Farewell QF 767s

Today is the end of an era with the final revenue flights of the remaining 5 Qantas Boeing 767 frames.

The final flight of the type will be this afternoon (27/12/14) at 17:00AEDT/04:00UST from MEL to SYD with the flight renumbered to QF0767 in honour of the end of an era.

The 767 entered into service with Qantas in 1985 with the -238ER version.  Qantas then ordered the -338ER version in 1987.

To honour the fleet retirement here is a collection of some of my Qantas 767 shots

VH-OGF: MSN 24853 in QF service from new 1990-2012

VH-OGP: MSN 28153 in QF service from new 1996-2014

VH-OGT: MSN 29117 in QF service since new 1998-2014

VH-ZXC: MSN24339 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXD: MSN 24342 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXF: MSN 25203 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXG: MSN 25443 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

Seasons Greetings

Its Christmas Eve already!  I don't know where 2014 has gone but 2015 is rapidly approaching.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has viewed this blog over the past year and wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

I look forward to everything the new year has to bring to the aviation world in Australia and New Zealand.

I leave you with a wonderful Christmas gesture from Virgin Atlantic in partnership with Microsoft on VS11 a Boeing 787-8 from LHR to Boston.

JQ launch new routes

The good folks at JQ have kicked off the holiday season by gifting the traveling public 3 new routes.

JQ will launch CNS-DPS and MEL-WLG and reinstate OOL-PER.

The CNS-DPS service will launch on 31-March-2015 as JQ90 departing CNS at 22:50 with an 01:30 arrival into DPS, the return JQ91 is set to depart DPS at 02:20 with an 08:30 arrival into CNS.  The flight will operate 3x weekly with A320 aircraft.

OOL-PER a returning service is set down as evening departures out of OOL and a BOC (Back of Clock or Red-eye) return flight.  This flight will commence on 29-March-2015 and depending on which source you read will operate 4-6x weekly also utilising the A320.

The MEL-WLG service which will launch on 30-March-2015 will begin with a BOC flight from MEL at 00:45 with an 06:05 arrival into WLG the return service will join the standard am bank of Australia bound flights out of WLG at 06:45.  This flight too will be 4x weekly with an A320.

(In case you were wondering its too damn hot in BNE tonight to record this as a video post!)

News round up vlog

Time for another video post, this time rounding up some of the recent news from Air New Zealand, Qantas, Scoot and LAN

Weather damage in Brisbane at YBAF

On an evening when most of Australia has been in mourning for cricket Phillip Hughes who died as a result of a tragic accident, Brisbane has been hit by a destructive storm.

Now it is storm season and,we are used to it, but tonights storm seemed to be very destructive, especially for those at Archerfield (YBAF)

Photos via @C_K_7 on twitter

Wellcamp welcomes first commercial flight

Welcome Airport in Toowoomba welcomed its first commercial flight this morning with Qantas Link Dash 8 Q400 VH-LQQ arriving into the airport as QF2016. The aircraft will depart back to Sydney as QF2017 at 09:55AEST

VH-LQQ arrives into Wellcamp with traditional water cannon salute ©BWW Facebook

Normal services on this route will see flights operate WTB-SYD-WTB-SYD-WTB QF2015/16/17/18

Changes at BHE after announcements

There are a few changes in store for my friends back in Blenheim with recent announcements from the airlines that serve Woodbourne Airport.

Air New Zealand's announcement that it is axing its Beech 1900D fleet will see the BHE-CHC and BHE-WLG routes experience some service reductions, however these will be tempered by an increase in seats and fare reductions.

The Blenheim - Wellington route will drop to just 4 daily return flights, while Christchurch will lose its 3rd daily rotation leaving just 2 peak hour rotations.

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said passengers in and out of Blenheim would benefit from an average 15 per cent drop in fares because of the extra seats.

Blenheim however will experience some of the last changes with the Wellington route changing in March 2016, while the Christchurch route will change in April 2016, just four months before the final 1900D is retired.

