Welcome to the Australian Aviation Thread - March 2022. Please continue to add your comments below

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Sitting in a very busy Newcastle Airport. So good to see things returning to normal. JQ flight to Cairns looked pretty full which was good to see.

Singapore Airlines flew another of their A380 out of the desert on the 1st of March.

9V-SKZ operated SQ8893 from Alice Springs to Sydney. The aircraft is in QF hangar 96 placed on jacks under going undercarriage swing tests, the aircraft will then be approved to flying back to Singapore for more Return To Service (RTS) work.


A sign the aviation sector is recovering.


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UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

myki wrote:

UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

myki wrote:

UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

You can add QR to the list of loud achievers securing daily DOH-BNE.


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Obzerva wrote:

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

Wouldn’t expect it. Seemed to be a very interesting route for a quite some time but I tend to think that things may have moved on from that one.

In this industry though, who knows.

Obzerva wrote:

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

A350OZ wrote:

Obzerva wrote:

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I'd be very interested in this route for the diving and surfing possibilities in Micronesia... I can't see it attracting mainstream popularity over South Pacific or SE Asia island destinations though. From memory UA was charging around $2k return on the route, plus exorbitant sporting equipment fees which didn't help.

A350OZ wrote:

Obzerva wrote:

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

If there was any corporate contracts propping up the GUM-CNS route, it would've ended when that contract expired. The question now is whether the O&D alone could've supported that route.

UA however could apply for Queensland Government's Aviation Subsidy Program for GUM-CNS (or LAX/SFO-BNE) if the business case for resuming GUM-CNS (or starting any of the TransPac routes to BNE) with the subsidy stacks up for them. Which, IMO I find unlikely for the former as they've likely moved on from CNS.

ben175 wrote:

myki wrote:

UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

tullamarine wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

Obzerva wrote:

An out there one, but with VA and UA now teaming up, any chance that UA's forgotten little route might make a return one day.
CNS-GUM ran for ages before eventually being discontinued.
Wondering if the fact UA soon having a partner at the Australian end would help support a comeback once normal travel capacities eventually return.

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

Tdan wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

That makes sense. The Japan market historically had non-stop access to CNS and OOL, and are set to have access restored to those markets on JQ witihin the next few months.

jrfspa320 wrote:

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

It's definitely long, and probably on the upper end of the A321neo's range, but on the Great Circle, PER-CMB is about 3100nm. The A321neo's range is 3500nm, so it should definitely be fine.

It will definitely make a very interesting route, I'll tell you that.

Tdan wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

The route was almost entirely Japan POS, topped up with some Guam-based US Defense personnel flying to Cairns during leave. CO’s historically large presence in secondary Japanese markets helped, as it provided convenient one-stop flights to those cities.

The inbound Japanese leisure market to Queensland beaches was once massive, but has been stagnant/declining for over a decade. Jetstar serve the remaining inbound leisure market well, although even their routes were seeing increasing levels of transfer traffic to SYD/MEL. It’s notable that all of the recent growth to Japan (pre-pandemic) was to SYD/MEL/BNE/PER, with even BNE-TYO largely serving Brisbane rather than Queensland beach markets.

Thanks for the contributions re CNS-GUM everyone, this forum is always a wealth of knowledge

jrfspa320 wrote:

ben175 wrote:

myki wrote:

UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

I think PER-CMB/PER-AKL are more XLR routes than LR... JQ get their first neoLR this year but don't thi nk the XLR's come until 2024

Tdan wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

I was thinking about this one the other day! What was the target market? FNQ people connecting in GUM to East Asia and US, or US service personell in the Pacific holidaying in FNQ?

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

Very interesting, could we potentially see such fragmentation by JQ to the Japanese market from CNS when the new 321LR arrives?

RyanairGuru wrote:

Tdan wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

I assume the route was supported by a corporate contract of some sort, probably the US Defence Department.

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

The route was almost entirely Japan POS, topped up with some Guam-based US Defense personnel flying to Cairns during leave. CO’s historically large presence in secondary Japanese markets helped, as it provided convenient one-stop flights to those cities.

The inbound Japanese leisure market to Queensland beaches was once massive, but has been stagnant/declining for over a decade. Jetstar serve the remaining inbound leisure market well, although even their routes were seeing increasing levels of transfer traffic to SYD/MEL. It’s notable that all of the recent growth to Japan (pre-pandemic) was to SYD/MEL/BNE/PER, with even BNE-TYO largely serving Brisbane rather than Queensland beach markets.

