Changes to VA shorthaul Asian flying

As expected by a lot of people Virgin Australia has today announced it will withdraw from the Perth - Phuket route and hand its Perth/Melbourne/Adelaide - Bali routes to subsidiary Tigerair.

Tigerair will take over the Bali flights from March, with the Phuket route being dropped from February.

Regulatory approval is still begin sought for Tigerair to operate a fleet of 3 all economy Boeing 737-800s on the Bali flights.  Tigerair has until now been an all A320 operator.

Virgin will redirect its capacity from these routes to an increase on Sydney/Melbourne - Christchurch as well as seasonal capacity increases on flights to Fiji and the Solomon Islands.  Virgin reduced its capacity into Christchurch as a result of the effect on passenger numbers from the Christchurch earthquakes.

These changes come on the back of the annual profit announcement from Virgin which was a bottom line net loss of $94M AUD.  It is expected that these changes along with a $1b cost saving program will return the airline to profitability in the near future.

Read more about the changes to these services via the Brisbane Times HERE

What is Nyepi Day? And why are there no flights?

Today is Nyepi the Balinese 'Day of Silence' which is celebrated as part of Isakawarsa with tomorrow being Balinese New Years Day.  Although a Hindu festival, Nyepi is observed by all in Bali, a description of it follows

Observed from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection, and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all. The effect of these prohibitions is that Bali's usually bustling streets and roads are empty, there is little or no noise from TVs and radios, and few signs of activity are seen even inside homes. The only people to be seen outdoors are the Pecalang, traditional security men who patrol the streets to ensure the prohibitions are being followed.  Although Nyepi is primarily a Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents of Bali observe the day of silence as well, out of respect for their fellow citizens. Even tourists are not exempt; although free to do as they wish inside their hotels, no one is allowed onto the beaches or streets, and the only airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day. The only exceptions granted are for emergency vehicles carrying those with life-threatening conditions and women about to give birth.

This effects the following flights to/from Australia today/tomorrow morning

KEY:

JQ - Jetstar

VA - Virgin Australia

GA - Garuda Indonesia

QZ - Indonesia AirAsia

320 - Airbus A320

73H - Boeing 737-8FE(W)

333 - Airbus A330-300

332 - Airbus A330-200

100 - Fokker F100

788 - Boeing 787-8

Then There Were two

Thursday 05-March-2015 saw Virgin Samoa branded Boeing 737-8FE ZK-PBF operate her final flight on the New Zealand register flying VA161 AKL-BNE.  Upon completion she was towed across the airport and entered the Virgin Australia hanger for business class upgrade and entry to the Australian register.  She will take up VH-VOR.

Meanwhile VH-VUH ex ZK-PBI re-entered Virgin Australia service on Tuesday 3-March-2015 as VA773 Brisbane to Cairns

VH-VUD ex ZK-PBG re-entered Virgin Australia service today Friday 06-March-2015 as VA304 Brisbane to Melbourne

Qantas route announcements

Qantas have made a few route announcements in the last coupe of weeks and look set to make at least one more - here is a round up.

BNE-NRT

As mentioned in my news round up vlog post in December last year, Qantas announced they would introduce a 4x weekly A330 service on the Brisbane to Tokyo Narita route and were looking to add another port to fill the remaining 3x weekly slots.  Qantas have now announced that the BNE-NRT flight will operate daily.

MEL-HTI

Qantas have announced that from Saturday 27-June-2015 they will take over the Melbourne to Hamilton Island service from Jetstar, offering passengers a premium service on this route. QF870/871 will operate on Saturdays and Sundays with a Boeing 737-800.

MEL-PPP

With Qantas taking over their Hamilton Island service, Jetstar have announced a new 3x weekly Melbourne - Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast)  The first flight will be on Thursday 25-June-2015 with JQ831/832 operating Th-Sa-Mo utilising Jetstar's Airbus A320 aircraft.