Read more on the changes via The Marlborough Express HERE

As noted by fellow blogger Steve over at 3rd Level New Zealand air2there have dropped all reference to Wellington from their website with Blenheim flights now only operating to Paraparaumu.

Check out Steve's post on the subject HERE

Last Friday I was pleased to open the Marlborough Aero Club email version of their newsletter Mac Flyer to read the story about their brand new Cessna C208 Caravan which the airline has recently purchased in the United States and is in the process of ferrying back to Blenheim.

The airline has also posted pics of this C208B which will be registered ZK-SAW on its Facebook page.

The C208B will allow SoundsAir to add Blenheim - Paraparaumu to its schedule from January 2015, and with the recent announcement by the national carrier may also allow it to service Westport.

On the Facebook page SoundsAir state they are working closely with the Buller Regional Council but cannot make any promises on whether they will commence services to Westport

Read more on the new C208 from a Marlborough Express article HERE

Air NZ Announce Major Regional Changes Axe 1900D

Air New Zealand have this afternoon announced major changes to its domestic regional routes as a result of subsidiary Eagle Air losing $1M NZD per month.

The Eagle Air Beech 1900D fleet will be retired by August 2016

Eagle Air Beech 1900D ZK-EAB at BHE in happier times ©nzompilot

Air New Zealand will invest in 4 additional new ATR 72-600 aircraft allowing the Q300 fleet to replace the 1900D on services to ports that can sustain the 50 seaters.

“This is good news for the following 12 towns: Kerikeri, Whangarei, Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Hokitika and Timaru. Each will progressively move to 50 seat aircraft and benefit from fare reductions.”

However Whakatane, Kaitaia & Westport will no longer be serviced by Air New Zealand, while four other regional pairings will also go.

Unfortunately there are a small number of regional routes where customer demand simply cannot sustain larger 50 seat aircraft and Air New Zealand will therefore suspend the following services from April 2015: Kaitaia – Auckland; Whakatane – Auckland; Whangarei – Wellington; Taupo – Wellington; Westport – Wellington and Palmerston North – Nelson. Hamilton – Auckland will also be suspended from February 2016.

Air New Zealand will also introduce regional "Gotta Go" fares and restructure its bereavement fares, to counter the wave of public criticism of high last minute fares.

From 20 November customers dealing with a bereavement or unexpected critical medical situation will have the security of knowing they can travel domestically at short notice for a fixed price of $169 for a single sector or $249 for two or more sectors. These fares can be booked up to seven days in advance of travel for a close family bereavement or up to 48 hours in advance of travel for a critical medical situation.

Gotta Go fares will be available from February 1st 2015

Read more on the announcement via the Air New Zealand Press release HERE 

Sad & Beautiful

THE SAD

Air New Zealand has lost one of its first female captains to a suspected brain aneurism shortly after she landed NZ175 a Boeing 787-9 in Perth.

Captain Ann Barbarich a 27 year veteran with the airline, was well respected in the Air New Zealand and New Zealand Aviation communities.

She was part of a four man flight crew on board the flight, and made a textbook landing before becoming unwell.  She was initially treated by doctors on board before being rushed to Perth hospital.

The thoughts of this blog are with her family and colleagues after this terrible event.

Read about Captain Barbarich via The New Zealand Herald HERE or stuff.co.nz HERE

THE BEAUTIFUL

The New Zealand Herald have also run an article this week on the interior refits of the Air New Zealand Boeing 777-219 fleet.  The article and video mentions and shows the second of the aircraft to undergo the upgrade ZK-OKE.

Business Premier refit of ZK-OKE - photo © New Zealand Herald

Read the story and watch the video HERE

Speculation mounts on future VA International routes

Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti has started a speculation war announcing to a Travel & Tourism function that Virgin Australia will add two or possibly three new International routes int he next three years.

This appears to be on top of the recent announcement that now TigerAir Australia is 100% owned by Virgin Australia they will launch international services from Australia as well.

Speculation mounts as to where the routes will be and which aircraft will they use? B738? A330? B773? Asia? North America? Europe? Pacific?