Thank you Tdan and RyanairGuru for these insights, very interesting!

Maybe off-topic for the AU forum, but out of interest where did the Japanese demand for tropical beaches move to? Because I know similar to QLD, New Caledonia while a small market by itself was also very heavily dominated by JP tourists in the ‘90s and ‘00s, but those numbers have also dwindled over the past 10-15 years.

Just having a quick look at ZL's schedule on CBR-SYD. They seemed to have quietly reduced capacity on that route from when they first started out. Quick search on Flight Centre for next Monday to Syd. QF have 13 flights with ZL just having two. VA have yet to start ( using Link Saabs) so it's only going to get a lot more crowded. I would imagine QF and VA (will) have a major advantage with their respective FF base?

jrfspa320 wrote:

ben175 wrote:

myki wrote:

UL has been one of those "quiet achievers" that flew throughout the pandemic. With Western Australia opening and pent-up demand for travel, could it be a golden opportunity for them to add CMB-PER to their network?

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

Sounds like a possible QF A321 route perhaps?

A350OZ wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

Tdan wrote:

The route lived on 9x Japanese cities connecting one stop in GUM to the reef. It was 90%+ Japan point of sale. With flat to declining visitation as well as the reduced GUM hub size, the market went away. JQ seves the remaining market well.

The route was almost entirely Japan POS, topped up with some Guam-based US Defense personnel flying to Cairns during leave. CO’s historically large presence in secondary Japanese markets helped, as it provided convenient one-stop flights to those cities.

The inbound Japanese leisure market to Queensland beaches was once massive, but has been stagnant/declining for over a decade. Jetstar serve the remaining inbound leisure market well, although even their routes were seeing increasing levels of transfer traffic to SYD/MEL. It’s notable that all of the recent growth to Japan (pre-pandemic) was to SYD/MEL/BNE/PER, with even BNE-TYO largely serving Brisbane rather than Queensland beach markets.

Thank you Tdan and RyanairGuru for these insights, very interesting!

Maybe off-topic for the AU forum, but out of interest where did the Japanese demand for tropical beaches move to? Because I know similar to QLD, New Caledonia while a small market by itself was also very heavily dominated by JP tourists in the ‘90s and ‘00s, but those numbers have also dwindled over the past 10-15 years.

Happy to be corrected if wrong, but i dont think it moved anywhere but just stopped. Japan was in an economic boom in the 90s but this has changed, and coupled with a negative population growth rate (there is now 2m less Japanese than there were in 2010), the economy of Japan has changed and overseas beach holidays to Australia are not the done thing anywhere near as much as they were.

Travlling through Japan you can see lots of towns that are also casualties of this population and therefore tourism decline - Hakone for example has many abandoned houses and clearly is a former tourist hotspot that isnt so hot anymore..

qf2220 wrote:

jrfspa320 wrote:

ben175 wrote:

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

Sounds like a possible QF A321 route perhaps?

Given most of the Sri Lankan diaspora in Australia is in Melbourne, I would suggest the existing direct UL A333 service remains the best way of servicing this largely VFR and tourist market. Just because an A321XLR could make the PER-CMB flight, doesn't mean it is actually a good business proposition.

qf2048 wrote:

Just having a quick look at ZL's schedule on CBR-SYD. They seemed to have quietly reduced capacity on that route from when they first started out. Quick search on Flight Centre for next Monday to Syd. QF have 13 flights with ZL just having two. VA have yet to start ( using Link Saabs) so it's only going to get a lot more crowded. I would imagine QF and VA (will) have a major advantage with their respective FF base?

ZL has a lot of Saabs undergoing maintenance at the moment and a handful more that have been sitting without engines for weeks now.

Along with that, they’re also trimming capacity on some routes to focus on others. WGA for example is ramping up with schedules next month showing daily lunchtime flights along with the usual morning and afternoon runs to Sydney and Melbourne.

OQK currently positioning to SYD from AUH after maintenance, likely #3 A380 to return to service

https://twitter.com/aa380fanclub/status ... 02761?s=21

Qantas says they will carry 23,000 passengers on QF/JQ services from/to PER over the next week, 2 flights from STD today we’re exclusively point planes

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media ... the-world/

qf2220 wrote:

A350OZ wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

The route was almost entirely Japan POS, topped up with some Guam-based US Defense personnel flying to Cairns during leave. CO’s historically large presence in secondary Japanese markets helped, as it provided convenient one-stop flights to those cities.

