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

Link to last thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1471639

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Given QF has already chosen the A35K, I can only assume this plane is coming to SYD to support the offical announcement of a firm Sunrise order. Can’t anyone think of any other reason? It’s obviously not route-proving, given it isn’t doing a PS route which is too far for the currently produced A35Ks.

Looks like PS is a goer. Executive Traveller reporting formal launch on Monday.

Qantas announcing PS on monday https://twitter.com/Exec_Traveller/stat ... h_cREOKGKA

Looks like it
https://www.executivetraveller.com/qant ... nrise-a350

A dedicated thread has been set up for the upcoming Project Sunrise announcement if anyone wants to follow it

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1472481

Tomorrow's announcement will also include firm order for its narrowbody fleet

So we are looking

12 A350-1000's
20 A220's
20 A321XLR's

plus 106 options

Interesting the following article refer to A220's with 120 seats and A321XLR's with 206 seats

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qan ... r-history/

Exciting news - QF could do with some good PR. Let’s hope they don’t get distracted and loose track of the focus they need to drive customer experience.

Seeing some of the posts on linked in by their managers and senior managers - shows how out of touch they are with brand perception, employee engagement and customer sentiment - not to mention PR practices! Lots of clapping themselves on the back for being out there moving bags, then having a yoga and dog day at campus whilst front line and contact centre was overwhelmed… in a operational mess they should never have allowed to happen… hardly boast worthy -bizarre reads.

qf789 wrote:

Tomorrow's announcement will also include firm order for its narrowbody fleet

So we are looking

12 A350-1000's
20 A220's
20 A321XLR's

plus 106 options

Interesting the following article refer to A220's with 120 seats and A321XLR's with 206 seats

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qan ... r-history/

Interesting if I’ve read correctly article mentions 350 deliveries from next year - short lead time, but makes sense if QF had positions held pre-covid, not a massive 350K backlog (maybe a few QR positions), and also in the context of longhaul fleet seems stretched!

Hope we also get a bit more understanding on the order breakdown of 321s between QF and JQ.

Mentioned in last months thread was Virgin's plan to place F100's with 10 737-700's plus an order of 4 737MAX8 for additional growth.

A couple of interesting notes in their press release

https://newsroom.virginaustralia.com/re ... -emissions

Virgin is expected to return to 100% pre covid domestic capacity by June and by end of the year expect to exceed 100%

Taking 737-700's to replace F100's Virgin says will increase utilisation across the network. This suggests to me that we may see less need for 737-800's to do intra WA flying and be used for elsewhere.

Regarding the 737MAX8 I wonder if these will be used on longer routes, either on trans con or international to the likes of DPS and NAN or perhaps a new route. It also makes me wonder if these 737MAX8 are compensation for the 737MAX10 which are suppose to start arriving in mid 2023 but due to certification issues that seems likely not to happen now

smi0006 wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Tomorrow's announcement will also include firm order for its narrowbody fleet

So we are looking

12 A350-1000's
20 A220's
20 A321XLR's

plus 106 options

Interesting the following article refer to A220's with 120 seats and A321XLR's with 206 seats

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qan ... r-history/

Interesting if I’ve read correctly article mentions 350 deliveries from next year - short lead time, but makes sense if QF had positions held pre-covid, not a massive 350K backlog (maybe a few QR positions), and also in the context of longhaul fleet seems stretched!

Hope we also get a bit more understanding on the order breakdown of 321s between QF and JQ.

After looking back at last years press release, QF announced 94 options for A220/A320neo family, so it looks like A350-1000 will be 12 firm with 12 options

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media ... t-renewal/

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

SCFlyer wrote:

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

tullamarine wrote:

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Given QF has already chosen the A35K, I can only assume this plane is coming to SYD to support the offical announcement of a firm Sunrise order. Can’t anyone think of any other reason? It’s obviously not route-proving, given it isn’t doing a PS route which is too far for the currently produced A35Ks.

Not to quibble, but a lightly loaded A35K with only a handful of people on-board could fly non-stop eastbound with the prevailing winds.

