Captdasbomb wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Captdasbomb wrote:

Would have thought Ethopia or Kenya would jump on it with Perth to Joburg via Addis Ababa/Nairobi

That would make a lot of sense to me. But of a back track, but also potential for more connections and some EU traffic

Perth to JFK with a one stop in Addis would be great

ET to JFK goes via ABJ and via LFW to EWR. Certainly a good chance to see some more out of the way places though

friends just flew BNE/NAN on FJ tickets, but aircraft was Malindo Air. Do FJ keep this quiet?

qf789 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

friends just flew BNE/NAN on FJ tickets, but aircraft was Malindo Air. Do FJ keep this quiet?

The aircraft is just being leased by FJ while the 737MAX remain grounded

yes know that, but how far in advance can you find out who's aircraft is operating route ?

qf789 wrote:

ArtV wrote:

qf2220 wrote:

I don't see why VA wouldn't necessarily not have a go at PER-JNB in the absence of SA.

Aircraft constraints? They would need to pull the HKG-SYD 330 in order to operate, which is unlikely with the VS link up and they have just pulled HKG-MEL

No they wouldn't, as I have said previously many times VA has operated trans con flights with 3 frames for a good part of this year. VA can operate PER-JNB without pulling SYD-HKG, a few tweeks to scheduling may happen but it can be done. Alternatively VA could try and source a couple more A332's, if SA does go belly up they could take on a couple of their A332's

For a company in such poor performance would be a big gamble to launch PER-JNB and HND. Big gambles but could pay off.... especially if SA feed ex-JNB dries up. At least QF would have BA. QF could also equally apply a lot of pressure easily to force them off the route.

lessredtape wrote:

qf789 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

friends just flew BNE/NAN on FJ tickets, but aircraft was Malindo Air. Do FJ keep this quiet?

The aircraft is just being leased by FJ while the 737MAX remain grounded

yes know that, but how far in advance can you find out who's aircraft is operating route ?

Did they book through a travel agent, or online booking system? If so FJ would have passed notification to them. Both of which can be hit and miss passing this information on.

smi0006 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

qf789 wrote:

The aircraft is just being leased by FJ while the 737MAX remain grounded

yes know that, but how far in advance can you find out who's aircraft is operating route ?

Did they book through a travel agent, or online booking system? If so FJ would have passed notification to them. Both of which can be hit and miss passing this information on.

might have been a last minute switch of aircraft as no notification,

waoz1 wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

SIA (SQ) could pick up the PER-JNB traffic via SIN if SA does fall over. Neither QF nor VA are expected to enter the PER-JNB route otherwise for reasons previously mentioned for both carriers.

Not sure I could see a daily direct service replaced with a service via SIN would almost double the flight time. Even MK would be a better alternate.

Air NZ is interesting, doesn't connect passengers through Perth on SAA?

Who told you that? Air NZ does connect passengers from AKL/CHC to PER and then onto JNB with SAA. Both airlines are in the Star Alliance..

VA flights to HND are on sale today (05 Dec) and their schedule is published.

VA077 BNE 11:40 HND 20:00 A332 D
VA076 HND 21:45 BNE 07:45+1 A332 D

NZ516 wrote:

waoz1 wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

SIA (SQ) could pick up the PER-JNB traffic via SIN if SA does fall over. Neither QF nor VA are expected to enter the PER-JNB route otherwise for reasons previously mentioned for both carriers.

Not sure I could see a daily direct service replaced with a service via SIN would almost double the flight time. Even MK would be a better alternate.

Air NZ is interesting, doesn't connect passengers through Perth on SAA?

Who told you that? Air NZ does connect passengers from AKL/CHC to PER and then onto JNB with SAA. Both airlines are in the Star Alliance..

NZ even has a codeshare on the SA flights to and from PER: NZ3180 and NZ3181.

The same day QF switches to a 787 on SYD-SFO, UA switches to the 77W with the latest Polaris product. AKL is getting it too with the B787-10. I know for a fact UA's SYD & MEL services are some of the highest margins combined with LHR & FRA.

Reported in the Oz today that Scurrah is looking st the widebody leases. Apparently VA spend $100m on their widebody leases, at above market rates. What do you think he has in mind?

NZ516 wrote:

waoz1 wrote:

SCFlyer wrote:

SIA (SQ) could pick up the PER-JNB traffic via SIN if SA does fall over. Neither QF nor VA are expected to enter the PER-JNB route otherwise for reasons previously mentioned for both carriers.

Not sure I could see a daily direct service replaced with a service via SIN would almost double the flight time. Even MK would be a better alternate.

Air NZ is interesting, doesn't connect passengers through Perth on SAA?

Who told you that? Air NZ does connect passengers from AKL/CHC to PER and then onto JNB with SAA. Both airlines are in the Star Alliance..