The inbound Japanese leisure market to Queensland beaches was once massive, but has been stagnant/declining for over a decade. Jetstar serve the remaining inbound leisure market well, although even their routes were seeing increasing levels of transfer traffic to SYD/MEL. It’s notable that all of the recent growth to Japan (pre-pandemic) was to SYD/MEL/BNE/PER, with even BNE-TYO largely serving Brisbane rather than Queensland beach markets.

Thank you Tdan and RyanairGuru for these insights, very interesting!

Maybe off-topic for the AU forum, but out of interest where did the Japanese demand for tropical beaches move to? Because I know similar to QLD, New Caledonia while a small market by itself was also very heavily dominated by JP tourists in the ‘90s and ‘00s, but those numbers have also dwindled over the past 10-15 years.

Happy to be corrected if wrong, but i dont think it moved anywhere but just stopped. Japan was in an economic boom in the 90s but this has changed, and coupled with a negative population growth rate (there is now 2m less Japanese than there were in 2010), the economy of Japan has changed and overseas beach holidays to Australia are not the done thing anywhere near as much as they were.

Travlling through Japan you can see lots of towns that are also casualties of this population and therefore tourism decline - Hakone for example has many abandoned houses and clearly is a former tourist hotspot that isnt so hot anymore..

Pretty much. Japanese leisure traffic has dwindled quite a lot, although Bali and Thailand have gained some relative popularity.

Hawaii was another massive market, with multiple daily 747s between NRT and HNL not that long ago. JAL often had 4 747s on the ground in HNL at the same time. Other than the NH A380s that they didn’t really need but took as part of the Skymark acquisition, 767s, 787s and A330s are now the most common aircraft.

The former JQ check captain who was charged with murder late last year is suing JQ for unfair dismissal. He is currently held on remand awaiting trial.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 5a196.html

tullamarine wrote:

qf2220 wrote:

jrfspa320 wrote:

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too
Sounds like a possible QF A321 route perhaps?

Given most of the Sri Lankan diaspora in Australia is in Melbourne, I would suggest the existing direct UL A333 service remains the best way of servicing this largely VFR and tourist market. Just because an A321XLR could make the PER-CMB flight, doesn't mean it is actually a good business proposition.

Is the Sydney to Colombo service on UL permanent now? I’ve never seen any articles on the service to say they flight to syd on a permanent basis.

Just for the record the Japanese tourism to Australia had been declining from early 90s to early 10s but has been getting some momentum back since mid 2010s before covid hit us.

Ever since ANA/QF moved to Haneda they have been aggressively advertising Australia travel and actually did quite well luring Japanese visitors.

Qantasman66 wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

qf2220 wrote:

Given most of the Sri Lankan diaspora in Australia is in Melbourne, I would suggest the existing direct UL A333 service remains the best way of servicing this largely VFR and tourist market. Just because an A321XLR could make the PER-CMB flight, doesn't mean it is actually a good business proposition.

Is the Sydney to Colombo service on UL permanent now? I’ve never seen any articles on the service to say they flight to syd on a permanent basis.

Good question. They out phasing out all their A330-200 leaving them with 7 A330-300s for long haul. While they arnt flying to Asian destinations such as HKG i think they will stick with both SYD and MEL.

a19901213 wrote:

Just for the record the Japanese tourism to Australia had been declining from early 90s to early 10s but has been getting some momentum back since mid 2010s before covid hit us.

Ever since ANA/QF moved to Haneda they have been aggressively advertising Australia travel and actually did quite well luring Japanese visitors.

I think it’s also a generation thing too, Melbourne for example has been attracting more younger Japanese tourists whilst outbound has also gotten stronger, Melbournians are taking more trips to Japan as a preferred holiday destination. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I think MEL-KIX could work well too.

From no service to 2 daily service by QF and JL, MEL has proven to be a lucrative market to Japan. There was always business demand from large Japanese companies, but there has been a surge in O&D demand in recent years.

a19901213 wrote:

Just for the record the Japanese tourism to Australia had been declining from early 90s to early 10s but has been getting some momentum back since mid 2010s before covid hit us.

Ever since ANA/QF moved to Haneda they have been aggressively advertising Australia travel and actually did quite well luring Japanese visitors.

But not so much for the beach holidays of the 90s though right? Still getting a fair share of outbackers but the tourism had moved on from the basic beach and sun package?

kriskim wrote:

I think it’s also a generation thing too, Melbourne for example has been attracting more younger Japanese tourists whilst outbound has also gotten stronger, Melbournians are taking more trips to Japan as a preferred holiday destination. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I think MEL-KIX could work well too.