BA have flown standard 777-200ERs non-stop from LHR to the East Coast on a couple of occasions, bringing UK PM Tony Blair LHR-MEL in 2006 and the Queen LHR-CBR in 2011. Of course that doesn’t mean that it is possible with a viable payload.

tullamarine wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

Which in turn makes me wonder what the value is of keeping VARA as a separate airline if they are transitioning to a 737 operator? Surely it would be more efficient to reduce the duplication of functions by merging them onto one certificate.

tullamarine wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

VARA has just added 2 A320's to its fleet in the past 2 months so I would say the A320's arent going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally the A320 has a role at VARA and I would expect the 2 fleets will compliment each other. I can not see VA sending a 737-700 on a XCH/CCK run either and the A320's are probably better suited to places such as BYP and CJF

RyanairGuru wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Given QF has already chosen the A35K, I can only assume this plane is coming to SYD to support the offical announcement of a firm Sunrise order. Can’t anyone think of any other reason? It’s obviously not route-proving, given it isn’t doing a PS route which is too far for the currently produced A35Ks.

Not to quibble, but a lightly loaded A35K with only a handful of people on-board could fly non-stop eastbound with the prevailing winds.

BA have flown standard 777-200ERs non-stop from LHR to the East Coast on a couple of occasions, bringing UK PM Tony Blair LHR-MEL in 2006 and the Queen LHR-CBR in 2011. Of course that doesn’t mean that it is possible with a viable payload.

I agree with you, had thought why not fly straight to SYD however the flight isnt due into PER until around 1830 tonight so would miss the curfew at SYD. Maybe they planned to do a SYD flyover before arriving in SYD similar to what they did with the 789 when it first arrived in SYD in QF colours

RyanairGuru wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Given QF has already chosen the A35K, I can only assume this plane is coming to SYD to support the offical announcement of a firm Sunrise order. Can’t anyone think of any other reason? It’s obviously not route-proving, given it isn’t doing a PS route which is too far for the currently produced A35Ks.

Not to quibble, but a lightly loaded A35K with only a handful of people on-board could fly non-stop eastbound with the prevailing winds.

BA have flown standard 777-200ERs non-stop from LHR to the East Coast on a couple of occasions, bringing UK PM Tony Blair LHR-MEL in 2006 and the Queen LHR-CBR in 2011. Of course that doesn’t mean that it is possible with a viable payload.

You're probably right that the standard A35K could have made it with such a light load. I think the real reason is the PER-SYD route is being apparently operated by a mixed crew from both Airbus and Qantas so the arrival photo will be AJ greeting QF crew rather than an Airbus test pilot.

qf789 wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

VARA has just added 2 A320's to its fleet in the past 2 months so I would say the A320's arent going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally the A320 has a role at VARA and I would expect the 2 fleets will compliment each other. I can not see VA sending a 737-700 on a XCH/CCK run either and the A320's are probably better suited to places such as BYP and CJF

You may be right but, if you are going for the most efficient fleet, holding onto the A320s long-term doesn't make sense. Not sure why you query a 737-700 flying to Christmas Island. It is well within their range and, assuming they get cleared for ETOPS, just as possible with the 737 as an A320.

qf789 wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

The 2 current (two class) 737-700s at VA seem to be allocated to intra-Queensland flying plus some thin interstate routes such as BNE-LST. I do wonder if the 738s will be too big for those routes, or unless VARA are planning to (reopen?) a crew base in BNE with the 700s being rotated via BNE-PER flying, based on the guess the second hand 700s are single class per VARA specs.

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

VARA has just added 2 A320's to its fleet in the past 2 months so I would say the A320's arent going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally the A320 has a role at VARA and I would expect the 2 fleets will compliment each other. I can not see VA sending a 737-700 on a XCH/CCK run either and the A320's are probably better suited to places such as BYP and CJF

I do remember reading posts elsewhere stating that the A320s were more suited for the mining strips in hotter climates as opposed to the 737s. So I would guess why VARA are keeping (and expanding) the A320 fleet this year.

RyanairGuru wrote:

Which in turn makes me wonder what the value is of keeping VARA as a separate airline if they are transitioning to a 737 operator? Surely it would be more efficient to reduce the duplication of functions by merging them onto one certificate.

VARA are keeping the A320s. Making the A320s the only non-Boeing 737 aircraft in the "VA Group" fleet when the Fokker retirements are completed.

