tullamarine wrote:

I am a bit concerned about the proposed route; the idea of a new line that would've also created a suburban service through Avondale Heights and the new suburb being built on the old Defence site at Maidstone seems a more long-sighted solution.

I disagree. The "direct" route would only shave about 5-8 minutes of travel time, and costs a lot more. The decontamination that's needed on the Maribyrnong defence site is huge and expensive.

Sunshine makes a lot of sense in terms of integrating into the whole network. Building a super hub at Sunshine also makes a lot of sense for connectivity to Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.

I just don't understand why it would cost $8-$13 billion.

I really hope the business case includes extending the 59 tram to the airport as well. It would be great especially for the people who work at the airport, many of whom live around Tullamarine/Air West.

Answering A350OZ in reply 450:
Basically yes, although it may not be right along side if the situation with the "historic" bridge so dictates.
That's undoubtedly one thing that contributes to the total cost.

Gemuser

aryonoco wrote:

I disagree. The "direct" route would only shave about 5-8 minutes of travel time, and costs a lot more. The decontamination that's needed on the Maribyrnong defence site is huge and expensive.

Sunshine makes a lot of sense in terms of integrating into the whole network. Building a super hub at Sunshine also makes a lot of sense for connectivity to Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.

If they build the Airport Link with inter-city connectivity in my mind, an Airport Express traveling at 160+ km/h per hour (with a single stop at Sunshine) could potentially be quicker than a commuter service via Maryibong.

aryonoco wrote:

I just don't understand why it would cost $8-$13 billion.

It depends on the scope of the work to be included in that $8bn - $13bn.

It is not a small project, requiring 28km of new double track to be built. While partially (mostly) on existing reservation there will still be the need for tunneling and/or land acquisition.

Gemuser wrote:

Answering A350OZ in reply 450:
Basically yes, although it may not be right along side if the situation with the "historic" bridge so dictates.
That's undoubtedly one thing that contributes to the total cost.

Gemuser

Thank you, I thought so.

Still, the $8bn+ does seem ridiculously high. Comparing this to the Regional Rail Link that was completed just 3 years ago, the cost came in at $3.65bn for a project of 47 kms length, of which 21 kms were upgrades/track replacements as well as new track within existing reserves, and 26 kms completely new developed track through farmland in the western growth corridor (which had to be acquired as well). It also included station upgrades along the way as well as 2 completely new stations. Why the airport rail link would be 3.6x the cost per km (at the lower end of $8bn) escapes me...there's only 6 kms of track outside existing reserves, and no land acquisitions required (apparently).

And compare to Inland rail that is (currently) $10bn for about 1700km of track......

qf789 wrote:

Air China has extended BNE suspension to 17 Jan 19

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status ... 05568?s=21

That's not looking good. I notice the China Eastern BNE-PVG flight sometimes reduces to 3X/week and Hainan remains at 2x/week BNE-SZX.

eta unknown wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Air China has extended BNE suspension to 17 Jan 19

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status ... 05568?s=21

That's not looking good. I notice the China Eastern BNE-PVG flight sometimes reduces to 3X/week and Hainan remains at 2x/week BNE-SZX.

It must be because of aircraft shortage. Passenger numbers have been pretty good for the start with 80% load factors mostly. China Eastern is daily from 28 OCT 18 - 25 MAR 19 and sometimes reduces to 3x weekly during April-June. There was talk about Hainan increasing to 3x weekly but nothing ever happened. Passengers aren't too bad on SZX-BNE. China Southern is really the only carrier doing really well most likely because it has been here for a while. Would like a seasonal increase from them though.

eta unknown wrote:

China Eastern

Speaking of MU, does anyone know whether the PER - PVG trial flights are still going ahead or not?

It was previously reported that trial flights are set down to commence in October - is this true or not?

See: https://www.acbr.com.au/west-aussie-per ... e-tourists.

Cheers,

C.

oskarclare wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Air China has extended BNE suspension to 17 Jan 19
https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status ... 05568?s=21

That's not looking good. I notice the China Eastern BNE-PVG flight sometimes reduces to 3X/week and Hainan remains at 2x/week BNE-SZX.

It must be because of aircraft shortage. Passenger numbers have been pretty good for the start with 80% load factors mostly.

Afraid I'm not 100% convinced suspension due to aircraft shortage.. the initial loads were strong as the route started during AU peak season (heck I was even one of them) and then Chinese New Year kicked in after the peak. Arriving PEK at 04:30 I counted at least 20 CA widebodies overnighting on the ground.

