VHZNE wrote:

Boof wrote:

Something isn't adding up with the antarctic charter either - the 747 will now arrive around 9pm into HBA on return and I assume will deplane and then ferry empty to MEL. Surely HBA wouldn't have built a runway that cannot service the take off of a three quarters loaded 747....

The 747 will probably position back to Sydney, as no flights are operating with QF 747s out of MEL.

The runway also isn’t a waste of money as aircraft are getting smaller these days such as the A350 and 787 compared to 747s and A380s. Weather of that day of the Antartica flight may also be an issue for the 747.

Yes you're correct SYD it will be. I was thinking MEL as that is the originating port of the charter.

I agree about smaller aircraft and the runway, HBA need to fish where the fish are so no point building something for A380's when they are never coming. I just can't understand how this debacle has happened where the 747 was supposed to originate in HBA. The runway is 500m shorter than what a 744 needs at MTOW for take off. I'm not sure how much runway they would eat up for this charter but given there are no bags and no cargo it seems odd that a runway that is "complete" can't accommodate what was planned. Someone has stuffed up!

^^QF always err on the conservative side when it comes to ops. Be great for the pax. 737 HBA - MEL, then 747 HBA - HBA. They are going to have a wow of a time. I suspect any SYD/BNE originating pax will be flying on that 747 from HBA to SYD.

TN486 wrote:

^^QF always err on the conservative side when it comes to ops. Be great for the pax. 737 HBA - MEL, then 747 HBA - HBA. They are going to have a wow of a time. I suspect any SYD/BNE originating pax will be flying on that 747 from HBA to SYD.

747 MEL-HBA (via Antarctica!!) but I get what you mean.

Do the charters work that way in terms of the SYD/BNE pax? From what I can see they don't offer connections on these charters it's simply purchased from the originating port and pax make own way to and from. This one is a bit of an exception being ex HBA and needing the 737 charter as well.

Attn SYD spotters: Edelweiss Air Airbus A340-300 HB-JMG is expected to arrive 16SEP 12:40LT and will depart again 19SEP 10:45LT

Boof wrote:

VHZNE wrote:

Boof wrote:

Something isn't adding up with the antarctic charter either - the 747 will now arrive around 9pm into HBA on return and I assume will deplane and then ferry empty to MEL. Surely HBA wouldn't have built a runway that cannot service the take off of a three quarters loaded 747....

The 747 will probably position back to Sydney, as no flights are operating with QF 747s out of MEL.

The runway also isn’t a waste of money as aircraft are getting smaller these days such as the A350 and 787 compared to 747s and A380s. Weather of that day of the Antartica flight may also be an issue for the 747.

Yes you're correct SYD it will be. I was thinking MEL as that is the originating port of the charter.

I agree about smaller aircraft and the runway, HBA need to fish where the fish are so no point building something for A380's when they are never coming. I just can't understand how this debacle has happened where the 747 was supposed to originate in HBA. The runway is 500m shorter than what a 744 needs at MTOW for take off. I'm not sure how much runway they would eat up for this charter but given there are no bags and no cargo it seems odd that a runway that is "complete" can't accommodate what was planned. Someone has stuffed up!

Another potential reason may be that the terminal is inadequate for the amount of out-going pax with the renovations starting and other flights at the same time, although that is just a theory.

n251ay wrote:

Attn SYD spotters: Edelweiss Air Airbus A340-300 HB-JMG is expected to arrive 16SEP 12:40LT and will depart again 19SEP 10:45LT

Why?

qf2220 wrote:

n251ay wrote:

Attn SYD spotters: Edelweiss Air Airbus A340-300 HB-JMG is expected to arrive 16SEP 12:40LT and will depart again 19SEP 10:45LT

Why?

23 day charter with routing:
Zürich to Anchorage to Tokyo to Osaka to Fiji to Sydney to Singapore to Mauritius to Dubai then back to Zürich.


Interior pics can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/15965365506627 ... 615842233/

Boof wrote:

TasFlyer wrote:

Firstly, a northern update may pique your interest. JQ will operate a daily 321 on LST-MEL for the peak summer season from December 14. From the same date, HBA-MEL sees what was a 321 service downgauged to 320, so total capacity to Tasmania remains unchanged. I'm very surprised QF group is scheduling fewer seats to HBA for NW18-19 than for previous years. The apron capacity may be an issue.