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Air Baltic A220-300 YL-ABH on the ramp in SYD after arriving last night ahead of tomorrow’s announcement



https://twitter.com/16right_media/statu ... ho3PT7hpxw

Cathay Pacific has been banned for 7 days from today for operating passenger flights between SYD and HKG after 3 passengers were Covid positive on a flight from
SYD-HKG on Saturday

https://twitter.com/journodannyaero/sta ... ho3PT7hpxw

qf789 wrote:

moa999 wrote:

Well this will be an interesting month to start.
Some special aircraft enroute to SYD

https://www.facebook.com/10456362295308 ... 958181497/

35K F-WMIL decked out with Qantas stickers enroute TLS-PER
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FWMIL

220 YL-ABH also arrived in SYD last night
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/YLABH

Air Baltic A220-300 YL-ABH on the ramp in SYD after arriving last night ahead of tomorrow’s announcement



https://twitter.com/16right_media/statu ... ho3PT7hpxw

I do find the Air Baltic aircraft a bit odd - I know they want an A220, but the air Baltic branding is odd. Surely they could have flown an all white one down?

smi0006 wrote:

I do find the Air Baltic aircraft a bit odd - I know they want an A220, but the air Baltic branding is odd. Surely they could have flown an all white one down?

I found Airbus using Air Baltic birds a lot for shows whenever they need one - especially since (apparently) all their own prototypes are parked/stored.

Guess the rate from Air Baltic is good and they have spare aircraft to lease out.

Michael

qf789 wrote:

Cathay Pacific has been banned for 7 days from today for operating passenger flights between SYD and HKG after 3 passengers were Covid positive on a flight from
SYD-HKG on Saturday

https://twitter.com/journodannyaero/sta ... ho3PT7hpxw

That all changed as of today

" From May 1, if on the same flight there are (i) five or more passengers, or five per cent or more of the total number of passengers on board the same flight (whichever is higher) tested positive for COVID-19 by arrival test, or (ii) three or more passenger are tested positive for COVID-19 by arrival test and one or more non-compliant case(s) was/were allowed to board for Hong Kong without complying with with the requirement(s) specified under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) Regulation (Cap. 599H), the passenger flights of that route from the relevant airline from the same origin place will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong for five days."

from https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202 ... 200621.htm

eamondzhang wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

I do find the Air Baltic aircraft a bit odd - I know they want an A220, but the air Baltic branding is odd. Surely they could have flown an all white one down?

I found Airbus using Air Baltic birds a lot for shows whenever they need one - especially since (apparently) all their own prototypes are parked/stored.

Guess the rate from Air Baltic is good and they have spare aircraft to lease out.

Michael

Air Baltic are actively subletting parts of their fleet as they have plenty of spare capacity due to reduced network following closure of Russian borders.

smi0006 wrote:

I do find the Air Baltic aircraft a bit odd - I know they want an A220, but the air Baltic branding is odd. Surely they could have flown an all white one down?

I don't believe that there many "spare" A220s around at the moment. Everything that has been built is shipped to customers.

I'm sure they'll probably throw some temporary, plastic decals over the top for the PR event.

Cheers

tullamarine wrote:

qf789 wrote:

tullamarine wrote:

It will be interesting to see how long VARA hold onto their A320s. With the move to 73Gs, I assume they will probably take the opportunity to cycle out the A320s as their lease terms expire and source more 737s as replacements.

VARA has just added 2 A320's to its fleet in the past 2 months so I would say the A320's arent going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally the A320 has a role at VARA and I would expect the 2 fleets will compliment each other. I can not see VA sending a 737-700 on a XCH/CCK run either and the A320's are probably better suited to places such as BYP and CJF

You may be right but, if you are going for the most efficient fleet, holding onto the A320s long-term doesn't make sense. Not sure why you query a 737-700 flying to Christmas Island. It is well within their range and, assuming they get cleared for ETOPS, just as possible with the 737 as an A320.