SYD-YVR

Qantas have announced a return to the Sydney - Vancouver route with a seasonal 3x weekly Boeing 747-400 service.  Services will operate during the northern summer in June-July and again in the northern winter December-January.  QF75/76 will operate on Mo-Th-Sa

PER-SIN

While not yet officially announced Qantas are set to return to the Perth - Singapore route with a daily Boeing 737-800 service.  Qantas last served this route in July 2104 with A330 equipment.  Timetables show the new flights, QF71/72, are set to depart from Saturday 13-June-2014


Read more about these services:

BNE-NRT/MEL-HTI/MEL-PPP via Qantas Media Release HERE
SYD-YVR via Qantas Media Release HERE
PER-SIN via airlineroute.net 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

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

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

New niche regional player in Australia?

Yesterday saw the official announcement of a new niche regional player ConnectJet.  The airline will be based in regional NSW at Dubbo and offer flights from Dubbo to Essendon in Melbourne via Griffith, operating a single B1900D aircraft.

It is with much pleasure Connect Jet – a new brand of Airline – announces new* air services connecting Dubbo N.S.W to Melbourne (Essendon) and to Griffith by the end of the year. Connect Jet plans to operate 24 weekly services operating 7 days per week to Melbourne (Essendon) offering customers early morning departures and evening return flights

The press release above reports 24 weekly services, but after studying the timetable it is 24 sectors, with double daily DBO-GFF-MEB & return and once daily return flights on weekends.

Image from connectjet.com.au

ConnectJet's website also suggests they are looking to operate between Dubbo & Brisbane, Dubbo & Gold Coast, Dubbo & Newcastle and Dubbo & Cobar.  But as their Dubbo-Griffith-Essendon flights are still subject to regulatory approval, its too soon to hold ones breath on future expansion.

Another big point contained in the press release is the fact the airline has not yet confirmed it will actually fly from Dubbo as it is still in negotiation with the council regarding security screening charges that the council is imposing on commercial operators that do not need to apply to aircraft the size of the 1900D.

The airline has not announced where it will source the 1900D from, but it appears to have some powerful backing with the website proudly proclaiming Sponsored By: Toll Priority, Linfox and Essendon Airport, and obviously Linfox own Essendon

The "who is ConnectJet" page on the website is interesting as it contains a stock image with cabin crew photoshopped into the CJ colours.  I am sure I have seen other Australian operators use this image in their colour as well.  It also contains the following paragraph, which to me doesn't read quite right.

Our founders and senior management team is made up of commercial pilots and aviation regulator managers. We know what it takes to build and operate a quality airline from the ground up, with your safety being our number one priority.

• Read the press release HERE
• view the website HERE
• checkout the timetable HERE

NZ+VA alliance to be extended***

&

The ACCC has given tentative approval for the extension to the alliance between Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia for their joint trans-tasman services.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has signalled in a draft ruling that it will approve the tie-up for another three years - two years less than the airlines were seeking.

Further to the shorter approval length the ACCC will seek to impose capacity conditions on eight routes, this will prevent the two airlines from reducing current capacity on these routes including two highlighted by the ACCC Melbourne-Christchurch and Sydney-Dunedin.

The airlines will also have to provide performance data to help the ACCC decide whether their alliance has had an ''adverse effect on competition more generally''.

As expected the airlines will push for the ACCC to extend the approval to the 5 year term they originally sought as well as pushing for the capacity conditions to be dropped.  Despite the tentative approval from the ACCC the alliance is still subject to approval or rejection by the New Zealand Department of Transport, although I expect them to agree with and approve the ACCC decision and conditions.

Read more on the renewal via brisbanetimes.com.au HERE

JQ 787 just 5 months from service

Jetstar have sparked a flurry of excitement from local spotters in Cairns, Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne & Sydney by announcing their new fleet of 787 aircraft will debut on domestic services in November before heading into international operations in December.

Qantas’ low-cost offshoot, which takes delivery of Australia’s first 787 in late September, says that popular domestic routes from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to the Gold Coast and Cairns “are currently being considered”.

Interestingly enough with the exception of Perth these are the destinations that JQ fly their international A330 services from, and the ports that will see the 787's when they transition over to the international routes.