Is this new? The JQ731/730 rotation in and out of LST from MEL has been 321 for months. There was little fanfare when they up gauged the LST flights. Which HBA service is losing the 321 with this change?

Sort of, JQ's LST-MEL capacity is as follows:

• NS18: 19 services per week, comprised of 5 x 321 and 14 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ730 as you say
• NW18-19: 32 services per week, all operated by 320
• Peak season from December 14: 47 services per week, comprised of 7 x 321 and 40 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ732

The JQ716 HBA-MEL will not be operated by 321 this year.

Note in previous years during NW on the HBA-MEZ market, JQ has operated:4 daily 321 to MEL, 2 daily 320 to MEL, and a 3rd 320 three days per week to MEL and four days per week to AVV. For peak season this increased to: 4 daily 321 to MEL, 4 daily 320 to MEL plus four per week to AVV. The schedule for this year is lighter: only 3 daily 321 to MEL and 3 daily 320 to MEL noting HBA-AVV no longer operates. For peak season this increases to 3 daily 321 to MEL and 5 daily 320 to MEL. The worst part though is there is no JQ MEL-HBA service after 4pm apart from during the peak season beginning December 14.

VHZNE wrote:

Boof wrote:

VHZNE wrote:

The 747 will probably position back to Sydney, as no flights are operating with QF 747s out of MEL.

The runway also isn’t a waste of money as aircraft are getting smaller these days such as the A350 and 787 compared to 747s and A380s. Weather of that day of the Antartica flight may also be an issue for the 747.

Yes you're correct SYD it will be. I was thinking MEL as that is the originating port of the charter.

I agree about smaller aircraft and the runway, HBA need to fish where the fish are so no point building something for A380's when they are never coming. I just can't understand how this debacle has happened where the 747 was supposed to originate in HBA. The runway is 500m shorter than what a 744 needs at MTOW for take off. I'm not sure how much runway they would eat up for this charter but given there are no bags and no cargo it seems odd that a runway that is "complete" can't accommodate what was planned. Someone has stuffed up!

Another potential reason may be that the terminal is inadequate for the amount of out-going pax with the renovations starting and other flights at the same time, although that is just a theory.

747s have operated to HBA previously, even before the recent runway extension; but not at MTOW obviously. It does sound like this change has been necessitated by some reason other than runway length. Note the runway was not upgraded specifically to operate 747 charters to Antarctica; the goal was wide-body services to Asia.

CX cancellations over the next 48 hours due to typhoon approaching HKG

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/ ... tions.html

Qantas has cancelled today's QF117/118 SYD-HKG

All Sunday services are cancelled

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/travel-inf ... g-kong-sar

VA has cancelled both MEL-HKG and SYD-HKG on Sunday

VA69 for Monday has been re-timed to 930am (departing 9 hours later than normal), subject to change depending on weather

https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/b ... el-alerts/

Thai Airways has sent the 772 to PER over the past couple of days replacing the 788



https://twitter.com/JonoPerth/status/10 ... 7064155136

Picture of SQ A380 in PER yesterday



https://twitter.com/JonoPerth/status/10 ... 1434704896

SYD T1 will become a quiet terminal from Monday with only critical announcements made terminal wide

https://www.ausbt.com.au/sydney-airport ... ouncements

qf789 wrote:

Thai Airways has sent the 772 to PER over the past couple of days replacing the 788



https://twitter.com/JonoPerth/status/10 ... 7064155136

Likewise BNE has been seeing lots of 777 action from TG recently and will also see the 787-9 tomorrow for the first time.

