Virgin Australia has just launched the Middle Seat Lottery, a special raffle worth about AUD230,000 (or $145,000). And it's only open to those who sit in the middle seat -- voluntarily or involuntarily -- during a flight.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

Each week, a different prize will be awarded to the winner of a lucky draw. Among the innovative gifts up for grabs are a full day helicopter pub crawl (including return flights to Darwin) and a two-night holiday in Cairns including flights, accommodation and a bungee jump.

readytotaxi wrote:

Virgin Australia has just launched the Middle Seat Lottery, a special raffle worth about AUD230,000 (or $145,000). And it's only open to those who sit in the middle seat -- voluntarily or involuntarily -- during a flight.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

Each week, a different prize will be awarded to the winner of a lucky draw. Among the innovative gifts up for grabs are a full day helicopter pub crawl (including return flights to Darwin) and a two-night holiday in Cairns including flights, accommodation and a bungee jump.

As part of the launch of the competition this week, every middle seat on a flight from ADL was given a USD6000 voucher to use on Virgin Voyages. Virgin will start cruising from MEL next year.

I notice QR''s CBR extension from MEL has now been cancelled indefinitely - I presume they must have got special dispensation from Australian govt to exceed their flight cap into Australia?

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221027-qrnw22cbr

a7ala wrote:

I notice QR''s CBR extension from MEL has now been cancelled indefinitely - I presume they must have got special dispensation from Australian govt to exceed their flight cap into Australia?

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221027-qrnw22cbr

Rumour is additional ADL tags as this would still be permitted I believe

Qantas16 wrote:

a7ala wrote:

I notice QR''s CBR extension from MEL has now been cancelled indefinitely - I presume they must have got special dispensation from Australian govt to exceed their flight cap into Australia?

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221027-qrnw22cbr

Rumour is additional ADL tags as this would still be permitted I believe

Thats an interesting switch. I can imagine ADL is going well for them in the absence of EK, plus the AKL market must be taking seats away from ADL market as well.

Would it operate DOH-ADL-MEL or DOH-MEL-ADL?

a7ala wrote:

Qantas16 wrote:

a7ala wrote:

I notice QR''s CBR extension from MEL has now been cancelled indefinitely - I presume they must have got special dispensation from Australian govt to exceed their flight cap into Australia?

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221027-qrnw22cbr

Rumour is additional ADL tags as this would still be permitted I believe

Thats an interesting switch. I can imagine ADL is going well for them in the absence of EK, plus the AKL market must be taking seats away from ADL market as well.

Would it operate DOH-ADL-MEL or DOH-MEL-ADL?

At the moment the flight operates as DOH-MEL-ADL-MEL-DOH with cargo only on the MEL-ADL tag, I’m not sure if QR will open reservations for the ADL tag. But this flight is more about adding that second daily into MEL rather than adding capacity into ADL.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221027-qrjan23adlakl

QR increase ADL-AKL to daily.

CX to fly daily into MEL next month and will progressively increase back to triple daily by the end of next year. Operating it’s pre-COVID schedule thanks to Victoria’s aviation initiative.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-fli ... n-victoria

kriskim wrote:

CX to fly daily into MEL next month and will progressively increase back to triple daily by the end of next year. Operating it’s pre-COVID schedule thanks to Victoria’s aviation initiative.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-fli ... n-victoria

Call me crazy but that seems like a waste of taxpayers money to me.

[photoid][/photoid]

NTLDaz wrote:

kriskim wrote:

CX to fly daily into MEL next month and will progressively increase back to triple daily by the end of next year. Operating it’s pre-COVID schedule thanks to Victoria’s aviation initiative.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-fli ... n-victoria

Call me crazy but that seems like a waste of taxpayers money to me.

Although basically every Australian state partially subsidises participating international carriers in partnership with their respective capital city airports those days post-COVID, I do have to agree with questioning the decision in regards to HKG flights considering they are basically intertwined with the motherland in regards to the 'Zero Covid' policy.

NTLDaz wrote:

kriskim wrote:

CX to fly daily into MEL next month and will progressively increase back to triple daily by the end of next year. Operating it’s pre-COVID schedule thanks to Victoria’s aviation initiative.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-fli ... n-victoria

Call me crazy but that seems like a waste of taxpayers money to me.

CX would be capturing not just the HK market but most of China too I think given the number of Chinese airlines operating in to Australia is a fraction of what it used to be.

I think Victoria is placing a bet on markets opening up at some point, and wants the schedules in place to support that.
Particularly for having seats for students who haven’t come back to Melbourne to help in boosting the CBD economy.

Tend to agree that it appears a bit strange to need to do this to boost services, but it does appear to be something occurring across the board.

Airlines are likely playing hardball in some regards trying to use this as an opportunity to make things even more profitable, almost trying to make up for lost time.

The reality is that as CX did operate into MEL 3 x daily pre-COVID, it was likely to continue seeing increased demand to get back there fairly quickly anyway, but I guess this helps support this to occur even faster, especially when trying to prioritise utilisation across a smaller active fleet.

Hope that brand new markets can open up though.