It has nothing to do with ETOPS, the route itself is freight heavy. On some flights excess baggage would equal the number of bags being checked in on a normal ticket. Also the mass majority of bags were above the standard 23kg and tagged as heavy baggage. When loading the bags onto the aircraft excess baggage was left to last and it was quite common some excess baggage would be left behind. To put this in perspective an A332 doing PER-MEL would usually have anywhere between 2700kgs and 3200kgs of baggage, on a XCH and CCK run its wasnt uncommon to see the weight of bags to be 3500-4000kg

My point is as its freight heavy an A320 is better, the 737-700 is capable of doing the flight however passengers on this route typically check multiple bags, due to the remote location of the islands it is common for people to get supplies in PER and take them back to the islands, alone on each flight would be several dozen foam eskies full of perishable items such as meat as it was considerable cheaper buying it in PER and paying the extra for baggage than pay for it on XCH or CCK

qf789 wrote:

Tomorrow's announcement will also include firm order for its narrowbody fleet

So we are looking

12 A350-1000's
20 A220's
20 A321XLR's

plus 106 options

Interesting the following article refer to A220's with 120 seats and A321XLR's with 206 seats

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qan ... r-history/

Well done to QF, nice to see some positive news for a change.

Given that the initial routes will be SYD-LHR, SYD-JFK, followed by MEL, it would seem that more than another 12 options may be needed if you consider their speculated routes. If I've followed news and blog sites correctly, this includes: CDG, FRA, ORD, JNB, CPT, GIG, and possibly more.

If you factor in the eventual replacement of the A388, it would seem that an A35K in a 3 class configuration with more pax, could possibly on the cards.

Anyway, I decided to put my fleet planning manager hat on and suss out how the new planes may be configured. Looking at the planes to be eventually replaced, or some for reference, we have:

F100 (100): 100Y
B717 (110): 12J 98Y
B717 (125): 125Y

B738 (174): 12J 162Y

B789 (236): 42J 28W 166Y

Given that the announcements have suggested: A223 (120pax), A321 (206), and A35K (270), I've made a calculation of the following:

A223 (120): 12J 108Y

A321 (206): 16J 190Y
A321 (206): 20J 186Y

A35K (270): 6F 48J 35W 181Y

- The A223 is only 0.9m longer than the B717 (fuselage length), so I don't see any more seats.
- The A321 is a bit of a mix for me. Initially I was of the opinion that they would increase the J seating by only 4 seats, when replacing a B738. But the A321 could also function as an A332 replacement and giving it 20J seats would also be an option. Also, this may make it more ideal for some thin international routes.
- I'm unsure if it was the Executive Traveller or Airline Ratings article which suggested that premium seating would make up approximately 30% of the A35K. My suggestion is around 33%, overall. Personally, I can't see QF doing only 4 F seats. By doing six in a 2 x 3 format, they could potentially sell 4 of the 6 suites as two doubles using a removable dividing wall.

So some food for thought.

Cheers.

*Edit 1: Spelling*
*Edit 2: Maths*

Chipmunk1973 wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Tomorrow's announcement will also include firm order for its narrowbody fleet

So we are looking

12 A350-1000's
20 A220's
20 A321XLR's

plus 106 options

Interesting the following article refer to A220's with 120 seats and A321XLR's with 206 seats

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qan ... r-history/

Well done to QF, nice to see some positive news for a change.

Given that the initial routes will be SYD-LHR, SYD-JFK, followed by MEL, it would seem that more than another 12 options may be needed if you consider their speculated routes. If I've followed news and blog sites correctly, this includes: CDG, FRA, ORD, JNB, CPT, GIG, and possibly more.

If you factor in the eventual replacement of the A388, it would seem that an A35K in a 3 class configuration with more pax, could possibly on the cards.

Anyway, I decided to put my fleet planning manager hat on and suss out how the new planes may be configured. Looking at the planes to be eventually replaced, or some for reference, we have:

F100 (100): 100Y
B717 (110): 12J 98Y
B717 (125): 125Y

B738 (174): 12J 162Y

B789 (236): 42J 28W 166Y

Given that the announcements have suggested: A223 (120pax), A321 (206), and A35K (270), I've made a calculation of the following:

A223 (120): 12J 108Y

A321 (206): 16J 190Y
A321 (206): 20J 186Y

A35K (270): 6F 48J 35W 181Y

- The A223 is only 0.9m longer than the B717 (fuselage length), so I don't see any more seats.
- The A321 is a bit of a mix for me. Initially I was of the opinion that they would increase the J seating by only 4 seats, when replacing a B738. But the A321 could also function as an A332 replacement and giving it 20J seats would also be an option. Also, this may make it more ideal for some thin international routes.
- I'm unsure if it was the Executive Traveller or Airline Ratings article which suggested that premium seating would make up approximately 30% of the A35K. My suggestion is around 33%, overall. Personally, I can't see QF doing only 4 F seats. By doing six in a 2 x 3 format, they could potentially sell 4 of the 6 suites as two doubles using a removable dividing wall.