An agreement between TT and SIA Engineering Philippines for maintenance for TT has been terminated after a 737 had to be grounded for 3 weeks in MEL after maintenance at CRK. Engineers discovered the aircraft's cargo bay smoke evacuation system had been installed incorrectly. While this is the only mentioned fault it seems that there were other faults with the aircraft that were completely missed

https://www.smh.com.au/business/compani ... 502zm.html

https://in.reuters.com/article/virgin-a ... NL3N1W01MT

Some NZ services to PER will be impacted over the summer with leased 772 replacing some services

CHC-PER will see all services will leased 772 from Dec 18 to Mar 19, services on 7th and 10th of Dec have been cancelled

AKL-PER 772 will replace 789 on selected services, looks like they will be on seasonal NZ177/178

https://blueswandaily.com/air-new-zeala ... schedules/

Several NZ177/178 flight have been cancelled in Sep/Oct with a couple others being retimed

https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/travel- ... 1501401318

In recent weeks NZ has cancelled on average 1-2 flights per week to PER

Some passengers travelling on NZ over the summer are not happy with the latest changes

https://thewest.com.au/travel/air-aviat ... b88952284z

qf789 wrote:

An agreement between TT and SIA Engineering Philippines for maintenance for TT has been terminated after a 737 had to be grounded for 3 weeks in MEL after maintenance at CRK. Engineers discovered the aircraft's cargo bay smoke evacuation system had been installed incorrectly. While this is the only mentioned fault it seems that there were other faults with the aircraft that were completely missed

https://www.smh.com.au/business/compani ... 502zm.html

https://in.reuters.com/article/virgin-a ... NL3N1W01MT

Could that be why a TT B738 was in CHC last week having MX done?

Did I miss an announcement that Qantas will launch PER-LAX, or is this just normal, lousy reporting from The West Australian and Geoffrey Thomas?

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... b88961669z

F100Flyer wrote:

Did I miss an announcement that Qantas will launch PER-LAX, or is this just normal, lousy reporting from The West Australian and Geoffrey Thomas?

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... b88961669z

Both I’d say - it’s poorly written, the weiter can’t put together a paragraph, and seems haphazard. This industry we love is the subject of too much dodgy reporting unfortunately.

Such a load of clickbaity codswallop indeed!

“Pictured: Boeing 777X which will fly non-stop from Perth to Los Angeles.
Boeing has revealed the sleek new jet which will fly Qantas’ non-stop route from Perth to Los Angeles.
The giant 777X aircraft will also fly non-stop from Sydney to London.”

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... 61669z.amp

We all know that GT is a massive Boeing fan and acolyte but this is beyond the pale, a totally and deliberately fake heading. I’m going to contact the editor and publisher of The West Australian and draw their attention to this piece of bullsh*t and suggest others do the same. Australian aviation reporting and “journalism” deserves better than this!

Qantas16 wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Thai Airways has sent the 772 to PER over the past couple of days replacing the 788



https://twitter.com/JonoPerth/status/10 ... 7064155136

Likewise BNE has been seeing lots of 777 action from TG recently and will also see the 787-9 tomorrow for the first time.

788 HS-TQB inbound.

CraigAnderson wrote:

Such a load of clickbaity codswallop indeed!

“Pictured: Boeing 777X which will fly non-stop from Perth to Los Angeles.
Boeing has revealed the sleek new jet which will fly Qantas’ non-stop route from Perth to Los Angeles.
The giant 777X aircraft will also fly non-stop from Sydney to London.”

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... 61669z.amp

We all know that GT is a massive Boeing fan and acolyte but this is beyond the pale, a totally and deliberately fake heading. I’m going to contact the editor and publisher of The West Australian and draw their attention to this piece of bullsh*t and suggest others do the same. Australian aviation reporting and “journalism” deserves better than this!

Oh dear. The chances of a non stop from here to LAX are approaching zero.

ZK-NBT wrote:

Qantas16 wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Thai Airways has sent the 772 to PER over the past couple of days replacing the 788



https://twitter.com/JonoPerth/status/10 ... 7064155136

Likewise BNE has been seeing lots of 777 action from TG recently and will also see the 787-9 tomorrow for the first time.

788 HS-TQB inbound.

Was showing 787-9 yesterday so must have been last minute swap back.

F100Flyer wrote:

Did I miss an announcement that Qantas will launch PER-LAX, or is this just normal, lousy reporting from The West Australian and Geoffrey Thomas?

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... b88961669z

You would be suprised how many people in Perth actually read the west. They gotta boost readership.

Samoa Airways from November 2018 is launching new route to Australia, with the nonstop Apia – Brisbane service. This route will be served twice a week initially from 13NOV18, with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

OL843 APW1855 – 2050BNE 738 27
OL844 BNE2150 – 0645+1APW 738 27

Service will be operated by Airbus A320 on following dates: 19DEC18, 22DEC18, 09JAN19, 12JAN19. From 06FEB19 to 10APR19, service will be reduced to one weekly, operating on Wednesdays.

