetstar Group Chief Commercial Officer David Koczkar said the launch delivers the first direct low fares flights between the two destinations.“The customer response to our trans-Tasman flying has been strong over the past few years and we’re delighted to now introduce direct flights from Adelaide to Auckland,” Mr Koczkar said.

It is yet unknown if the flight will route AKL-ADL-AKL or ADL-AKL-ADL

This introduction will see Air New Zealand lose their monopoly on this route, however Qantas have also previously operated this rtoute.

Read more including the introductory sale fares at the Jetstar website HERE

Air India steal Australasian 787 crown

Air India has won the Australasian crown for the first commercial B787-8 flight with B787-8 VT-ANK touching down in Sydney this morning as ACI312 direct from Delhi.

The 787-8 departed Delhi 10 minutes late at 15:40 IST yesterday and landed in Sydney at 08:13 AEST almost 30 mins behind schedule.

It departed SYD as ACI311 at 10:35 AEST almost an hour behind schedule for MEL where it landed at 11:59 AEST over an hour behind schedule.

The new services mark the return of Air India to the Australian market after a sustained period of absence with the flight operating a daily service, DEL-SYD-MEL-DEL 4x weekly and DEL-MEL-SYD-DEL on the other 3 days.

Read more about the Air India service from ausbt.com.au HERE or view the flight at flight aware HERE

Air India B787-8 via Australian Business Traveller

Rex profits drops sharply on back of Carbon Tax

In a week of ups and downs for Australasian airlines, Regional Express Holdings have announced a profit slump of 45% with a before tax profit of $19.2m (AUD)

An outspoken critic of government policy, executive chairman Lim Kim Hai said: “This would ordinarily be grounds for much jubilation but instead we at Rex are all too painfully aware that this pole position is an aberration arising from one of the most toxic environments ever to face aviation in Australia.”
Rex ended the year with profits down 45 per cent and passenger numbers down 6.8 per cent.

Rex have fairly and squarely set the loss at the feet of the government's controversial carbon tax, and blasted the government for its implementation, despite the fact Rex recorded a profit more than twice as large as the Qantas group.

Read more on the Rex profit and Chairman Lim Kim Hai's attack on the government at Australian Aviation HERE

Mixed profit/earning news for QF & JQ

Qantas has returned from their record loss last year to eek out a $6m (AUD) net profit this year.

Despite tough competition on international and domestic routes, and high fuel prices, Qantas more than doubled its underlying earnings to $192 million....
Revenue inched up 1.1 per cent to $15.9 billion. The airline again said it would not pay an interim dividend, continuing a policy in place since 2009.....
The domestic premium operations, Jetstar and the frequent flyer division all made a profit, while the international operations halved its underlying losses to $246 million.

Qantas have also flagged more asset sales, namely their Richmond based Defense Division which will be sold to Northrop Grumman for $80m

Read more on the Qantas result at brisbanetimes.com.au HERE

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Jetstar have reported a 32% fall in underlying profit thanks mostly to the launch of offshoots Jetstar Japan and Jetstar Hong Kong, the latter of which is still yet to get off the ground.

The result for Jetstar included a $29 million hit from the federal carbon tax and $50 million in start-up losses in Japan and Hong Kong. The start-up losses rose by $31 million from a year earlier.

It is believed Jetstar's domestic profitability has halved in the last financial year but the international and Jetstar Asia arms have turned a profit.  Jetstar are also looking towards increased competition from Tigerair Australia with the Airline set to double in size by 2018 now that Virgin Australia owns the controlling stake.

Read more on Jetstar's fortunes also at BT HERE 

QF fleet changes

Qantas have announced some changes in the layouts on their A330 fleet as well as the new B717s.

All 30 of Qantas’ A330s will be upgraded with Business Suites in a 1-2-1 layout with fully flat beds and direct aisle access from every seat. Ten A330-300s for Qantas International will feature new Economy seats and 20 A330-200s for Qantas Domestic will see their Economy seats refurbished.

The 5 "new" Boeing 717s being delivered to Qantas will operate as a dedicated sub-fleet on the Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane-Canberra routes and will feature a business class cabin and iPad entertainment in every seat.

“These dedicated B717 aircraft will offer excellent levels of comfort, entertainment, food and wine, delivering on our commitment to continually improve our service,” said Mr Joyce.
The five new QantasLink B717s, announced in January this year, will be introduced to the domestic fleet during FY14.  Qantas Domestic’s 13 other B717s are also being upgraded with new interiors in an all-economy configuration.

Other fleet announcements include the major announcement that as the Jetstar A330s return to Qantas Domestic coupled with further Boeing 737-800s the entire Qantas Boeing 767 fleet will be retired by mid 2015.