From no service to 2 daily service by QF and JL, MEL has proven to be a lucrative market to Japan. There was always business demand from large Japanese companies, but there has been a surge in O&D demand in recent years.

As you said, MEL is popular with the younger Japanese, when I was in Tokyo pre-COVID, I was served in a shop by a young guy who had studied English in Melbourne, he couldn't wait to get back.

Once things open back up at the Japanese end, a MEL-KIX flight would do well, Kyoto & Osaka were popular places in Japan for Melbournians pre-2020. Certainly plenty of corporate demand for both HND & KIX flights from Melbourne with a lot of big Japanese corporates having their local HQ's here. You have Toyota, Nissan & Mazda with big HQ presences, Dulux is now Japanese owned, and both major brewers are now Japanese-owned. Asahi owns Fosters & Kirin owns Lion.

anstar wrote:

jrfspa320 wrote:

ben175 wrote:

PER-CMB could be a fantastic 321neo route, particularly if nobody enters the direct WA-India market. QF actually sells quite a lot of through-tickets onto UL flights from SYD/MEL to India, especially for lower-yielding pax.

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

I think PER-CMB/PER-AKL are more XLR routes than LR... JQ get their first neoLR this year but don't thi nk the XLR's come until 2024

Just to put things in perspective; PR already regularly flies A321 MNL-SYD/BNE with an A321LR, yes? If I recall, this was already happening pre pandemic. MNL-SYD is 3879 nm vs CMB-PER is shorter 3592; so not sure if PER-CMB really needs an XLR. The current LR should be able to do it.

NZ321 wrote:

anstar wrote:

jrfspa320 wrote:

PER-CMB is actually a long route - it would be longer than AKL-PER. Would need the range of A321LR if not the XLR neither of which UL has on order. They have just retired all of their A330-200s so nothing smaller than an A330-300 that would be capable - would be too big.

I think PER-CMB/PER-AKL are more XLR routes than LR... JQ get their first neoLR this year but don't thi nk the XLR's come until 2024

Just to put things in perspective; PR already regularly flies A321 MNL-SYD/BNE with an A321LR, yes? If I recall, this was already happening pre pandemic. MNL-SYD is 3879 nm vs CMB-PER is shorter 3592; so not sure if PER-CMB really needs an XLR. The current LR should be able to do it.

PR uses a standard A321neo on MNL-SYD/BNE.

a19901213 wrote:

Just for the record the Japanese tourism to Australia had been declining from early 90s to early 10s but has been getting some momentum back since mid 2010s before covid hit us.

Ever since ANA/QF moved to Haneda they have been aggressively advertising Australia travel and actually did quite well luring Japanese visitors.

Yes, but the demand is more diversified. Melbourne, as said, and also Perth had gained relative popularity, while the seven-nights-on-a-beach market was in significant decline. I agree with others that it is largely generational.

RyanairGuru wrote:

a19901213 wrote:

Just for the record the Japanese tourism to Australia had been declining from early 90s to early 10s but has been getting some momentum back since mid 2010s before covid hit us.

Ever since ANA/QF moved to Haneda they have been aggressively advertising Australia travel and actually did quite well luring Japanese visitors.

Yes, but the demand is more diversified. Melbourne, as said, and also Perth had gained relative popularity, while the seven-nights-on-a-beach market was in significant decline. I agree with others that it is largely generational.

Agree. The demand for travel was building nicely between the 2 countries, with a far more diverse market developing, across both tourism and business sectors.

For Japanese travelers, tastes definitely changed over time, with a focus on more individual experiences, moving away from the past tour group and beach travel trends that dominated at one point.

Hopefully things can rebound again sooner rather than later.

SCFlyer wrote:

NZ321 wrote:

anstar wrote:

I think PER-CMB/PER-AKL are more XLR routes than LR... JQ get their first neoLR this year but don't thi nk the XLR's come until 2024

Just to put things in perspective; PR already regularly flies A321 MNL-SYD/BNE with an A321LR, yes? If I recall, this was already happening pre pandemic. MNL-SYD is 3879 nm vs CMB-PER is shorter 3592; so not sure if PER-CMB really needs an XLR. The current LR should be able to do it.

PR uses a standard A321neo on MNL-SYD/BNE.