Yes- CZ is daily now thank goodness as it took years to get there- they also now carry a lot of Vietnamese/Indian/Nepalese VFR traffic.

A350OZ wrote:

Gemuser wrote:

Answering A350OZ in reply 450:
Basically yes, although it may not be right along side if the situation with the "historic" bridge so dictates.
That's undoubtedly one thing that contributes to the total cost.

Gemuser

Thank you, I thought so.

Still, the $8bn+ does seem ridiculously high. Comparing this to the Regional Rail Link that was completed just 3 years ago, the cost came in at $3.65bn for a project of 47 kms length, of which 21 kms were upgrades/track replacements as well as new track within existing reserves, and 26 kms completely new developed track through farmland in the western growth corridor (which had to be acquired as well). It also included station upgrades along the way as well as 2 completely new stations. Why the airport rail link would be 3.6x the cost per km (at the lower end of $8bn) escapes me...there's only 6 kms of track outside existing reserves, and no land acquisitions required (apparently).

It could be high, but probably not that much when you include:
Inflation to end of construction, about 2028 - 2030
The elevated structure from the existing line to the airport which is why there is no land purchases [Believe that when I see it, I severely doubt the junction to the airport can be built entirely within the current rail reservation]
Airport station [presumably also elevated]
Major station rebuilt and extension for Sunshine
Rolling stock [a big one] Sydney just paid about 70.8 million per train for our latest order, built in China. I assume a minimum of 12 trains for the service so around $850 million to 1 billion just for the trains
New/expanded maintenance facilities
Modifications to existing assets

BTW IF the Inland Rail Project, IF built, comens in under $30 billion I will be very surprised. [I hope it is not built, upgrading existing lines within the existing MEL-SYD-BNE corridor will IMHO give a much better return on investment.

Gemuser

eta unknown wrote:

oskarclare wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

That's not looking good. I notice the China Eastern BNE-PVG flight sometimes reduces to 3X/week and Hainan remains at 2x/week BNE-SZX.

It must be because of aircraft shortage. Passenger numbers have been pretty good for the start with 80% load factors mostly.

Afraid I'm not 100% convinced suspension due to aircraft shortage.. the initial loads were strong as the route started during AU peak season (heck I was even one of them) and then Chinese New Year kicked in after the peak. Arriving PEK at 04:30 I counted at least 20 CA widebodies overnighting on the ground.

Yes- CZ is daily now thank goodness as it took years to get there- they also now carry a lot of Vietnamese/Indian/Nepalese VFR traffic.

Funny that CA seems to have the aircraft to make both MEL and SYD daily during that period though. The period is the highest for Australian outbound travel, so a big loss for BNE to see CA absent, however they will still serve the very busy Chinese New Year period.

Does say something about the BNE services, airlines simply don’t suspend routes that are making them money, the airline did not hesitate, even extending.

oskarclare wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Air China has extended BNE suspension to 17 Jan 19

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status ... 05568?s=21

That's not looking good. I notice the China Eastern BNE-PVG flight sometimes reduces to 3X/week and Hainan remains at 2x/week BNE-SZX.

It must be because of aircraft shortage. Passenger numbers have been pretty good for the start with 80% load factors mostly. China Eastern is daily from 28 OCT 18 - 25 MAR 19 and sometimes reduces to 3x weekly during April-June. There was talk about Hainan increasing to 3x weekly but nothing ever happened. Passengers aren't too bad on SZX-BNE. China Southern is really the only carrier doing really well most likely because it has been here for a while. Would like a seasonal increase from them though.

Flew BNE-SZX last week, loads were healthy. About 50% in J and I’d guess 80% in Y. I was the only white guy on the plane, so I’m sure is mostly tourists/Chinese Australians visiting family. Not sure how far it could expand given daily flights to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

Southern will continue to do well, they’re starting/continuing to get good brand recognition in Oz from many different markets - as a value carrier to Europe, for consistent product for business travellers etc.

Flying MU PVG-BNE in early August, will be interested to see what the loads are like,

Does anyone know if qantas updates their international ife on the first of the month?

Qantas: 747 replacement in full swing with the 8th 787-9 to operate to Hong Kong.

Whatsaptudo wrote:

Qantas: 747 replacement in full swing with the 8th 787-9 to operate to Hong Kong.

Guess Hong Kong is the new “US” route

tullamarine wrote:

HM7 wrote:

Does anyone know if qantas updates their international ife on the first of the month?