So some food for thought.

Cheers.

*Edit 1: Spelling*
*Edit 2: Maths*

I reckon the 321 will have 16J. 20 seems to too much for most of their routes. Likewise with the A220 given the a/c they are replacing I think 16J is too much 8J is prob more likely. re the XLRs I wonder if they will go flatbads like Jetblue or keep the same domestic config.

Malaysia Airlines to increase both SYD and MEL to 10 weekly from 1 Jul 22, while PER will increase to daily from 2 Jul 22

https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220429-mhjul22au

Korean Air to increase ICN-SYD to 4 weekly from 10 Jul 22

https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220429-kejul22syd

Air Vanuatu will resume international flying from July

BNE will be 3 weekly resuming 1 July
MEL 1 weekly from 7 July
SYD 5 weekly from 1 July

https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220428-nfjul22

Effective as of late last week United has a codeshare with SQ on PER-SIN

https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220427-squacodeshare

Japan Airlines to increase HND-SYD to 4 weekly from 1 July 22 while 2 weekly MEL will see flight numbers revert from JL8773/8774 to JL773/774

https://aeroroutes.com/eng/220428-jljul22au

Seems QF are having issues on the DRW to LHR sector, having to offload passengers and bags due to runway works in DRW reducing the available runway for takeoff by 955 meters. Some passengers are getting rebooked on other airlines via the Middle East and others are getting notification that their bags taken alternate services and will arrive a day later, with passengers getting notified to pack important belongings into hand luggage. The article also notes QF have halted sales on the service until at least Tuesday.
https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com ... 3stlueVDrU

I wonder if Qantas are regretting pushing back the resumption of the PER stop over with these issues, further exacerbated by the Russian airspace closure affecting the DRW sectors.

a320fan wrote:

Seems QF are having issues on the DRW to LHR sector, having to offload passengers and bags due to runway works in DRW reducing the available runway for takeoff by 955 meters. Some passengers are getting rebooked on other airlines via the Middle East and others are getting notification that their bags taken alternate services and will arrive a day later, with passengers getting notified to pack important belongings into hand luggage. The article also notes QF have halted sales on the service until at least Tuesday.
https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com ... 3stlueVDrU

I wonder if Qantas are regretting pushing back the resumption of the PER stop over with these issues, further exacerbated by the Russian airspace closure affecting the DRW sectors.

Information I have received, that it was suppose to be fixed on Saturday night 30APR (Yes, I know the article was written then as well).

Yes, they are regretting the decision. Serious thought has been given to restart PER early, however the costs involved (I'm guessing paying out the contract, ground crew retrained on 787 eqp) I heard were in the seven (7) figures price bracket at the time. With the flights returning to PER (and via SIN) in approximately 7 weeks, it will continue as is.

moa999 wrote:

Looks like it
https://www.executivetraveller.com/qant ... nrise-a350

Great article thanks for posting it up. It is a long wait till these flights start 3 years away. Perhaps they could speed up the certification of this new variant and they could arrive in Australia sooner.

REX has signed inter line partnership with Delta

https://twitter.com/avweekscho/status/1 ... Hn22kjK5Yw

Deleted

Press release is finally out: https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media ... ts-future/

200 seats in the XLRs indicate they’ll use standard narrowbody J seats similar to what’s in the 737s.

a320fan wrote:

200 seats in the XLRs indicate they’ll use standard narrowbody J seats similar to what’s in the 737s.

Disappointing especially if they go into Asia.

anstar wrote:

a320fan wrote:

200 seats in the XLRs indicate they’ll use standard narrowbody J seats similar to what’s in the 737s.

Disappointing especially if they go into Asia.