Australian Aviation weighs in HERE and Australian Business Traveller HERE if you have a theory on routes or aircraft please add it in the comments

Behind the scenes of the most epic safety video ever

Air New Zealand have released a behind the scenes video detailing some of the behind the scenes action from their latest Hobbit themed safety video.  it is well worth a look

"First" Flights On Recently Changed Routes

As reported earlier on this blog and elsewhere there have been some changes to international schedules into and out of Australasia, and these schedules have now begun.

Virgin Australia ended its MEL-LAX flights on Sunday and up gauged its BNE-LAX services to daily.  
While the new service began on Sunday the first of the additional arrivals occurred this morning when Boeing 777-3ZGER VH-VPD arrived into Brisbane as VOZ8

With the new codesharing agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand taking effect on the Singapore - Auckland route, today saw the first Airbus A380 flight on the SQ285/286 service, operated by A380-841 9V-SKB.  

Singapore will continue to operate its Boeing 777-200s on SQ282/281 evening service until January when this is replaced by an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-219 service, under the code NZ281/282.  

The A380 service will operate over the southern summer, and is expected to return to a Boeing 777-300 service at the end of March 2015.

Today also saw Untied's first International Boeing 787-9 route with the direct LAX-MEL UA98 route touching down on Australian soil.  Boeing 787-9 N38950 inaugurated the now direct service and is set to return direct to LAX as UA99 at time of writing.  This route previously operated with a Boeing 777-200 and a stop in SYD.

Sad day for New Zealand Aviation

Following on from the May receivership of Vincent Aviation Australia, the parent company, Wellington based Vincent Aviation New Zealand, has now been placed into receivership, with Receivers BDO placing a public notice today.

This comes as a result of court proceedings started last week by ANCL Investments the owner of BAe 146 ZK-ECO which flew for Vincent Aviation and had been operating in Australia.

Happier Times - BAe 146 ZK-ECO departing Brisbane

As always my thoughts are with the Vincent Aviation staff, including friends, who are impacted by this decision.

Read more from the Dominion Post on the Receivership HERE or an earlier article from the Wairarapa Times-Age on the court action HERE

Latest NZ Hobbit Safety Video - "The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made"

Air New Zealand the Airline of Middle Earth has released the latest and last inflight safety video in its Hobbit series in time for the December launch of the final Hobbit movie.

The video features several Hobbit stars including Elijah Wood and fellow Whovians will enjoy the appearances of Sylvester McCoy.

The video is directed by acclaimed Kiwi director Taika Waititi who makes a cameo appearance as the wizard, and also features cameos from Sir Peter Jackson and Sir Richard Taylor.

VA to take full control of TT for just $1

Media outlets report Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti is set to take up the remaining 40% stake in low cost carrier TigerAir Australia for the princely sum of just $1.

Taking full ownership of TigerAir Australia has always been part of the Virgin Australia strategy as part of their 'Virgin Vision 2017' plan.

Borghetti is quoted as saying he intends to have the struggling carrier back in profitability ahead of schedule before the end of 2016, by leveraging the resources of the wider Virgin Australia group.

So what exactly does $1 get Virgin?  Obviously 40% of remaining shares, but also a fleet of 13 A320 aircraft, obvious current debt, the rights to operate the TigerAir Australia in Australia, but also the rights to operate the brand on a number of short haul international routes from Australia.

This international expansion would likely see TigerAir competing against Jetstar on routes to Bali and other south east Asian locations and may open up the opportunity for TigerAir to enter slim Trans Tasman routes, especially those that have previously been flown and dropped by the major carriers.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year pending permission from regulatory authorities and shareholders.

You can read more on the plan via Australian Business traveller or The Australian

The Rise And Fall Of Airlines Fighting For Regulated Routes In QLD

The Queensland Government has announced the winning tenders to operate the Government subsidised regulated regional routes.

Winners

The big winner in the announcement is Regional Express (Rex) who have picked up three routes to add to their existing two, taking them to five regional Queensland routes.