In theory, yes, but I assume the plane may need to be loaded with the new content when it is in AU so it is possible that a flight returning to AU on the first of the month may still have the previous month's content.

If the plane leaves August 1st from australia, will it be loaded with new content?

HM7 wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

HM7 wrote:

Does anyone know if qantas updates their international ife on the first of the month?

In theory, yes, but I assume the plane may need to be loaded with the new content when it is in AU so it is possible that a flight returning to AU on the first of the month may still have the previous month's content.

If the plane leaves August 1st from australia, will it be loaded with new content?

I guess it is probably the plan to do that, but there would be multitude of reasons why it may not work out, short turnaround, port of departure etc. They'd have them done as soon as they can thouhg i would imagine. Its probably not something on the MFE list....

Thats alot of reduced HKG capacity with 789s replacing A330s.

Where will the freed up A330s be going?

Whatsaptudo wrote:

Qantas: 747 replacement in full swing with the 8th 787-9 to operate to Hong Kong.

More details:
BNE-HKG: 1x weekly from 19 Dec, increasing to 2x weekly from 30 Jan 19
MEL-HKG: 5x weekly from 13 Dec, increasing to 6x b/t 28 Jan 19 and 29 Mar 19. 789 ops till 29 Mar 19.
SYD-HKG: 6x weekly from 30 Mar 19 (presumably swapping QF117/8)
With the balance opby A330 (and A380 in SYD's case).

vhebb wrote:

Thats alot of reduced HKG capacity with 789s replacing A330s.

Where will the freed up A330s be going?

More in Y class (presumably low fare as well) since there's an additional 14 C and 21 W seats to sell.

I guess QF did their homework and decided the additional C/W it's worth the swap. (If they sell W at all).

Michael

vhebb wrote:

Thats alot of reduced HKG capacity with 789s replacing A330s.

Where will the freed up A330s be going?

Its a BIG increase in PREMIUM seating 27/8 J/C A332/3 being replaced with 42 J/C AND 28 P/Y B789. Premium seats make the profits. Loss of Y/C seats (cheap fares) makes little if any difference to the bottom line PLUS the increase in revenue/profit by selling 14 F/C on the A380

[quote="dredgy"]
Flew BNE-SZX last week, loads were healthy. About 50% in J and I’d guess 80% in Y. I was the only white guy on the plane, so I’m sure is mostly tourists/Chinese Australians visiting family. Not sure how far it could expand given daily flights to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

I'm not surprised. The only connecting VFR market flight beyond SZX is PEK- not sure if any of their Europe flights connect now. 90% of HU pax are inbound originating with outbound sales managed from their MEL office. There is no BNE airport office- the duty manager works from home.

eamondzhang wrote:

Whatsaptudo wrote:

Qantas: 747 replacement in full swing with the 8th 787-9 to operate to Hong Kong.

More details:
BNE-HKG: 1x weekly from 19 Dec, increasing to 2x weekly from 30 Jan 19
MEL-HKG: 5x weekly from 13 Dec, increasing to 6x b/t 28 Jan 19 and 29 Mar 19. 789 ops till 29 Mar 19.
SYD-HKG: 6x weekly from 30 Mar 19 (presumably swapping QF117/8)
With the balance opby A330 (and A380 in SYD's case).

vhebb wrote:

Thats alot of reduced HKG capacity with 789s replacing A330s.

Where will the freed up A330s be going?

More in Y class (presumably low fare as well) since there's an additional 14 C and 21 W seats to sell.

I guess QF did their homework and decided the additional C/W it's worth the swap. (If they sell W at all).

Michael

That’s a very sporadic schedule, but makes perfect sense from a utilisation perspective. Could this be a gap filler due to the delay in the AA JV? QF thought they’d have approval by now, but the US DOT wanted more details. So they can’t use announce a new route, so send the aircraft where the premium demand justifies, in second place to a new route? Shuffling the fleet around a little?

Seems such a sporadic aircraft type into Asia will create challenges from a fleet perspective when something goes US, I wonder what the longer term plan is for Asia- considering slot constraints. 78J? HKG,NRT,SIN? Or does QF really make that little money in economy?

kriskim wrote:

Funny that CA seems to have the aircraft to make both MEL and SYD daily during that period though.