Source: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... -nov-2018/

The A320 that will operate a few services will be the Solomon Airlines aircraft H4-BUS.

Qantas16 wrote:

Samoa Airways from November 2018 is launching new route to Australia, with the nonstop Apia – Brisbane service. This route will be served twice a week initially from 13NOV18, with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

OL843 APW1855 – 2050BNE 738 27
OL844 BNE2150 – 0645+1APW 738 27

Service will be operated by Airbus A320 on following dates: 19DEC18, 22DEC18, 09JAN19, 12JAN19. From 06FEB19 to 10APR19, service will be reduced to one weekly, operating on Wednesdays.

Source: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... -nov-2018/

The A320 that will operate a few services will be the Solomon Airlines aircraft H4-BUS.

That will be an awfully long flight for the old 'bus but great to see another route addition.

Michael

waoz1 wrote:

You would be suprised how many people in Perth actually read the west. They gotta boost readership.

Do you mean how few people in Perth actually read the West?

CraigAnderson wrote:

waoz1 wrote:

You would be suprised how many people in Perth actually read the west. They gotta boost readership.

Do you mean how few people in Perth actually read the West?

Yeah less. Recently politican said they need to look at social media and other forms as people arent reading print as much.

Created WWIII

Tho new government and the west keep pumping there are going to be new flights etc. Other than hobart nothing. The west were recently going on about Honolulu non stop.

eamondzhang wrote:

Qantas16 wrote:

Samoa Airways from November 2018 is launching new route to Australia, with the nonstop Apia – Brisbane service. This route will be served twice a week initially from 13NOV18, with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

OL843 APW1855 – 2050BNE 738 27
OL844 BNE2150 – 0645+1APW 738 27

Service will be operated by Airbus A320 on following dates: 19DEC18, 22DEC18, 09JAN19, 12JAN19. From 06FEB19 to 10APR19, service will be reduced to one weekly, operating on Wednesdays.

Source: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... -nov-2018/

The A320 that will operate a few services will be the Solomon Airlines aircraft H4-BUS.

That will be an awfully long flight for the old 'bus but great to see another route addition.

Michael

I believe its 5hrs55min on the APW-BNE leg... surprised the old BUS can fly that long!

The Edelweiss A343 has arrived in SYD, for pictures refer to

https://twitter.com/www16Right/status/1 ... 8924444672

SQ247/248 MEL-WLG-MEL was cancelled on Saturday due to one of the pilots failing an alcohol test

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... t-10724922

QF will operate 3 SYD-PER flights tomorrow with 744, QF575/580, QF581/582, QF583/568

NZ will also send leased 772 to PER for first time ZK-OKI

VA will run extra flights between MEL & PER next Saturday.

https://twitter.com/VirginAustralia/sta ... 6301584385

Fares between MEL and PER next weekend, cheapest available is around $1400

qf789 wrote:

Some NZ services to PER will be impacted over the summer with leased 772 replacing some services

CHC-PER will see all services will leased 772 from Dec 18 to Mar 19, services on 7th and 10th of Dec have been cancelled

AKL-PER 772 will replace 789 on selected services, looks like they will be on seasonal NZ177/178

https://blueswandaily.com/air-new-zeala ... schedules/

Seems to be like PER will get hit hard for an second year in an row over the peak summer season - last summer it was the HiFly 330/340 that operated this route.

QF still have launched the seasonal PER-AKL service that they usually do over December/January, with no direct competition can see why PER-AKL has been been one of the most subbed routes.

Hopefully in the future VA or JQ could give PER-AKL ago?

Hi Fly Malta A340-300 9H-SUN is operating BI53/54 BWN-MEL-BWN tomorrow instead of the usual 787.

qf789 wrote:

VA will run extra flights between MEL & PER next Saturday.

https://twitter.com/VirginAustralia/sta ... 6301584385

Fares between MEL and PER next weekend, cheapest available is around $1400

$592 via HBA on the Friday if you want some extra status credits!

CraigAnderson wrote:

Such a load of clickbaity codswallop indeed!