Rex maintained their existing routes;
Townsville - Winton - Longreach (Northern 1)
Townsville - Hughenden - Richmond - Julia Creek - Mt Isa (Northern 2)

they have also added the following three routes;
Brisbane - Toowoomba - St George - Cunnamulla - Thargomindah (Western 1)
Brisbane - Toowoomba - Charleville - Quilpie - Windorah - Birdsville - Bedourie - Bouila - Mt Isa (Western 2)
Cairns - Normanton - Mornington Island - Burketown - Doomadgee - Mt Isa (Gulf)

All five of the routes will be operated by the Rex fleet of Saab SF340B aircraft, with the two Western routes operating through the new Brisbane West- Wellcamp Airport at Toowoomba.

Rex picked up Northern 1 and 2 in 2011.  The addition of Western 1 & 2 sees Rex return to scheduled services at Brisbane after an absence, however they have still operated FIFO and Freight charters from Brisbane, so have maintained a presence.

Qantaslink hold onto their two regulated routes;
Brisbane - Roma - Charleville (Central 1)
Brisbane - Barcaldine/Blackall - Longreach (Central 2)

These routes will continue to be operated by Qantaslink's Dash 8Q aircraft however both routes will see an up gauge with Central 2 up gauging to Q400 and Central 1 to Q300.

Losers

The big loser from this announcement is Skytrans who have lost almost all their regulated routes (to Rex) this comes hot on the heels of their loss of their Toowoomba - Sydney service which is ceasing due to the introduction of the new Qantaslink Q400 Wellcamp - Sydney services.

Skytrans cling onto life with their own services around Cape York and on the Cairns - Mt Isa route as well as their FIFO charters.  The Cape York network is as follows;

The Lockhart River, Coen, Arurkun services which operates the following different patterns on different days
Cairns - Aurukun - Coen - Lockhart River - Cairns (M)
Cairns - Coen - Lockhart River - Aurukun - Cairns (W, F)
Cairns - Lockhart River - Aurukun - Cairns (Tu, Th)

Mt Isa services
Cairns - Mt Isa (M-Tu, Th-F)
Mt Isa - Cairns (M, W-F)

The Edward River (Pormpuraaw) and Kowanyama service
Cairns - Edward River - Kowanyama - Cairns (M, Th)
Cairns - Kowanyama - Edward River - Cairns (Tu, F)

The Cape route to Bamaga
Cairns - Bamaga - Cairns (M-F)

The loss of the Western 1 & 2 contracts will see the end of Skytrans operating scheduled services from Brisbane however they will continue to maintain a presence through FIFO contracts.

Another loser in all of this is Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) who have for quite sometime been trying to get access into the Queensland regional routes, and have often been thwarted by the regulated route structure.  VARA tendered but did not win any of the available routes.  There only options for possible extensions to regional Queensland flying comes from existing routes or the below deregulated routes.
Time will tell if previous threats made by Virgin CEO John Borghetti to the Queensland Government regarding implications of the lack of access to the Queensland regions come to pass.

Start & Deregulations

All existing contracts end on 31-December-2014 with new contracts beginning on 1-January-2015.  

At the same time the following regulated routes, currently operated by Qantaslink  will be deregulated and opened to competition;
Townsville - Cloncurry - Mt Isa
Cairns - Horn Island
Cairns - Weipa

Learn More

Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport have welcomed Rex via a post on their Facebook Page

There is an article on the announcement from Brisbane Times reporter Cameron Atfield HERE

VCV finally makes it to air

The item on 60 Minutes Australia on the retirement flight of Qantas Boeing 767 VH-OGG to VCV and the aircraft graveyard finally aired last night in Australia, after several weeks of delay.

Although the item is yet to appear on their youtube channel, it does feature on their app and extras can be seen on youtube including the below birdseye view of the graveyard.

I apologise if this or the app is geo-locked outside of Australia

Inside the NZ 787-9

Air New Zealand have released a video to their youtube channel which takes viewers inside the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner ZK-NZE 

The video shows the seats in the three different classes, Business Premier, Premium Economy & Economy, as well as mentioning some of the features and the menus in each cabin.