Add AKL to that too, which is also going daily for NW (with a 789, up from about 4x weekly for NS). I'm surprised they didn't downgrade one of the other ports by a few weekly frequencies, to maintain a BNE presence over this period - cutting BNE for that long must make it hard for them to attract repeat customers in the BNE market, as their brand will now be associated with inconsistency and/or unreliability?

Cheers,

C.

smi0006 wrote:

Could this be a gap filler due to the delay in the AA JV? QF thought they’d have approval by now, but the US DOT wanted more details. So they can’t use announce a new route, so send the aircraft where the premium demand justifies, in second place to a new route? Shuffling the fleet around a little?

Seems such a sporadic aircraft type into Asia will create challenges from a fleet perspective when something goes US, I wonder what the longer term plan is for Asia- considering slot constraints. 78J? HKG,NRT,SIN? Or does QF really make that little money in economy?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Perhaps it is also letting them test out the aircraft in areas that they havent yet broadcast flying to with them?

planemanofnz wrote:

kriskim wrote:

Funny that CA seems to have the aircraft to make both MEL and SYD daily during that period though.

Add AKL to that too, which is also going daily for NW (with a 789, up from about 4x weekly for NS). I'm surprised they didn't downgrade one of the other ports by a few weekly frequencies, to maintain a BNE presence over this period - cutting BNE for that long must make it hard for them to attract repeat customers in the BNE market, as their brand will now be associated with inconsistency and/or unreliability?

Cheers,

C.

Perhaps the rest of the world does have it in for QLD after all?

qf2220 wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Could this be a gap filler due to the delay in the AA JV? QF thought they’d have approval by now, but the US DOT wanted more details. So they can’t use announce a new route, so send the aircraft where the premium demand justifies, in second place to a new route? Shuffling the fleet around a little?

Seems such a sporadic aircraft type into Asia will create challenges from a fleet perspective when something goes US, I wonder what the longer term plan is for Asia- considering slot constraints. 78J? HKG,NRT,SIN? Or does QF really make that little money in economy?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Perhaps it is also letting them test out the aircraft in areas that they havent yet broadcast flying to with them?

Given what Qantas has been doing in the past, it’s hard to believe they’re not expanding further into US market with their brand new 789. AA JV has to be the reason here.

Otherwise I was expecting something like BNE-ORD with their 8th 789.

Flew MEL-SYD today, and as going through security screening the guy with the swab once you’ve collected bags from the scanner gathered me and a couple of other people in the vicinity over for extra testing, all of whole were strangers. He then proceeded to swab inside all our bags, and over our clothing with the same swab. It was all fine and I wasn’t really worried as it’s largely just theatre anyway, but what if there was a positive detection from one of these people. Having swabbed three strangers and their bags with the same pad.... I suppose I could be carted off for extra testing despite doing nothing wrong.

787 changes to HKG are partly a result of crew shortages, freeing up A330's for domestic runs to cover under crewed 737's during summer.

eamondzhang wrote:

More details:
BNE-HKG: 1x weekly from 19 Dec, increasing to 2x weekly from 30 Jan 19
MEL-HKG: 5x weekly from 13 Dec, increasing to 6x b/t 28 Jan 19 and 29 Mar 19. 789 ops till 29 Mar 19.
SYD-HKG: 6x weekly from 30 Mar 19 (presumably swapping QF117/8)
With the balance opby A330 (and A380 in SYD's case).

Michael

I'm curious to what the full 789 schedule will look like for the first 8 frames after Hong Kong is started. I know there's people on here who are quite good at working this out and perhaps I'm missing some details but....

* The first 4 are already busy with 9/10 and 95/96 and then supporting by the introduction of Mel-SFO.
* Of the next 4 I thought BNE-LAX was going 10 weekly which would take up probably 3 of those aircraft.
* This Hong Kong schedule looks like it will take up 2 aircraft on its own.

I'm counting 9 aircraft here which is clearly wrong... What am I missing?

Whatever it is, clearly QF will be getting good utilization out of the first 8 aircraft.

a320fan wrote:

Flew MEL-SYD today, and as going through security screening the guy with the swab once you’ve collected bags from the scanner gathered me and a couple of other people in the vicinity over for extra testing, all of whole were strangers. He then proceeded to swab inside all our bags, and over our clothing with the same swab. It was all fine and I wasn’t really worried as it’s largely just theatre anyway, but what if there was a positive detection from one of these people. Having swabbed three strangers and their bags with the same pad.... I suppose I could be carted off for extra testing despite doing nothing wrong.