“Pictured: Boeing 777X which will fly non-stop from Perth to Los Angeles.
Boeing has revealed the sleek new jet which will fly Qantas’ non-stop route from Perth to Los Angeles.
The giant 777X aircraft will also fly non-stop from Sydney to London.”

https://thewest.com.au/news/aviation/pi ... 61669z.amp

We all know that GT is a massive Boeing fan and acolyte but this is beyond the pale, a totally and deliberately fake heading. I’m going to contact the editor and publisher of The West Australian and draw their attention to this piece of bullsh*t and suggest others do the same. Australian aviation reporting and “journalism” deserves better than this!

Admittedly, GT is not one the world's great journalists but, as a freelance, he only gets paid for the pieces that get published and the best way to get something published in The West is to give it a WA angle even if it is fairly obtuse and unlikely. Realistically the caption should have said Pictured: Boeing 777X which COULD fly non-stop from Perth to Los Angeles if an airline ever chose to start the route.

TasFlyer wrote:

qf789 wrote:

VA will run extra flights between MEL & PER next Saturday.

https://twitter.com/VirginAustralia/sta ... 6301584385

Fares between MEL and PER next weekend, cheapest available is around $1400

$592 via HBA on the Friday if you want some extra status credits!

It's not often you get to transit in Hobart!

whats the go with flights being cancelled in australia ; qf789 might know

wiggy wrote:

whats the go with flights being cancelled in australia ; qf789 might know

Is there a specific example you're asking about?

I'm getting more and more worried for VA as the break with NZ gets closer next month.
I really can't see how VA is going to compete on the Tasman, and to the lesser extent, to the Pacific Islands from New Zealand.

It's going to be a bloodbath for VA from what I can tell. What can VA do?

The first regular seasonal service PER-HBA has just departed PER, VH-YFK is operating today's service

https://www.flightradar24.com/VOZ594/1de472e0

Group Executive Rod Sharp says the demand had exceeded expectations and during the peak Christmas holiday period will operate up to 5 weekly

http://www.perthairport.com.au/Home/cor ... -to-hobart

aerohottie wrote:

I'm getting more and more worried for VA as the break with NZ gets closer next month.
I really can't see how VA is going to compete on the Tasman, and to the lesser extent, to the Pacific Islands from New Zealand.

It's going to be a bloodbath for VA from what I can tell. What can VA do?

They have recently re-started having an marketing presence in New Zealand, over the past couple of years you wouldn't hear of VA unless you booked via NZ.

I think VA could do ok on the Tasman, if they keep up to at-least AKL-MEL,SYD,OOL,BNE as double daily (morning/early evening service), then kept building on new routes like AKL-NTL.

The key for them being an smaller player on the Tasman would be to focus on trying to offer more services that aren't covered by NZ,QF,JQ keeping with thinking outside of the box.

e.g, maybe some more winter seasonal routes like WLG or CHC to somewhere in North Queensland.

TasFlyer wrote:

Sort of, JQ's LST-MEL capacity is as follows:

• NS18: 19 services per week, comprised of 5 x 321 and 14 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ730 as you say
• NW18-19: 32 services per week, all operated by 320
• Peak season from December 14: 47 services per week, comprised of 7 x 321 and 40 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ732

The JQ716 HBA-MEL will not be operated by 321 this year.

Note in previous years during NW on the HBA-MEZ market, JQ has operated:4 daily 321 to MEL, 2 daily 320 to MEL, and a 3rd 320 three days per week to MEL and four days per week to AVV. For peak season this increased to: 4 daily 321 to MEL, 4 daily 320 to MEL plus four per week to AVV. The schedule for this year is lighter: only 3 daily 321 to MEL and 3 daily 320 to MEL noting HBA-AVV no longer operates. For peak season this increases to 3 daily 321 to MEL and 5 daily 320 to MEL. The worst part though is there is no JQ MEL-HBA service after 4pm apart from during the peak season beginning December 14.

Out of curiosity where are you getting this info from Tasflyer? The JQ716 hasn't been operated by 321 for a while and wasn't planned to be this coming summer as part of the ADL route due to the shifting of aircraft for that. Over the winter ADL-HBA has been ex ADL but looks like (from casual glance) that the ADL service will go back to a rotation MEL-HBA-ADL-HBA-MEL as it was when first introduced. On the other non HBA-ADL days there is still the later afternoon JQ flight ex MEL.