Read more on the Jetstar route announcement from David Flynn at ausbt.com.au HERE

---

Jetstar have also announced the seating layout of their new birds with 21 business class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, while 314 economy seats will be laid out 3-3-3 giving an all up load of 335 passengers.

The seat pitch will be comparable to Jetstar’s current A330 fleet – around 38 inches in business class and 31 inches in economy –  says  Jetstar’s 787 director Mark Dal Pra.

Read more on the seating plans including inseat USB power, and gate-to-gate IFE at ausbt.com.au HERE 

'New' QF B717s & return to CBR

Qantas have announced that the 5 'new' Boeing 717 aircraft to enter their QantasLink fleet, operated by Cobham Aviation, will have Business class and will operate on Canberra routes to and from Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne.

"QantasLink will introduce a full Business experience on these aircraft, including market-leading seats, premium food and drinks and exceptional onboard service," Mr Gissing said.

The 'new' aircraft are expected to enter service from late 2013 once the new interiors are fitted. The new flights from Canberra will mark the return of the B717 to Sydney & Melbourne skies, after having previous been seen there in Impulse then Jetstar colours.

Cobham operate the current fleet of 13 aircraft in QantasLink colours in predominantly Western Australia supporting the mining industry, but also operate some regional routes out of Brisbane (as seen below)

©nzompilot 2013 Boeing 717 VH-NXM departing YBBN

Read the full Qantas press  release HERE

QF upgrade some trans continental routes

As reported back in November (HERE) Qantas are moving all weekday MEL-PER & SYD-PER flights to A330.  They have now announced that they will fast track the all A330 introduction on their SYD-PER flights to April, while at the same time changing weekday flights on BNE-PER to all B763.

This is great news for travellers as it means the end to narrow body jets on these trans-continental flights, at least on weekdays when travelling on QF (unless your unlucky enough to get a QF code share on JQ metal)

"We will now have wide-body aircraft on all weekday flights between the eastern states and Western Australia," says Qantas Domestic CEO Lyall Strambi. That's a change from the mix of wide-bodies (with two aisles) and Boeing 737s (with one aisle) currently used.

I suspect flights from ADL-PER will still operate with B738s as will flights to DRW & CBR so the B738 fleet can still be rotated through WA.

Read more about the end to narrow body trans-con flights from Australian Business Traveller HERE

Domestic transcontinental flights

Normally when people think trans continental flights they think of LAX-JFK or similar in the USA, but Australia has its own transcontinental services between the three big east coast cities BNE, SYD & MEL and PER on the west coast.

Qantas have just taken delivery of their final Airbus A330-200 VH-EBV 'Kangaroo Island' which sports One World alliance titles, which they will operate on the domestic transcontinental flights.

Photo from Qantas Facebook page

Along with this delivery Qantas have announced that from May 2013 all week day flights on the MEL-PER-MEL & SYD-PER-SYD routes will be operated by A330-200 aircraft.  A move which has been in part to combat rival Virgin Australia who already operate their A330 fleet on all MEL-PER routes and next year also on all SYD-PER flights, these currently operate as a mix of A330 & B738 flights.

Qantas will also take delivery next year of the A332 fleet that is currently utilised by Jetstar, when Jetstar begin to take delivery of their new Boeing 787 fleet.

I hope that once these aircraft are received that all Brisbane-Perth flights will also go to all A332, (currently a mix of A332/B763/B738) but hopefully the change to A332 flights from SYD/MEL will mean all BNE-PER will be at least B763.

Read more about these services and the Qantas A332 fleets via Australian Business Traveler HERE or Australian Aviation HERE

A win for Brisbane?

Qantas have confirmed that it will close its engineering base at Tullamarine (MEL) with the loss of 422 jobs, while keeping its Avalon (AVV) and Brisbane (BNE) bases open.

Brisbane looks set to take a win from this closure by picking up the maintenance of the Qantas Boeing 737 fleet, along with its current work on the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 fleets, while Avalon will retain its work on the Boeing 747 fleet.

Read more about the changes to Qantas engineering from the brisbanetimes.com.au Business Day section HERE

A New Spirit

Today at 10am AEST Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce held a press conference to launch the “a new spirit” concept that is the base for sweeping changes in the way Qantas looks, feels and operates.   