I think the restricting issue for a standard A321neo on PER-CMB would be a lack of diversionary options. By comparison, SYD-MNL has lots of en-route options.

tullamarine wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

NZ321 wrote:

Just to put things in perspective; PR already regularly flies A321 MNL-SYD/BNE with an A321LR, yes? If I recall, this was already happening pre pandemic. MNL-SYD is 3879 nm vs CMB-PER is shorter 3592; so not sure if PER-CMB really needs an XLR. The current LR should be able to do it.

PR uses a standard A321neo on MNL-SYD/BNE.

I think the restricting issue for a standard A321neo on PER-CMB would be a lack of diversionary options. By comparison, SYD-MNL has lots of en-route options.

Id imagine headwind would also be significantly different on PER-CMB compared to SYD-MNL. UL has 90mins ETOPS on their NEO fleet which wouldnt allow for a direct flight either. I really think they would need the LR or XLR for this route. Even short transatlantic flights are all LR.

Bamboo Airways to add 1 weekly MEL-HAN from 27 April 22

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... oi-flights

Qantas A388 OQH came out of storage on Thursday and positioned VCV-LAX

https://twitter.com/AA380fanclub/status ... vvnwkpwXwA

qf789 wrote:

Bamboo Airways to add 1 weekly MEL-HAN from 27 April 22

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... oi-flights

Great news! Finally MEL is connected non-stop to HAN, I think it will be a very successful route for the airline!

Vietnam routes from Australia:

Bamboo Airways:
Melbourne - Hanoi
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Airlines:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Hanoi
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Jetstar Airways:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

3 airlines competing on both MEL/SYD-SGN, whilst QH has edged out VN to launch HAN from MEL.

So is VH-OQB getting refurbed in SYD?

kriskim wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Bamboo Airways to add 1 weekly MEL-HAN from 27 April 22

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... oi-flights

Great news! Finally MEL is connected non-stop to HAN, I think it will be a very successful route for the airline!

Vietnam routes from Australia:

Bamboo Airways:
Melbourne - Hanoi
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Airlines:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Hanoi
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Jetstar Airways:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

3 airlines competing on both MEL/SYD-SGN, whilst QH has edged out VN to launch HAN from MEL.

I am surprised Bamboo or Vietnam have still not launched SGN-BNE. BNE could very easily support a 2x weekly flight there building up to 4x weekly. I wonder if also VN or QH or even VJ could operate SGN-PER with 321neo's

oskarclare wrote:

kriskim wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Bamboo Airways to add 1 weekly MEL-HAN from 27 April 22

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... oi-flights

Great news! Finally MEL is connected non-stop to HAN, I think it will be a very successful route for the airline!

Vietnam routes from Australia:

Bamboo Airways:
Melbourne - Hanoi
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Airlines:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Hanoi
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Jetstar Airways:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

3 airlines competing on both MEL/SYD-SGN, whilst QH has edged out VN to launch HAN from MEL.

I am surprised Bamboo or Vietnam have still not launched SGN-BNE. BNE could very easily support a 2x weekly flight there building up to 4x weekly. I wonder if also VN or QH or even VJ could operate SGN-PER with 321neo's

The Vietnam-Australia market is heavily focused on Sydney and Melbourne. It makes sense that the airlines see these as the top priority, but yes I do see opportunities for other cities in future.

oskarclare wrote:

kriskim wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Bamboo Airways to add 1 weekly MEL-HAN from 27 April 22

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... oi-flights

Great news! Finally MEL is connected non-stop to HAN, I think it will be a very successful route for the airline!

Vietnam routes from Australia:

Bamboo Airways:
Melbourne - Hanoi
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Airlines:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Hanoi
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

Jetstar Airways:
Melbourne - Ho Chi Minh City
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City

3 airlines competing on both MEL/SYD-SGN, whilst QH has edged out VN to launch HAN from MEL.

I am surprised Bamboo or Vietnam have still not launched SGN-BNE. BNE could very easily support a 2x weekly flight there building up to 4x weekly. I wonder if also VN or QH or even VJ could operate SGN-PER with 321neo's

I thought there was something around VJ launching services to BNE in the past, they have A330’s now so can possibly give it a crack. Does anyone know more about this?

If the outbound market grows in the next couple of years, I can see BNE, PER, ADL all connected to Vietnam. For the time being it’s very SYD and MEL focused mainly due to the high VFR, O&D and student traffic between the two cities, 3/4 of all Australian Vietnamese are concentrated there. Plus business traffic is growing too.