New GM for Archerfield YBAF/ACF

Brisbane's Archerfield Airport (YBAF/ACF) has this month welcomed its new General Manager, Heather Mattes, to the role.

Unlike her predecessor Mrs Mattes does not want to see scheduled RPT services from the airport, and is instead focusing on growing the general/corporate aviation hub.

"My vision for Archerfield is that it really grows on its master plan and remains Queensland's premier general aviation centre," she said. "To do that, you've got to work with the tenants to grow their businesses and, on the other hand, you need to grow the other opportunities on the airport because it needs to be run as a commercial airport, but it also needs to provide and enhance its assets for general aviation."To that account, it would be wonderful to see the general aviation from light aircraft, through to charter, through to more (Queensland) Government Air Wing, emergency services, maintenance and fixed jet base grow in this airport.

It will be an interesting challenge for Mrs Mattes to grow FBO & FIFO ops while maintaining and growing general aviation and training ops but there are other airports in the same boat in Australia and I wish her well in her endeavours, may she successfully grow Archerfield into a leading secondary airport.

Read the Brisbane Times article on Mrs Mattes appointment and plans HERE

Cobham/QantasLink call sign/code change

QantasLink's regional partner Cobham aviation have had a small update to their call signs.  Cobham operate B717 and BAe 146/RJ100 aircraft on behalf of QantasLink in regional areas of Western Australia and Queensland in support of the mining boom, on both FIFO and RPT services.

Up until yesterday these aircraft have flown with their regos as their call sign, as have the BAe 146F's operated by AAE.

From today the Cobham B717 fleet will fly under the Q-Jet call sign/QJE code while the 146 fleet will fly using the JetEX call sign and JTE code, it is as yet unconfirmed if the AAE 146's will also gain a code or not.

Screen shot from Balus.info showing the new QJE code

Qantas Group makes minor fleet purchase change

Qantas have trimmed their order for Boeing 787-8s for Jetstar to 14 frames, down by 1, while at the same time announcing a renewed domestic push with the leasing of 5 more Boeing 717s and the purchase of 3 more Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

On top of the 14 787s remaining on order for Jetstar, Qantas retains the option to buy up to 50 more Dreamliners in either the 787-8 or stretched 787-9 variant for delivery from 2016, to be shared between the Jetstar and Qantas fleets.

The new domestic aircraft are tipped for work in the mining rich regions of Queensland and Western Australia on both FIFO and RPT services.

In what is a clear competitve response to the announcement by Virgin Australia it is seeking to grow its regional airline portfolio through the acquisition of Skywest, the additional Boeing 717s and Bombardier Q400s will support Qantas’s defensive position on thinner regional routes, particularly in Western Australia. Qantas’s existing 717 fleet is operated for QantasLink by Cobham.

Read more on these fleet announcements from either Australian Aviation HERE or Australian Business Traveller HERE