Bookings for QF's PER-JNB have reopened, with services operating between 01NOV2022 and 25MAR2023. Confirmed with a dummy booking on the QF website as well.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221029-qfnw22perjnb

IndianicWorld wrote:

Tend to agree that it appears a bit strange to need to do this to boost services, but it does appear to be something occurring across the board.

Airlines are likely playing hardball in some regards trying to use this as an opportunity to make things even more profitable, almost trying to make up for lost time.

The reality is that as CX did operate into MEL 3 x daily pre-COVID, it was likely to continue seeing increased demand to get back there fairly quickly anyway, but I guess this helps support this to occur even faster, especially when trying to prioritise utilisation across a smaller active fleet.

Hope that brand new markets can open up though.

I get that places like ADL and CBR do it. But, crikey, Melbourne is a major metropolis. If Melbourne Airport wanted to do it fair enough as they are a private company ( although gifted a monopoly but that's another story ).

SCFlyer wrote:

[photoid][/photoid]

NTLDaz wrote:

kriskim wrote:

CX to fly daily into MEL next month and will progressively increase back to triple daily by the end of next year. Operating it’s pre-COVID schedule thanks to Victoria’s aviation initiative.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-fli ... n-victoria

Call me crazy but that seems like a waste of taxpayers money to me.

Although basically every Australian state partially subsidises participating international carriers in partnership with their respective capital city airports those days post-COVID, I do have to agree with questioning the decision in regards to HKG flights considering they are basically intertwined with the motherland in regards to the 'Zero Covid' policy.

We have an election in a month. Like all politicians, Premier will spend any amount of public money for good news that may make the 6pm bulletin.

NTLDaz wrote:

IndianicWorld wrote:

Tend to agree that it appears a bit strange to need to do this to boost services, but it does appear to be something occurring across the board.

Airlines are likely playing hardball in some regards trying to use this as an opportunity to make things even more profitable, almost trying to make up for lost time.

The reality is that as CX did operate into MEL 3 x daily pre-COVID, it was likely to continue seeing increased demand to get back there fairly quickly anyway, but I guess this helps support this to occur even faster, especially when trying to prioritise utilisation across a smaller active fleet.

Hope that brand new markets can open up though.

I get that places like ADL and CBR do it. But, crikey, Melbourne is a major metropolis. If Melbourne Airport wanted to do it fair enough as they are a private company ( although gifted a monopoly but that's another story ).

You will find this is happening also across the country, whether it be SYD, BNE, PER. Announcements of increased service have mentioned support from state govt’s. It seems more about getting ahead of the queue for airlines to allocate resources.

Smaller markets would likely have to push even harder, however as the mess around QR’s CBR resumption has shown, even that likely isn’t enough. Says a lot when QR would instead fly a daily flight from MEL-ADL-MEL just to carry freight and no pax than fly to a smaller market with a more limited cargo potential.

kriskim wrote:

a7ala wrote:

Qantas16 wrote:

Rumour is additional ADL tags as this would still be permitted I believe

Thats an interesting switch. I can imagine ADL is going well for them in the absence of EK, plus the AKL market must be taking seats away from ADL market as well.

Would it operate DOH-ADL-MEL or DOH-MEL-ADL?

At the moment the flight operates as DOH-MEL-ADL-MEL-DOH with cargo only on the MEL-ADL tag, I’m not sure if QR will open reservations for the ADL tag. But this flight is more about adding that second daily into MEL rather than adding capacity into ADL.

So even ADL will get two daily QR services now that's a win for them. Even if one is cargo only for the time being.

DOH-MEL-ADL
DOH-ADL-AKL

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

Good summary.
I think MEL-SFO becoming daily is also another one for the list

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

MLflyer wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

Doesn’t the D7 service also tag on a SYD-AKL-SYD tag too.

Something different Tasman Cargo airlines an affiliate of DHL has added a second 767F to the AU register, current one operates SYD-AKL, this second will operate MEL-SIN. Be great to see
more added

https://cargofacts-com.cdn.ampproject.o ... cargo/amp/

smi0006 wrote:

Something different Tasman Cargo airlines an affiliate of DHL has added a second 767F to the AU register, current one operates SYD-AKL, this second will operate MEL-SIN. Be great to see
more added

https://cargofacts-com.cdn.ampproject.o ... cargo/amp/

That aircraft has been operating into MEL for a while, previously via DRW, this is just a change of registration from the British register to the Australian registry.

Wondering what has caused a lot of the very late arrivals this morning from Singapore into Australian ports. Seems all flights are delayed for one to two hours which is odd. Appears mainly to be ones with scheduled departures around midnight local SIN time. Bad weather up there last night?

Velocity7 wrote:

Wondering what has caused a lot of the very late arrivals this morning from Singapore into Australian ports. Seems all flights are delayed for one to two hours which is odd. Appears mainly to be ones with scheduled departures around midnight local SIN time. Bad weather up there last night?

I assume it was weather related. Most departures after 2030 seem to have been delayed by at least 2 hours regardless of destination. TR and SQ have a few that departed nearly 4 hours late.

MLflyer wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

smi0006 wrote:

MLflyer wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

That was my post in the NZ thread, all good. D7 start SYD-AKL 1st November 3 weekly, it’s daily Dec-Feb.

