DPS looms large in Tigers eyes

As mentioned last year Tigerair will take over the MEL/ADL/PER - DPS services currently operated by parent Virgin Australia from next month.

Tiger recently held a media event to discuss the flights and show off the first of their Boeing 737-8FE's which they will borrow from VA for use on the route.

Boeing 737-8FE VH-VUB in Tigerair livery at YMML - photo via australianaviation.com.au ©

The first Boeing 737-8FE in service will be VH-VUB ex ZK-PBJ which was painted into Tigerair livery last year and has sat in MEL since awaiting Tigerair service.

The second Boeing in Tigerair livery will be VH-VOR ex ZK-PBF which completed its last VA revenue service yesterday Sunday 31-January-2016 when it arrived into Brisbane as VA1496 from Hamilton Island, it then positioned to Townsville as VA9901 where it entered the Flying Colours hangar for the repaint.

The third and final Boeing to enter Tigerair service is expected to be VH-VOO ex ZK-PBA (an aircraft I experienced twice in the last week)

For more details on the new service and to see photos of the new Tigerair can refit read the Australian Aviation article HERE

JQ heads to China

Jetstar today have announced they will launch Gold Coast - Wuhan flights from Tuesday 29-September-2015 utilising their Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

This is the first direct Australia - China route for Jetstar, who previously offered one stop flights via Singapore.

The flights will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Jetstar have teamed up with Chinese tour operator Dalian Wanda Group to sell the flights which gives Jetstar an almost certain guarantee that the flights will be profitable.

Read more on the new service via Australian Business Traveller HERE, Australian Aviation HERE or Airline Hub Buzz HERE

Qantas set for return on PER-SIN

Qantas will return to the PER-SIN route, this time with a 737-800 service.

Flights will resume on Friday 26-June-2015 which will be just over a year since they axed their former PER-SIN A330 service.

QF71 will depart PER at 12:00AWST arriving into SIN at 17:20SGT then QF72 departs SIN at 18:25SGT landing back in PER at 23:40AWST

Flights will operate 5x Weekly We,Fr, Sa-Mo

VA Stat bite

Some readers may be interested in this Virgin Australia 'Stat bite' post looking at Virgin Australia International flights today.

Monday 30-March-2015

Total International Sectors Flown: 55
Trans Pacific Sectors: 4
Trans Tasman Sectors: 25
South East Asian Sectors: 13
South Pacific Sectors: 13

Aircraft Types Used: 2
Boeing 777-3ZG(ER)s Used: 4
Boeing 737-8FEs Used: 18
Boeing 737s with Boeing Sky Interior Used: 17

Excluding the PER-HKT-PER sectors today was the first day in a while that domestic or ex ZK aircraft haven't featured somewhere on the Bali/Trans Tasman/Pacific Island sectors.

And the winner is.......

And the winner is ZK-PBL the final VA(NZ) bird

Boeing 737-8FE ZK-PBK flew her final flights as VA171/170 BNE-VLI-BNE on Monday 09-March-2015 before entering the Virgin Australia hanger.  She was struck from the New Zealand register today Tuesday 10-March-2015 and will enter the Australian register as VH-VUP.

VH-VOR ex PBF at time of writing has not entered service but will no longer carry the Virgin Samoa titles.  ***UPDATE*** VH-VOR operated her first flight as VA1384 BNE-ADL today Tuesday 10-March-2015

VH-YID flew from Brisbane to Townsville on Tuesday 03-March-2015 as VA9939 where she entered the paint hanger and was given the Virgin Samoa titles and Tupu'itea name.  Unlike PBF she does not sport the tribal colour band on the engines.  She returned to Brisbane as VA9938 on Sunday 08-March-2015 and at time of writing has not flown since.

VH-VOR/ZK-PBF arriving at AKL in the old Polynesian Blue colour scheme ©nzompilot

Another first for Virgin Australia goes to VH-VUB ex ZK-PBJ which takes the honour of the first ex ZK bird to return to New Zealand.  VH-VUB operated VA160 BNE-AKL on Monday 09-March-2015

VA(NZ) fleet update

The Virgin Australia team are pumping the ex VA(NZ) fleet through now with the next bird coming to the end of her time on the New Zealand register.

ZK-PBJ ended her VA(NZ) life on Friday 13-February-2013 operating VOZ176/175 BNE-NAN-BNE before she entered the Virgin Australia hanger to become VH-VUB and have the business class installation.

VH-VOP (ex ZK-PBB) left the hanger after her transformation and entered domestic service this morning Saturday 14-February-2015 as VOZ916 BNE-SYD

The withdrawal of ZK-PBJ leaves the remaining VA(NZ) fleet at 6.  As of today Saturday 14-February-2015 none of the former fleet have operated a Tasman/Pacific service, with the services being operated by other members of the VAI fleet in the VH-YI* range.

ex VA(NZ) aircraft update

An update to the previous POST - the Australian register has now been updated and confirms that as I suspected Virgin Australia Boeing 737-8FE ZK-PBA has indeed returned to her former Australian Registration of VH-VOO.  She was re-registered on Friday 30-January-2015.

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

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.

NZ announce strong profit

Its finical reporting season for Australasian aviation, and first out of the blocks was Air New Zealand reporting their third straight year of profit with a net profit of $262M(NZD).  This net profit represents a 45% increase on FY13.