Had the same at MEL Intl last month for the first time ever. I do not know for sure, but would expect in case of a positive test they would then swab everyone in the group individually, and then take away the “offender” for extra testing with the rest free to go. Given there are hardly any positive tests ever this change in process will still be more efficient for them (but not for the individual traveller being tested now having to wait longer).

CattleClass wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

More details:
BNE-HKG: 1x weekly from 19 Dec, increasing to 2x weekly from 30 Jan 19
MEL-HKG: 5x weekly from 13 Dec, increasing to 6x b/t 28 Jan 19 and 29 Mar 19. 789 ops till 29 Mar 19.
SYD-HKG: 6x weekly from 30 Mar 19 (presumably swapping QF117/8)
With the balance opby A330 (and A380 in SYD's case).

Michael

I'm curious to what the full 789 schedule will look like for the first 8 frames after Hong Kong is started. I know there's people on here who are quite good at working this out and perhaps I'm missing some details but....

* The first 4 are already busy with 9/10 and 95/96 and then supporting by the introduction of Mel-SFO.
* Of the next 4 I thought BNE-LAX was going 10 weekly which would take up probably 3 of those aircraft.
* This Hong Kong schedule looks like it will take up 2 aircraft on its own.

I'm counting 9 aircraft here which is clearly wrong... What am I missing?

Whatever it is, clearly QF will be getting good utilization out of the first 8 aircraft.

Only 8 frames there

MEL-PER-LHR-PER-MEL-LAX/SFO daily 4 frames
BNE-LAX-JFK daily 2 frames
BNE-LAX 4 weekly 1.2 frames
HKG daily 1 frame

MEL-LAX/SFO is 6 weekly giving a free day.

CattleClass wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

More details:
BNE-HKG: 1x weekly from 19 Dec, increasing to 2x weekly from 30 Jan 19
MEL-HKG: 5x weekly from 13 Dec, increasing to 6x b/t 28 Jan 19 and 29 Mar 19. 789 ops till 29 Mar 19.
SYD-HKG: 6x weekly from 30 Mar 19 (presumably swapping QF117/8)
With the balance opby A330 (and A380 in SYD's case).

Michael

I'm curious to what the full 789 schedule will look like for the first 8 frames after Hong Kong is started. I know there's people on here who are quite good at working this out and perhaps I'm missing some details but....

* The first 4 are already busy with 9/10 and 95/96 and then supporting by the introduction of Mel-SFO.
* Of the next 4 I thought BNE-LAX was going 10 weekly which would take up probably 3 of those aircraft.
* This Hong Kong schedule looks like it will take up 2 aircraft on its own.

I'm counting 9 aircraft here which is clearly wrong... What am I missing?

Whatever it is, clearly QF will be getting good utilization out of the first 8 aircraft.

HKG only takes one aircraft instead of 2 till 30 Jan when the free plane from LAX/SFO-MEL-PER-LHR is subbed into it.

Michael

CattleClass wrote:

What am I missing?

MEL-HKG goes back to A330s at the end of March when they start SYD-HKG so it’s only really 1 frame for HKG, I imagine the BNE flights will use the spare days in the LAX schedule.

As for longer term use of the 789s, I am wondering if QF is rethinking their decision to put the capacity at BNE rather than SYD. There is still no clear plan to replace the 744s when they (supposedly) leave the fleet by the end of 2020 without massive reductions on important routes like SFO and HND.

qf002 wrote:

CattleClass wrote:

What am I missing?

MEL-HKG goes back to A330s at the end of March when they start SYD-HKG so it’s only really 1 frame for HKG, I imagine the BNE flights will use the spare days in the LAX schedule.

As for longer term use of the 789s, I am wondering if QF is rethinking their decision to put the capacity at BNE rather than SYD. There is still no clear plan to replace the 744s when they (supposedly) leave the fleet by the end of 2020 without massive reductions on important routes like SFO and HND.

This throws up a lot of questions. I guess to start with, where is the 787 'home base'? I know JQ's and now QF's 787 simulators are at MEL. Does that make MEL 787 'home base' where maintenance will be carried out, and any other port simply a place where some crew reside and some 787 rotate thru?

And you're right, there are a lot of skilled people at SYD and hanger capacity that will be idle once the 744 retire. What is the plan there - the infrastructure is not going anywhere but QF won't leave engineers idle awaiting project sunrise aircraft.

qf002 wrote:

CattleClass wrote:

What am I missing?