Maybe we’ve all misunderstood- maybe they won’t head into Asia beyond Bali? Maybe they are for Transcon, Tasman, PI and DPS?

Hopefully we see a new J seat - like TK and DL their shorthaul one looks great!

a320fan wrote:

I wonder if Qantas are regretting pushing back the resumption of the PER stop over with these issues, further exacerbated by the Russian airspace closure affecting the DRW sectors.

Yes.

From what I’m told the extension of the DRW stopover was an attempt to “punish” the WA government for not opening the state border as originally planned on February 5th. They eventually opened it in March 3rd, which was before the PER-LHR flight was originally due to restart on March 27th. The attempted “punishment” would then embarrass the state government allow QF to get some favours from them, especially given the spat between them and Perth Airport in recent years.

However that strategy failed, the Darwin “experience” has been less than desirable. Problems with lounges, no terminal space, low staffing levels, runway works and Russian airspace closure. I bet you if QF could go back in time they’d stick to resuming PER-LHR in late March.

Interesting from today's Qantas Order announcement that there were no options or purchase rights for the A350s whereas there were 94 spread across the A320 and A220 family.

The other interesting point from today's announcement was that Jetstar were converting 20 of their existing order to A321XLRs.

smi0006 wrote:

anstar wrote:

a320fan wrote:

200 seats in the XLRs indicate they’ll use standard narrowbody J seats similar to what’s in the 737s.

Disappointing especially if they go into Asia.

Maybe we’ve all misunderstood- maybe they won’t head into Asia beyond Bali? Maybe they are for Transcon, Tasman, PI and DPS?

If that is the case, they didn't need the XLR. An A321LR would have done it.

The A321XLR is really not needed if they are only doing domestic, Tasman, DPS. Maybe, they are doing it for fleet commonality. I would have expected QF to go for a subfleet dedicated to medium haul international such as ADL-SIN, MEL-CGK etc fitted with a different J class. I didn't expect them to be all fitted with lie-flat; such a feature is a waste of space and revenue potential on domestic services.

aschachter wrote:

Interesting from today's Qantas Order announcement that there were no options or purchase rights for the A350s whereas there were 94 spread across the A320 and A220 family.

The other interesting point from today's announcement was that Jetstar were converting 20 of their existing order to A321XLRs.

Maybe QF have decided that JQ will take over the int'l routes we expected QF to use the A321XLR for. These are routes such as ADL-SIN, MEL-CGK.

tullamarine wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

anstar wrote:

Disappointing especially if they go into Asia.

Maybe we’ve all misunderstood- maybe they won’t head into Asia beyond Bali? Maybe they are for Transcon, Tasman, PI and DPS?

If that is the case, they didn't need the XLR. An A321LR would have done it.

The A321XLR is really not needed if they are only doing domestic, Tasman, DPS. Maybe, they are doing it for fleet commonality. I would have expected QF to go for a subfleet dedicated to medium haul international such as ADL-SIN, MEL-CGK etc fitted with a different J class. I didn't expect them to be all fitted with lie-flat; such a feature is a waste of space and revenue potential on domestic services.

Agreed - I’ve never really been able to wrap my head around the need for XLR. I would have moved the XLR to JQ and LR to QF, and then later XLR to open up Asia.

I do agree there will be a second config or more details to follow.

tullamarine wrote:

aschachter wrote:

Interesting from today's Qantas Order announcement that there were no options or purchase rights for the A350s whereas there were 94 spread across the A320 and A220 family.

The other interesting point from today's announcement was that Jetstar were converting 20 of their existing order to A321XLRs.

Maybe QF have decided that JQ will take over the int'l routes we expected QF to use the A321XLR for. These are routes such as ADL-SIN, MEL-CGK.

But if that was the case, they could just shuffle this new order for XLRs to Jetstar and move 20 LRs (or standard neos, they’re basically the same thing apart from the aux tank) from the existing order to QF.

As it is, it looks like the XLR will be going to Jetstar (presumably to replace the 788s) while QF will be paying a higher acquisition cost and carrying higher structural weight for XLRs on the domestic and short-haul network where the additional range is unnecessary.

As an aside, I may have misinterpreted their quarterly financial update but it looks like they paid down $1bn in debt in one quarter. That’s impressive!