The announcement of these changes have been widely publicised and expected and has now been introduced.

A brief overview of the changes coming up are:

-         

•   Qantas will axe its SYD-EZE (Buenos Aries) route instead flying to Santiago (SCL) initially 3x weekly 

•  Qantas will focus its A380s onto services to/from LAX and LHR via SIN
• Qantas will cut other services to LHR via any intermediary other than SIN (ie BKK, HKG)
• Qantas will focus on its relationships with fellow OneWorld airlines American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA) and Malaysian Airlines (MH) offering multiple services on these airlines throughout America and Europe
• By years end QF will have 12 A380s, Qantas have also deferred the delivery of 6 A380s by 5-6 years, with A380s nuber 15-20 being delivered in the period of 2018-2021 to match up with the retirement of the 744 fleet.
• 4 747-400s (744) will be retired this year, with the remainder being upgraded to match the product offered on the A380s, with the entire 744 fleet completed by June 2014.
• New lounges will be opened in SIN, HKG, BKK, LAX
• There will be a new Platinum 1 tier for frequent flyers with additional benefits for Silver and Gold members
• A new fleet strategy aimed at a simplified, high flexibility fleet offering lower costs
• A new order has been placed with Airbus for 110 A320s, of which 28-32 will be the current generation with 78 A320NEO, the NEO options will comprise roughly 50% fleet replacement and 50% new aircraft to meet expected growth

 And the biggest announcement is that of a new Joint Venture Full Service airline to be based in Asia.

-          

•  New Name – will not be QF
• New Look
• New Feel
• New Brand
• New Aircraft
• Will leverage Qantas knowledge and safety
• 49% stake from QF
• Base, etc to be announced in the near future
• Initial fleet of 11 A320s, comprising 8 from the new order and 3 existing aircraft.
• Will fly throughout Asia and especially China/India as well as flying to Australia.
• Will provide feed to Qantas and visa versa

More details on the Qantas announcement including links will be blogged later on

A Strategic move?

Brisbane based full service airline Strategic Airlines has won US DOT approval and has been issued with a foreign carrier permit, with authorisation to fly between Australia and the US.

They have released details on their website of services from Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu Hawaii commencing on 14-December-2011, with fares available for sale from Monday 14-August-2011.  Fares begin at $499 ex Brisbane and $599 ex Melbourne.

Strategic are also set to rebrand themselves from Sunday 30-October-2011 as Air Australia.  With the rebranding Air Australia will also move to a new low-cost model. 

In addition to the launch of the Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu flights Strategic will also launch on the Brisbane-Melbourne domestic route.  Other changes to the Strategic route structure include the conclusion of services today Friday 12-August-2011 on the Brisbane-Gladstone route, the conclusion of the Brisbane-Townsville-Denpasar and Perth-Denpasar routes, while boosting services on Brisbane-Bali and flights to Phuket from both Brisbane and Melbourne.

Strategic targeted Brisbane and Melbourne as underserviced markets and said early this year it planned to move to seven leased A330s over the next three years, with the fleet growing to three by the first quarter of next year. An additional A320 aircraft will come to Australia later this year to bolster the three planes already here and a fifth could be added early next year.

Also as part of its expansion, Strategic have announced the creation of a Brisbane engineering base to service its Airbus fleet.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE and check out the Strategic Airlines website HERE

Tiger to return to the air (sort of)

CASA have allowed Tiger to resume flying under strict conditions, a maximum of 18 sectors/day for the remainder of august.  Although this will let tiger return to the air, the maximum sector cap will severely crimp the routes and frequency that they can fly.

The air safety regulator has ordered additional training for pilots, improved pilot rostering and fatigue management systems, and changes to Tiger's safety management system.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) today lifted its suspension order after grounding the airline on July 1.

Read more from the couriermail.com.au HERE

On their website Tiger are advertising fares on the Melbourne (Tullamarine) - Sydney route, and it looks like they will resume flying on this route on Friday 12-August-2011.  A quick search of fares on other routes suggest they wont be available until CASA lifts the sector cap, which Tiger can apply for in September.