Farewell #AirNZ747

With Air New Zealand's retirement of the Boeing 747 I have decided to test out a video blog.

Let me know what you think.

JQ launch OOL-WLG/ZQN flights

Jetstar have today announced two new trans-tasman routes from the Gold Coast at a media event in Wellington.

The Gold Coast will now see a 3x weekly return service to Wellington and also to Queenstown.

WELLINGTON
The new flights to Wellington mark the first international service to WLG by Jetstar.  It appears the first flight on this route will take off on Friday 12-December-2014

JQ167 originates at the Gold Coast departing Coolangatta at 07:30 AEST Wednesday, Friday and Sundays arriving into WLG at 13:50 NZDT.  The return service JQ168 departs WLG W,F, Su at 14:30 NZDT and arrives into OOL at 15:15 AEST.


QUEENSTOWN
Queenstown will see its 3rd Jetstar international destination with Gold Coast following Sydney and Melbourne.  Flights between the two playgrounds take off on Saturday 13-December-2014

JQ193 departs OOL at 07:45 AEST Saturday, Monday and Thursdays arriving into Queenstown at 13:50 NZDT.  The return service JQ194 departs ZQN at 14:30 NZDT and arrives OOL at 15:00 AEST


All flights will operate with Jetstar's A320 aircraft.  One way launch fares on OOL-WLG are $99.00NZD and $129.00NZD on OOL-ZQN

At time of publishing the official Jetstar media release has not been published on their website but an article from stuff.co.nz can be found HERE

VCV boneyard story delayed

As mentioned in this POST, 60 minutes Australia were scheduled to show a story tonight on the retirement of the Qantas 767 fleet and the "aircraft graveyard" at Victorville.

However due to a dodgy political 'special investigation' the story did not air tonight.  Hopefully the story will air next Sunday night instead.

VCV aviation boneyard to feature on Australian 60 minutes

This Sunday night 60 Minutes Australia which screens on the Nine Network has an item on the retirement of the Qantas Boeing 767 fleet and the boneyard they are being stored in at Victorville in California.

Reporter Charles Wooley reports from aboard Qantas Boeing 767 VH-OGG (former wearer of the Disney Planes livery) as it departs the Qantas fleet to the boneyard.

The story will air during this Sunday's broadcast 20:00 AEST 7-September-2014 and will be available on the 9 Jumpin website afterwards.

For those of you outside Australia who may experience geo-blocking the story will feature on the 60 minutes youtube channel HERE from Monday AEST, or you can download the 60 minutes Australia APP and watch it that way

QF first to announce YBWW service

Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba has today announced that QantasLink is the first airline to confirm it will fly from the new airport.

The announcement came around lunchtime today with the Queensland Premier Campbell Newman landing at the airport aboard King Air 350i VH-WJW owned by the Wagner family who have built the airport.

On hand at the announcement with the Premier was member for Nango Deb Frecklington, QantasLink CEO John Gissing and members of the Wagner Family

QantasLink will fly the WEL-SYD route with 11 flights weekly commencing on Monday 17-November-2014 using their 74 seat Q400 aircraft

The Wagner family, QantasLink & the Queensland Premier announce flights to Wellcamp - via Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport Facebook page

Read more via Brisbane Times HERE, the Wellcamp Airport Facebook page HERE, or the Qantas media release HERE

REX buck the Australian trend

Bucking the trend of fellow Australian operators and joining Air New Zealand in announcing a profit was Rex with a full year profit before tax of $10.7m($AUD) with a net profit of $7.725m ($AUD) this was down 44.9% on the FY13 net profit.

Despite posting a profit REX has warned that the Australian Aviation market is in deep crisis pointing to the losses made by Qantas and Virgin and listing the 16 different regional carriers who have collapsed and ceased operations since 9/11

Rex executive chairman Lim Kim Hai said the carbon tax, an increased fuel levy to fund the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and record fuel prices were all negative factors in 2013/14.

There were a few announcements of note in the release, FY14 saw REX take full ownership of its 51 frame SF340B+ fleet purchasing the remaining 18 frames that came off lease at the end of March 2014.