MEL-HKG goes back to A330s at the end of March when they start SYD-HKG so it’s only really 1 frame for HKG, I imagine the BNE flights will use the spare days in the LAX schedule.

As for longer term use of the 789s, I am wondering if QF is rethinking their decision to put the capacity at BNE rather than SYD. There is still no clear plan to replace the 744s when they (supposedly) leave the fleet by the end of 2020 without massive reductions on important routes like SFO and HND.

Remember they ordered an additional 6 in May, so the fleet is expected to be at 14 by the end of 2020.

MooLor wrote:

and hanger capacity that will be idle once the 744 retire. What is the plan there - the infrastructure is not going anywhere but QF won't leave engineers idle awaiting project sunrise aircraft.

If those hangers still exist. That area has been flagged numerous times for a terminal expansion in multiple Syd Airport plans.

qf002 wrote:

CattleClass wrote:

What am I missing?

MEL-HKG goes back to A330s at the end of March when they start SYD-HKG so it’s only really 1 frame for HKG, I imagine the BNE flights will use the spare days in the LAX schedule.

As for longer term use of the 789s, I am wondering if QF is rethinking their decision to put the capacity at BNE rather than SYD. There is still no clear plan to replace the 744s when they (supposedly) leave the fleet by the end of 2020 without massive reductions on important routes like SFO and HND.

Qantas has already made an agreement to base 4 787-9's in BNE with the Queensland Government... which I'm sure the QLD government paid QF for! Not that they couldn't go back on that agreement but it would cost them.

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/ ... h-787-base

qf789 wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

a320fan wrote:

Flew MEL-SYD today, and as going through security screening the guy with the swab once you’ve collected bags from the scanner gathered me and a couple of other people in the vicinity over for extra testing, all of whole were strangers. He then proceeded to swab inside all our bags, and over our clothing with the same swab. It was all fine and I wasn’t really worried as it’s largely just theatre anyway, but what if there was a positive detection from one of these people. Having swabbed three strangers and their bags with the same pad.... I suppose I could be carted off for extra testing despite doing nothing wrong.

Had the same at MEL Intl last month for the first time ever. I do not know for sure, but would expect in case of a positive test they would then swab everyone in the group individually, and then take away the “offender” for extra testing with the rest free to go. Given there are hardly any positive tests ever this change in process will still be more efficient for them (but not for the individual traveller being tested now having to wait longer).

I went through something similar as well, what airline where you flying with?

It was international so affected all intl pax going through security (I was on a NZ flight but the others in the group were on AirAsiaX and Qantas, IIRC).

A delicious designer meal enjoyed on Qantas:

https://twitter.com/StevePurvinas/statu ... 40/photo/1

I don't know what everyone is whinging about. Right?

qf002 wrote:

CattleClass wrote:

What am I missing?

MEL-HKG goes back to A330s at the end of March when they start SYD-HKG so it’s only really 1 frame for HKG, I imagine the BNE flights will use the spare days in the LAX schedule.

As for longer term use of the 789s, I am wondering if QF is rethinking their decision to put the capacity at BNE rather than SYD. There is still no clear plan to replace the 744s when they (supposedly) leave the fleet by the end of 2020 without massive reductions on important routes like SFO and HND.

Ahh yes... clearly I read that wrong and missed the point that the Mel flights were temporary until the end of March. Thanks everyone for the input!

I'm really interested to see how they swing the next batch of 6 in to replace the 747's... a base at Sydney makes sense given that's where almost all of the 747's operate out of these days. But I wonder if its going to be as simple as a swap in swap out type arrangement on each route or something more interesting like the changes they made to QF9/10 with the first batch which seemed to take most people by surprise.

I hope its the later personally although I don't really have an idea of what that might look like.

Looks like VOZ697 MEL-PER is returning to MEL

https://www.flightradar24.com/VOZ697/1d3eb2aa

Razza74

qf789 wrote:

Razza74 wrote:

Looks like VOZ697 MEL-PER is returning to MEL

https://www.flightradar24.com/VOZ697/1d3eb2aa

Razza74

According to FR24 it was suppose to go to ADL, maybe a medical

It's heading straight back to MEL bypassing ADL..... It looks more mechanical but may be medical related.

Michael

Btw, apologise if discussed (but didn't see any since I follow the thread); just noticed DHL has replaced SYD-AKL 757 flight with a 767 from DHL Air..... Curious if anyone knows this would be permanent or temporary? And if permanent where would VH-TCA go?

Thanks all
Michael