I was doing ex AKL, CI have been 3 weekly 359 BNE-AKL since early October or so, they also have a weekly TPE-AKL non stop. Not sure if it is due to increase or go 77W or not at some point?
I’m not aware OTOH of any other Tasman increases BNE-AKL, NZ have 2 daily 789/321, there was a third service 2-3 times a week during October but that seems to have stopped.

smi0006 wrote:

MLflyer wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Lots of changes over the next few days as we transition into NW22/23 timetable, some include

BNE
UA begins SFO, first arrival Sunday

SYD
AA resumed LAX-SYD on Saturday
UA resumes IAH-SYD, first arrival Sunday
BA sees 77W return from Tuesday

MEL
UA resumes LAX-MEL, first arrival Sunday
QF MEL-LAX returns to daytime departure ex MEL

PER
AirAsia Indonesia increases PER-DPS from 1 daily to 3 daily
QF increases SIN to daily
EK A388 returns from Tuesday
QF begins PER-JNB from Tuesday
Air Mauritius returns from Wednesday
VA resumed LST on Saturday
Batik Air Indonesia resumed PER-DPS a little over a week ago

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

Interesting that QF’s MEL-AKL is the only one their east-coast routes without using a A330.

Certainly are some significant increase there.

IndianicWorld wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

MLflyer wrote:

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

Interesting that QF’s MEL-AKL is the only one their east-coast routes without using a A330.

Certainly are some significant increase there.

They dramatically doubled their presence on the route overnight, would be nice to see A330’s on the route, especially for low flat J seat though.

IndianicWorld wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

MLflyer wrote:

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

Interesting that QF’s MEL-AKL is the only one their east-coast routes without using a A330.

Certainly are some significant increase there.

It was 4 daily 738s pre covid MEL-AKL for QF, when EK first pulled out QF put 2 A330s plus 2 738s a day, I would have thought 3 daily was enough with an A330 on 1 service.

A lot of those increases are just restoring capacity, NZ had up to 6 daily AKL-SYD and 5 AKL-MEL on the busiest days and 3 AKL-BNE, with a heap of wide bodies among them.

ZK-NBT wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

MLflyer wrote:

A few more for MEL:

VN increases SGN to daily
D7 begins x3 weekly KUL service
VA resumes ZQN
UL increases CMB to daily
UA increases SFO to daily (Obzerva mentioned above)

With more increases and new services added later in NOV and DEC.

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

That was my post in the NZ thread, all good. D7 start SYD-AKL 1st November 3 weekly, it’s daily Dec-Feb.

I was doing ex AKL, CI have been 3 weekly 359 BNE-AKL since early October or so, they also have a weekly TPE-AKL non stop. Not sure if it is due to increase or go 77W or not at some point?
I’m not aware OTOH of any other Tasman increases BNE-AKL, NZ have 2 daily 789/321, there was a third service 2-3 times a week during October but that seems to have stopped.

Ahh brilliant post - I should have tried to cross thread quote you!

Be interesting to see when NZ have the capacity to add more back into the Tasman, or if the 772 retriment has permanently reduced their capacity

smi0006 wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

From the NZ thread also some Tasman increases;

NZ
AKL-MEL 21>23 weekly 77W,789,321
AKL-SYD 21>28 weekly 77W,789,321,320
AKL-PER 3>7 weekly 789 Wamos 332 Dec 15 Feb 16

QF
AKL-SYD 21>33 weekly 330, 738
AKL-MEL 14>28 weekly 738
AKL-BNE 7>14 weekly 330, 737

D7 also increase SYD-AKL to daily? Maybe some more Tasman increase in BNE also?

Hopefully airport staffing can keep up, and we aren’t into for too messy a summer!

That was my post in the NZ thread, all good. D7 start SYD-AKL 1st November 3 weekly, it’s daily Dec-Feb.

I was doing ex AKL, CI have been 3 weekly 359 BNE-AKL since early October or so, they also have a weekly TPE-AKL non stop. Not sure if it is due to increase or go 77W or not at some point?
I’m not aware OTOH of any other Tasman increases BNE-AKL, NZ have 2 daily 789/321, there was a third service 2-3 times a week during October but that seems to have stopped.

Ahh brilliant post - I should have tried to cross thread quote you!

Be interesting to see when NZ have the capacity to add more back into the Tasman, or if the 772 retriment has permanently reduced their capacity

The last of the 77Ws will be back by mid 2023, giving them 6, 1 due to leave. That will allow 3 daily short haul turns most days in peak, slightly less to allow A checks etc.

789s off YVR/IAH/ORD/JFK/PVG maybe 1-2 others should I would think allow 3-4 daily 789s short haul.

Currently
MEL daily 77W 2x 789
SYD 2 daily 789/77W
BNE daily 789

NAN/APW/RAR/TBU get various frequency of wide bodies, less in NW, daily if not more in NS to NAN/RAR. I think NAN is 4 weekly 789s over NW with RAR/APW/TBU 1-2 weekly each, plus several A321s, most are served daily in NW.

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Australian Aviation Thread - November 2022

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