Its subsidiary Pel-Air has secured contract extensions for some of its SA based mining charter operations and has tendered for the dedicated search and reduce service for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority which will be announced later this year.  In FY14 the Pel-Air contract for fast jet support to the Australian Defence Force was also renewed by the Federal Government.  Pel-Air has also launched a number of SF340B+ flights in Queensland in support of resource sector FIFO operations.

Subsidiary Air Link began a Sydney - Cobar charter service in October 2013 and has also re-commenced RPT services this month, with a twice weekly SYD-DBO 1900D service.

REX is awaiting the outcome of its tenders to the Queensland Government to operate regulated regional Queensland routes which will be announced in October.  REX currently services the TSV-WIN-LRE* and TSV-HGD-RCM-JCK-ISA^ routes with a current contract end of 31 December 2014.  REX also launched a 3x daily SYD-ARM service on 28 March 2014 after an expression of interest period from local councils within a 600km radius of SYD, brought about by a network review and the recruitment of 11 former pilots of recently collapse competitor Brindabella Airlines.  

Read the media release, investor briefing and annual report as released to the ASX HERE


* Townsville - Winton - Longreach
^ Townsville - Hughenden - Richmond - Julia Creek - Mt Isa

VA joins in with red ink

Virgin Australia rounds out the Australasian Aviation finical reporting week with a statutory after tax loss of $355.6m ($AUD) however their underlying loss before tax was $211.7m ($AUD)

Virgin attributes this loss across the group as follows;
- Virgin Australia International (including VA NZ) loss of $66.8m
- Virgin Australia Domestic (including Skywest) loss of $59.2m
- Virgin Samoa (49% holding) loss of $2.6m 
- TigerAir (60% holding) loss of $46.1m
With restructuring and balance sheet costs, fuel, taxes etc also heavily contributing.

Virgin Australia has now completed its "Game Change Program Strategy" and has introduced Virgin Vision 2017 as its new focus.

Virgin Vision 2017
We can expect to see some change with this new vision which has wide scope throughout the entirety of the Virgin group.

The first change has seen Affinity Equity Partners buy a 35% stake in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program, giving the program an enterprise value of $960m ($AUD)  This will see the program remain under the control of Virgin Australia but with a separate board of directors.  Virgin Australia will maintain 65% voting rights and will appoint the chairman to the board. 

There will be some change in the fleet with the retirement of the two ex Emirates Airbus A330s an increased utilisation of the Boeing 737-800 fleet and the introduction of the new Boeing 737MAX fleet being brought forward from 2018 to 2017.

Virgin's charter operation, which have been built on the base afforded by the acquisition of Skywest has had a successful first year and Virgin are looking to grow it into a $200m ($AUD) operation by 2017.

Virgin will launch a new freight business in FY15 to leverage off their current RPT and Charter operations.

Virgin are looking to make $1b ($AUD) in cumulative productivity gains, this will be achieved through 3 steps;
1. Enhancing procurement
2. Improved productivity (including the above mentioned fleet changes and utilisation)
3. Streamlining of operations (see below)

As part of the streamlining of operations Virgin will reduce its long-haul international bases to two (SYD & BNE - with the already announced end of MEL-LAX flights)  it will  also  integrate Virgin Australia (NZ) operations back into its international division.

Virgin have announced they will also introduce business class onto all flights across the Tasman and to Fiji, which will be seen through the standardisation of the on board offering through the integration of VA(NZ) back into VA.  Currently VA(NZ) aircraft which operate on these routes do not have  business class seating.  

The biggest list of change/improvement is with the TigerAir LCC brand. 
1. Further improve customer satisfaction - something that has plagued TigerAir
2. Drive incremental revenue growth - through new revenue management and initiatives
3. Deliver cost synergies - via network, operational and finical synergies as well as a new Brisbane base and cooperation with VA on procurement of fuel
4. Development of an efficient operating platform and network footprint - new enhancements to drive operational efficiency including the new Brisbane base, new maintenance provider in BAE Systems and reaching agreement with Sydney Airport about infrastructure constraints at SYD

Read the full whack of documents supplied to the ASX including final report, press release, presentation and Velocity announcement HERE

JQ also have a loss

As mentioned in the Qantas Group loss post, Jetstar also had a full year loss of $116m ($AUD) down from a profit of $138m in FY13

Jetstar's domestic Australian operations were profitable as they have been every year since the launch in 2004.