Chairman Tony Carter said that the result represented the third consecutive year of strong earnings growth for the airline.  “This is a result Air New Zealand can be proud of. Our employees, our customers and our shareholders can be confident that Air New Zealand continues to be a world leading airline both in terms of customer experience and financial performance,” Mr Carter said.

Air New Zealand reported an 84.1% Load Factor for FY14 with 13,719,000 passengers carried.  This is mainly thanks to domestic passengers, with domestic capacity up 5.4% on the back of the replacement of the Boeing 737-300 fleet with Airbus A320s, and the introduction of new ATR 72-600s.  Domestic saw 8,920,000 passengers with a load factor of 81.1%.

FY15 will see the biggest increase in fleet numbers with a total of 10 aircraft entering the NZ fleet. 2x Boeing 787-9, 4x Airbus A320, 3x ATR 72-600 & 1x Boeing 777-300.  In the same period the remaining Boeing 747-400 will retire and the Boeing 737-300 fleet will dwindle to just 2 frames.

Read more on the Air New Zealand result via their releases to the New Zealand Stock Exchange 
- each section includes a downloadable pdf document
 - Media Announcement
 - Shareholder Review and Financial Report
 - Annual Results Fact Sheet
 - Results Analyst Presentation

QF upgrade QF7/8 and axe BNE

In what can not be described as any unexpected move Qantas today have announced that they are replacing their daily SYD-DFW-BNE-SYD Boeing 747 flight with a 6 weekly SYD-DFW-SYD A380 flight, with no service on Tuesdays.

The new QF7/8 will take flight from Monday 29-September-2014

To facilitate this the mix of A380s and B747s on the SYD-HKG services will change.

Qantas have also retimed their QF9/10 MEL-DXB-LHR-DXB-MEL flights from Sunday 20-July-2014 with QF9 now departing MEL at 2255 and QF10 returning to MEL at 2055+2

Qantas are spruiking the fact the retimed arrival into LHR will now offer passengers onwards connections to 17 european destinations in under 4 hours transit time, compared to the previous 4.

Its another sad day for spotters in Brisbane who from September will be down to the daily B744 flight to Los Angeles as the only scheduled B747 flight into the airport.  With Qantas replacing the B747 on it SIN route with an A333.  However we should still see the odd freight charter, and possibly a last Air New Zealand B744 on a NZ135/136 if they need to up-guage capacity, but this is unlikely with their retirement so close.

Below is a video released by Qantas to promote the new A380 service to Dallas, it is presented by Qantas head of International engineering Alan Milne

You can read the full Qantas media release HERE

Qantas have also released a fact sheet about the QF7/8 changes HERE

Painting ZK-NZE B787-9 time lapse video

Air New Zealand have posted a great time lapse video of the painting of their first Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZE

MH370

The thought and prayers of this blog are with all family and friends of passengers on MH370 a Boeing 777-2H6 believed to be 9M-MRO which has gone missing between KUL and PEK

I will not enter into speculation and propaganda on what happened to this flight until the aircraft has been found and full details are released, I just pray for comfort and closure to family members and friends of those lost.

End of the 737 'classic' era at QF

Qantas have rounded out the 737 'classic' era (737-300 & 400 models) with Boeing 737-476 VH-TJS named Jabiru flying the final service of the type on Sunday 23-February-2013 as QF819 CBR-MEL.

VH-TJS was ordered by Australian Airlines and delivered new to them in early 1993 and was transferred to Qantas when the airline merged later that year.  It has flown for the National airline ever since.

While the retirement of VH-TJS and the Qantas Boeing 737-400 fleet see's the end of the era for the fleet on scheduled RPT service by the major carriers, the 737-300s & 400s continue to fly on in Australian skies.

There are 11 737-300s and 2 737-400s that still regularly popup around the traps.

Qantas subsidiary Express Freighters Australia (a former joint venture with Australia Post as Australian Air Express) operates a fleet of 4 Boeing 737-376(SF) in Qantas Freight colours, which cross the night skies flying freight between the Capital cities.  All four of these aircraft flew with Qantas domestically and also with Jetconnect the New Zealand subsidiary of Qantas before being converted to freighters.

Airwork NZ Limited operate a fleet of freighters in Australia on behalf of Toll Holdings this comprises 3x Boeing 737-3B7, 1x Boeing 737-3S1 & 1x Boeing 737-4Q8, these aircraft also fly in New Zealand.  Airwork has a further Boeing 737-476 ZK-JTQ which operates in Australia on charter, recently for Alliance Airlines on FIFO work.  This aircraft was also formerly Qantas & Jetconnect.

The other carrier that keeps the 'classics' in the Australian skies is Air Nauru which operates a fleet of 3 aircraft on scheduled services to Nauru, as well as FIFO and government charter work.

Wellcamp Airport

The newest airport in Queensland is well on its way to completion, with a great article appearing in the Brisbane Times today on it.

Construction of the airport which will be capable of handling aircraft up to Boeing 747 in size, only began last year and is set for completion in April before 4 months of certification then the opening.

The below picture taken from the Brisbane Times article shows the development in November 2013 and also shows a "fly-in" of sorts with some Beechcraft and a Skytrans Dash 8 clearly visible in the foreground.

© brisbanetimes.com.au/Shayne Cantly 2013

Wellcamp is well into discussions with Virgin Australia and Qantas about flights to and from the airport which will carry the IACO designator YBWW

Read the full Brisbane Times article HERE or visit the Wellcamp website HERE

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

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

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.