• Bombardier Q400 - 3 more to arrive in 1st half of FY14
• Boeing 717 - sub-fleet to be delivered during FY14 with business class
• Boeing 737-400 - all to be retired in FY14
• Boeing 737-800 - four to be delivered in FY14, 5 to be delivered in FY15
• Boeing 767-300 - all to be retired by mid 2015
• Boeing 787-8 - 1st to be delivered in Sept & in service in Nov, 2 further to be delivered by December
• Boeing 747-400 - 2 to be retired in FY14 as underperforming Frankfurt route is cut
• Airbus A330 - all will be upgraded with new seats, JQ's A330s will transfer to QF domestic as 787-8s arrive

Read more on the fleet changes at the Qantas News Room HERE

- Download the Qantas B717 pdf fact sheet HERE

- Download the Qantas A330 pdf fact sheet HERE

NZ Profit Jumps

Air New Zealand have announced a full year net profit of $182m (NZD) for the year ended June 30 2013.  This represents a jump of 156% on the previous year with a record operating cashflow of $750m (NZD)

The airline is paying a final dividend of 5 cents a share, taking its total dividend for the year to 8 cents a share - a 45 per cent jump from last year's shareholder payout. The profit lift was largely anticipated by analysts.
Chairman John Palmer said this morning's result placed Air New Zealand amongst the best performing airlines globally.
"We are focused on further improving on this result in the 2014 financial year. Based on the airline's forecast of market demand and fuel prices at current levels, early results and forward bookings are encouraging." he said.

The airline has also announced they will spend $1.8b on new aircraft over the next 3 years, made up of 9 additional Airbus A320 aircraft for their Domestic fleet renewal, 2 additional Boeing 777-319ERs and 9 new Boeing 787-9s for their international fleet.

Read more about the Air New Zealand profit from stuff.co.nz HERE or the New Zealand Herald HERE or check out the full Air New Zealand results presentation pdf HERE

History Vault: Cook Strait conquered

History Vault

93 years ago yesterday (25th August 1920) the first aircraft to cross Cook Strait (the body of water diving New Zealand's North and South Islands) landed at Trentham racecourse in Wellington.

When Wellingtonians looked up and saw a biplane performing aerobatics above the city 93 years ago, little did they realise that aviation history had been made. Captain Euan Dickson, a decorated World War I pilot, had just completed the first air crossing of Cook Strait. Matt Stewart reports.
The first plane to cross Cook Strait arrived in Wellington unannounced, but that lack of fanfare didn't stop spectators marvelling at the aerobatics of its pilot.
Decorated World War I aviator Captain Euan Dickson piloted his Avro 504k biplane into a "number of falling leaf and stalling turns", according to The Evening Post's account of what at the time was known as "stunting".   

The flight is immortalised with a monument and plaque at the site of its Blenheim landing point a small field off Dillons Point Road to the north east of the town.

      The Evening Post recounted Captain Dickson's "curt phraseology" in describing the nearly five-hour trip with a staccato, radio-friendly patter: "Left Christchurch in adverse conditions. Very strong northeaster. Made bad time to Kaikoura, when petrol was running short, so thought it advisable to land, although within two or three miles of arranged landing-ground.
"Landed on a rather rough paddock, and managed to get some motor spirit from Mr Bullen, The Elms: cup of tea, too . . ."
After more "motor spirit" stops and helpings of lunch, tea and cakes, the crew, which included Canterbury Aviation Co deputy chairman C H Hewlett and mechanic J E Moore, touched down at Trentham.
When asked what the most striking feature of the journey had been, Captain Dickson replied: "I should think it was seeing Wellington from Kaikoura so distinctly."   

Read more from the Dominion Post about this historic flight HERE

QF trans-tasman changes

As part of their alliance with Emirates, Qantas have announced changes to their trans-tasman services opening up the international network to New Zealand travellers.

All changes will come into effect from 27-October-2013

The biggest announcement is the introduction of twice weekly Perth-Auckland flights for the December - January  period.

The new Auckland-Perth service will operate during the holiday season with a twice-weekly A330 service from early December this year through to 1 February 2014.

As stated these flights will operate with an international configured Airbus A330 which gives Business travelers the option of lie flat seats which will be useful on the overnight PER-AKL leg.
This service will operate as QF111 PER-AKL 20:30-07:50* and QF112 AKL-PER 11:40-14:05

The announcement will also see a lot of the existing QF4* codes replaces by new QF13*/14*/15* codes.

Christchurch currently sees QF45/46 operare SYD-CHC-SYD during the day, this will be changed to operate as QF139 SYD-CHC in the evening with a 23:55 arrival and the return will now operate as QF138 CHC-SYD with an 07:30 departure, opening up connecting international flights out of SYD.

The only QF service not to see a timetable change is QF38 MEL-WLG which will become QF172 all other services see a timetable change of around 30 minutes

A full list of the flight number changes is

Read more from the official Qantas Press Release HERE and the NZ Heralds article on the new Perth service HERE

JQs 1st 787

Jetstar's first Boeing 787-8 VH-VKA rolled out of the Boeing paint shop late last week and they posted pics of it to their flickr account

Our first Boeing 787 in its Jetstar livery by Jetstar Airways, on Flickr

Our first Boeing 787 in its Jetstar livery by Jetstar Airways, on Flickr

Our first Boeing 787 in its Jetstar livery by Jetstar Airways, on Flickr

Our first Boeing 787 in its Jetstar livery by Jetstar Airways, on Flickr

See more pics on the Jetstar Flickr page