The losses are attributed to unfavourable fuel costs of $86m, a $113m yield decline across the JQ group and $70m in costs for the rapid acceleration of the Jetstar Japan operation, as well as another $20m in costs for other Jetstar operations in Asia.

- Jetstar Asia is the leading LCC in Singapore
- Jetstar Japan is the fastest growing LCC in Japan
- Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam is growing and will increase its fleet from 7 to 10 by December 2014
- Jetstar Hong Kong is still stuck on the ground awaiting regulatory approval

Fleet
As mentioned in the Qantas post there have been some fleet changes with Jetstar

- JQi has received 4x B787-8 enabling it to return 3x A332 to Qantas
- JQd(AU) has sold 5x A320 on order based on the subdued outlook for domestic growth
- 21x A320 currently on order have been deferred for 4 years and converted into an order for 21x A320neo taking the total A320neo order to 99 frames
- The final 3 B787-8 of the original 14 frame have been deferred (previously announced)

The Jetstar result is buried in the middle of the Qantas group announcement and can be found in the Qantas Group FY14 Financial Results Media Release document HERE

QF group lose big

Day two of Australasian Aviation financial announcements saw Qantas announce a record $2.843 billion ($AUD) full year loss.

Qantas has reported a lower than expected full-year underlying loss before tax of $646 million, but booked a statutory loss of $2.8 billion as a result of hefty restructuring charges and writedowns to its fleet.

One of the most notable hits was the historic write down of the international fleet at $2.6b most notably due to an exchange rate of around $0.68 AUD-USD at time of purchase.

Qantas domestic had an underlying profit of just $30m for FY14 down from $365m in FY13, however Qantas International saw the biggest hit with an underlying loss of $497m compared with $246m in FY13

Jetstar had an underlying loss but I will focus on this in a separate post.

Qantas Freight made an underlying profit of $24m down from $36m in FY13, however Qantas Loyalty had the best result with an underlying profit of $286m up from $260m in FY13.

The Qantas Group expects to return to an underlying profit before tax in the first half of FY15 based on the following expectations:

• A target of $300m of Qantas Transformation benefits to be realised in the first half

• A stabilising operating environment, as market capacity growth subsides

• First half fuel costs in line with the first half of FY14

• The repeal of the carbon tax

• Reduced depreciation costs compared with the first half of FY14 

Fleet Changes

There are some interesting changes to the QF fleet coming out of this announcement.

QFi
- Gradual replacement of B747s with A330s on Australia to Asia routes including all SYD/BNE-SIN by Sept 2014
- Early retirement of 4x B747 with the remainder of the non-reconfigured B747s to leave by early 2016
- Push back the options on 50x B787 from 2016 into 2017
- Defer the delivery of the final 8x A380(previously announced)
- Defer the final 3 B787-8 deliveries for JQ (previously announced)

QFd - including QantasLink, Network Aviation, Jetstar and Jetconnect
- reduce turn time for domestic aircraft to improve utilisation
- refurbishment of B737-800 fleet to be completed by mid 2015, provides a total 3% capacity increase
- Early retirement of B767 fleet, to be gone by end of 2014!
- Retirement of Network Aviations fleet of Embraer Brasillia EMB120 effective immediately
- Retire 2x B738 due to increased utilisation, 1 to come from domestic 1 to come from Jetconnect
- Not renew lease on 2x A330-200s which will leave the fleet in early 2016
- 5x A320s ordered for Jetstar have been sold
- 2x QantasLink Q300 will be sold during FY15
- defer order for 21x A320 for Jetstar by 4 years and convert into order for 21x A320neo


Read all of the announcements to the ASX, including the media release, the CEO's address, the Investor presentation and the Fleet Update HERE