I'd expect more JQ flights to be added and schedules juggled as things firm up across the network but also remember that the QF group as a whole would be capacity even or slightly net positive as the 737's have 64 more Y seats than the 717's on the MEL route this coming summer.

qf789 wrote:

Group Executive Rod Sharp says the demand had exceeded expectations and during the peak Christmas holiday period will operate up to 5 weekly

http://www.perthairport.com.au/Home/cor ... -to-hobart

Demand for Roasted Turkey's increases at Xmas time as well. Doesn't mean that consumption of that particular poultry item will increase for the remainder of the year. The demand between Tasmania and WA has always been strong over the Xmas/NY break. I could almost fill a 737 with people I know that fly back and forth between the two states.

Don't get me wrong, I want to see the route survive and thrive, and pleased to see it kick off today but tell me in 6 months how demand is and why it's going to 4 weekly, not on the day it launches that the busiest time of the year is busy.

zkncj wrote:

aerohottie wrote:

I'm getting more and more worried for VA as the break with NZ gets closer next month.
I really can't see how VA is going to compete on the Tasman, and to the lesser extent, to the Pacific Islands from New Zealand.

It's going to be a bloodbath for VA from what I can tell. What can VA do?

They have recently re-started having an marketing presence in New Zealand, over the past couple of years you wouldn't hear of VA unless you booked via NZ.

I think VA could do ok on the Tasman, if they keep up to at-least AKL-MEL,SYD,OOL,BNE as double daily (morning/early evening service), then kept building on new routes like AKL-NTL.

The key for them being an smaller player on the Tasman would be to focus on trying to offer more services that aren't covered by NZ,QF,JQ keeping with thinking outside of the box.

e.g, maybe some more winter seasonal routes like WLG or CHC to somewhere in North Queensland.

I agree - the current total lack of marketing presence by VA in New Zealand means that, as far as the New Zealand market is concerned, VA is starting from Square One in building a brand presence while at the same time they are (1) significantly increasing their services on routes they already serve, (2) opening new routes that were previously only served by NZ as part of the JV and (3) opening a new route (NTL) for which they will be totally responsible for developing a brand-new market. All at the same time as they are losing a very significant advantage from NZ's marketing (I'd have to look up the numbers again, but VA sells only a small proportion of the traffic that it carries ex-NZ - the bulk is actually sold by NZ and fed to VA) - this will stop entirely come October.

Good luck to VA, but I believe they have a mountain to climb - some of which (increased frequencies and new routes) is entirely of their own making. Re NTL - I wish them luck, but the obvious candidate to develop new TransTasman routes ex AKL is NZ - a very significant portion of that traffic would (for NZ) be TransPacific, and VA just won't have that advantage.

DavidByrne wrote:

Good luck to VA, butI believe they have a mountain to climb - some of which (increased frequencies and new routes) is entirely of their own making. Re NTL - I wish them luck, but the obvious candidate to develop new TransTasman routes ex AKL is NZ - a very significant portion of that traffic would (for NZ) be TransPacific, and VA just won't have that advantage.

Routes like NTL-AKL would of likely been an prefect sized route for the E190 if they hadn't ditched them already.

qf789 wrote:

The first regular seasonal service PER-HBA has just departed PER, VH-YFK is operating today's service

https://www.flightradar24.com/VOZ594/1de472e0

Group Executive Rod Sharp says the demand had exceeded expectations and during the peak Christmas holiday period will operate up to 5 weekly

http://www.perthairport.com.au/Home/cor ... -to-hobart

From the above article:

Virgin Australia will operate a return service three times a week between Hobart and Perth on the airline’s Boeing 737 aircraft, and Group Executive Rob Sharp said demand has exceeded expectations.

“The demand for the route has been so popular that Virgin Australia has added up to seven extra weekly flights over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

“We have increased our weekly Perth to Hobart return services from three up to five between 17 December 2018 and 6 January 2019.

I see only five extra flights, not seven. The extra flights operate Thursday 20/12; and Sundays 23/12, 30/12, 6/1, and 27/1. Perhaps there is meant to be an extra service on Thursday 27/12 and 3/1 but these haven't been loaded?

