More Pacific Blue news

First Services

Brisbane – Apia

The first service departed last night Monday 1 December and was operated by ZK-PBF. It was nice to see the Polynesian Blue liveried plane operate the 1^st flight of this new Polynesian Blue service.

Brisbane – Honiara

The first service departed this morning Tuesday 2 December and was operated by ZK-PBG.

Brisbane – Wellington

The first of the additional summer services to Wellington departed tonight Tuesday 2 December and was operated by ZK-PBK.

Route changes/additions

Auckland – Apia

This route has been increased to daily with the addition of a new Monday service first operated yesterday Monday 1 December by ZK-PBG. The Tuesday service has also changed from a morning to an afternoon departure.

Auckland – Gold Coast Coolangatta

This route has also changed departure time on Tuesday, swapping from afternoon to morning. The first new timed service operated today Tuesday 2 December with ZK-PBA.

Auckland – Melbourne

This has increased from daily to 9x a week return flights with the addition of afternoon return flights on Friday and Saturdays. The first of these flights will operate this Friday 5 December

Auckland – Rarotonga

This route now operates 3x weekly with the addition of a Sunday service, the first of which will depart on Sunday 7 December.

Brisbane – Auckland

Brisbane to Auckland increased to 11x weekly with the addition of a Wednesday morning flight which began on the 24^th September and was operated by ZK-PBG.

Christchurch – Melbourne

This has increased from 3 to 5x weekly with the addition of Tuesday and Sunday flights. The Tuesday flights began on 7 October with ZK-PBD operating the flight, while the Sunday flight began on 5 December with the flight being operated by ZK-PBA.

The Tuesday addition came about due to the following flight changes CHC-SYD-NAN-SYD-CHC was replaced by AKL-SYD-NAN-SYD-AKL allowing the Christchurch based aircraft to operated CHC-MEL-CHC-SYD-CHC

The Sunday CHC-MEL-CHC flight replaced a CHC-BNE-CHC flight.

Qantas news

Qantas Jetconnect are about to undergo some serious changes.

Domestic Reductions
Jetconnect currently operate 34 flights M, Th, F, 35 Tu, W 28 Sa and 26 on Su

From 6 December they reduce by up to 8 flights a day. They then reduce by another 2-4 flights per day from 17 Jan 09.

International Flights
Jetconnect operate International flights from Wellington and also Auckland.

Auckland - Brisbane/Melbourne
From Nov 11 QF116/115 AKL-BNE-AKL and QF134/133 AKL-MEL-AKL which is normally operated by a QF 738 is now operated by a Jetconnect 734 with ZK-JTP operating QF116/115 and then QF134/133 was operated by ZK-JTR this will return to the Qantas 738 around March.

Wellington - Brisbane
WLG-BNE-WLG flights QF58/57 operate on Saturday and Sundays, currently the Saturday flight is an afternoon/night flight, while the Sunday flight is a morning flight. From this weekend 6/7 December the flight will be in the afternoon both days.

Wellington - Melbourne
WLG-MEL-WLG flights QF38/37 operate daily using a mix of Jetconnect B733/4 aircraft. Tu, F, Sa morning flights and M, W, Th, Su afternoon/evening flights. From this weekend they change. Weekend flights will operate in the morning WLG-MEL-WLG using Jetconnect 733/4s.
Weekday flights from Monday 8 December will now operate during the middle of the day MEL-WLG-MEL using QF738s operated by Jetconnect.

Air New Zealand news

Enough has been written on the tragic loss of Air New Zealand Airbus A320 ZK-OJL (D-AXLA) without me needing to dwell on it. So all I can do is offer my condolences to the familes and colleagues of the 7 who have lost their lives.

Southern Hemisphere Summer Schedule Changes
As usual there have been changes in the Air New Zealand schedule for the summer.

Noted so far are:

Auckland - Adelaide
This route NZ821/822 has resumed daily operation up from 5 x weekly in the winter season.

Auckland-Los Angeles-London Heathrow
This flight NZ1/2 has had a capacity reduction from a daily 744 to a dailly 772.

Auckland - Osaka Kansai
About the same time that NZ1/2 changed to the 772 the AKL-KIX route changed from a 772 to a 763. It remains a 5x weekly service. The return KIX-AKL flights offer several different options. The Wednesday and Thursday flights route via Tokyo Narita, the friday flight is direct and the Saturday and Sunday flights route via Christchurch.
The 4 AKL-NRT flights remain 772, with 3 of the return flights operarting via Christchurch, the fourth being direct.