Boof wrote:

TasFlyer wrote:

Sort of, JQ's LST-MEL capacity is as follows:

• NS18: 19 services per week, comprised of 5 x 321 and 14 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ730 as you say
• NW18-19: 32 services per week, all operated by 320
• Peak season from December 14: 47 services per week, comprised of 7 x 321 and 40 x 320, with the 321 operating on JQ732

The JQ716 HBA-MEL will not be operated by 321 this year.

Note in previous years during NW on the HBA-MEZ market, JQ has operated:4 daily 321 to MEL, 2 daily 320 to MEL, and a 3rd 320 three days per week to MEL and four days per week to AVV. For peak season this increased to: 4 daily 321 to MEL, 4 daily 320 to MEL plus four per week to AVV. The schedule for this year is lighter: only 3 daily 321 to MEL and 3 daily 320 to MEL noting HBA-AVV no longer operates. For peak season this increases to 3 daily 321 to MEL and 5 daily 320 to MEL. The worst part though is there is no JQ MEL-HBA service after 4pm apart from during the peak season beginning December 14.

Out of curiosity where are you getting this info from Tasflyer? The JQ716 hasn't been operated by 321 for a while and wasn't planned to be this coming summer as part of the ADL route due to the shifting of aircraft for that. Over the winter ADL-HBA has been ex ADL but looks like (from casual glance) that the ADL service will go back to a rotation MEL-HBA-ADL-HBA-MEL as it was when first introduced. On the other non HBA-ADL days there is still the later afternoon JQ flight ex MEL.

I'd expect more JQ flights to be added and schedules juggled as things firm up across the network but also remember that the QF group as a whole would be capacity even or slightly net positive as the 737's have 64 more Y seats than the 717's on the MEL route this coming summer.

See the JQ website. Note the HBA-MEL leg of the MEL-HBA-ADL-HBA-MEL rotation is JQ712, not JQ716. The JQ716 was recently downgauged from 321 to 320 effective December 14.

I'd love to see more JQ flights loaded but isn't it a bit late; NW18-19 is only six week's away?

Yes QF has 737s on HBA-MEL now, but there only four flights per day compared with five 717s in the past. Also, QF upguaged all HBA-SYD flights from 717 to 737 in the past but they have only upgauged selected peak day services this year.

Boof wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Group Executive Rod Sharp says the demand had exceeded expectations and during the peak Christmas holiday period will operate up to 5 weekly

http://www.perthairport.com.au/Home/cor ... -to-hobart

Demand for Roasted Turkey's increases at Xmas time as well. Doesn't mean that consumption of that particular poultry item will increase for the remainder of the year. The demand between Tasmania and WA has always been strong over the Xmas/NY break. I could almost fill a 737 with people I know that fly back and forth between the two states.

Don't get me wrong, I want to see the route survive and thrive, and pleased to see it kick off today but tell me in 6 months how demand is and why it's going to 4 weekly, not on the day it launches that the busiest time of the year is busy.

Sure, it's not home and hosed yet, but you must admit it's a good sign that services have been increased before the launch date. I recall a similar thing happened when DJ (as it was then) launched HBA-MEL in 2002. Compare this with JQ's HBA-ADL, that, according to JQ, had one of the best responses to a launch in the airline's history, yet remains at three weekly.

qf789 wrote:

The first regular seasonal service PER-HBA has just departed PER, VH-YFK is operating today's service

https://www.flightradar24.com/VOZ594/1de472e0

And landed early at 1702 local.

aerohottie wrote:

I'm getting more and more worried for VA as the break with NZ gets closer next month.
I really can't see how VA is going to compete on the Tasman, and to the lesser extent, to the Pacific Islands from New Zealand.

It's going to be a bloodbath for VA from what I can tell. What can VA do?

What can they do? What they're doing.

VA's core business is a cosy and lucrative duopoly in domestic Australia. The New Zealand market doesn't really rate. It's already dominated by NZ, provides pretty minor feed into Oz domestic from what I've heard, has almost no feed to HKG and LAX and is pretty low yield anyway.

The VA approach appears pretty sensible. Up its basic Y offering and offer enough services to satisfy the Australian customer base. Maintain or maybe even grow Pacific Island flights that were never part of the NZ cooperation anyway. Leave the capacity battle to the others.