Didnt realise missing the word “it” would cause an argument

I was making the point that Air NZ and SA code share passengers through Perth

qf789 wrote:

Virgin will reduce LAX flights in August/September 2020 due to aircraft maintenance

BNE-LAX reduced from 6 weekly down to 5 weekly
SYD-LAX reduced from daily to 5 weekly
MEL-LAX reduced from 5 weekly to 4 weekly

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... n-mid-2020

this is not good as plays into QF hands. VA needs to somehow go daily, even with a smaller aircraft. Surely they could work out something with one of their owners, or send an a330 to LAX via somewhere ?

Where though ?

NAN with absolute min stop ? Fijians wouldn't give them rights NAN/LAX though.

APW ? Sure Samoans would give them rights APW/LAX. No idea what runway at APW is like.

tullamarine wrote:

redroo wrote:

Reported in the Oz today that Scurrah is looking st the widebody leases. Apparently VA spend $100m on their widebody leases, at above market rates. What do you think he has in mind?

The leasing market for widebodies has fallen in a big hole in the past few years with lots of 77Ws, A330s etc available. Collapses like Thomas Cook as well as other potential failures with SA etc will only make this worse.

I would assume that PS is going to the lessors and offering a term extension beyond the current lease but with a reduced lease rate. It may be attractive to the lessors as they are all pretty aware that these aircraft will not be easily placed elsewhere if VA return them at the end of the current term.

only just saw this post ... if VA had 1 more 777 couldn't they go daily from BNE, SYD & MEL to LAX ?

lessredtape wrote:

only just saw this post ... if VA had 1 more 777 couldn't they go daily from BNE, SYD & MEL to LAX ?

*with full-size cargo doors....

lessredtape wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Virgin will reduce LAX flights in August/September 2020 due to aircraft maintenance

BNE-LAX reduced from 6 weekly down to 5 weekly
SYD-LAX reduced from daily to 5 weekly
MEL-LAX reduced from 5 weekly to 4 weekly

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... n-mid-2020

this is not good as plays into QF hands. VA needs to somehow go daily, even with a smaller aircraft. Surely they could work out something with one of their owners, or send an a330 to LAX via somewhere ?

Where though ?

NAN with absolute min stop ? Fijians wouldn't give them rights NAN/LAX though.

APW ? Sure Samoans would give them rights APW/LAX. No idea what runway at APW is like.

In late August/early September most people won't even notice. It's a seasonal reduction to cover maintenance in low season. There really isn't much to discuss.

qf789 wrote:

Asians extends A380 service to SYD to May 20

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status ... 7600414721

Hopefully MEL becomes year round next year. OZ has been doing quite well bundling both MEL/SYD together.

redroo wrote:

Reported in the Oz today that Scurrah is looking st the widebody leases. Apparently VA spend $100m on their widebody leases, at above market rates. What do you think he has in mind?

That's interesting, as VA's 777 leases have just been re-financed (over the last 2.5 years, with the last in Sep 2019). Four of the 777's were financed through a VA syndicated loan type arrangement with the last aircraft financed through a lessor.

I suspect VA could be looking at renegotiating the leases on the A330's. They are relatively new build aircraft coming off lease in the 2022-2026 time period (using 10-12 year leases as a basis).

It could be advantages for the lessors to re-negotiate the terms of the lease if VA are willing to extend the lease period. For example increasing the lease period from 10(-12) to 16 years could guarantee the lessors enough of a return to repay the financing on the aircraft. In this type of market this would substantially reduce the risk profile for the aircraft.

In 2012 when VA started taking delivery of the new build A330's, they had a market lease value hovering around the $800K/month. In the last 8 years the A330 market has changed to a fundamental oversupply situation. As such, we could see re-negotiated leases for 8-10 year aircraft come down as low as $450K/month. This could give VA more flexibility with the A330 scheduling. For instance where VA have to fly the aircraft 12-14 hours per day to meet the lease rate payments, a reduced lease rate could mean they could decrease the daily utilisation rate. As such, if markets are not viable they can simply stop flying an aircraft into a market.

This will give VA a whole lot of financial flexibility.

SAA now enters bankruptcy protection...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ess-rescue

RyanairGuru wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

qf789 wrote:

Virgin will reduce LAX flights in August/September 2020 due to aircraft maintenance

BNE-LAX reduced from 6 weekly down to 5 weekly
SYD-LAX reduced from daily to 5 weekly
MEL-LAX reduced from 5 weekly to 4 weekly

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news ... n-mid-2020

this is not good as plays into QF hands. VA needs to somehow go daily, even with a smaller aircraft. Surely they could work out something with one of their owners, or send an a330 to LAX via somewhere ?

Where though ?

NAN with absolute min stop ? Fijians wouldn't give them rights NAN/LAX though.

APW ? Sure Samoans would give them rights APW/LAX. No idea what runway at APW is like.

In late August/early September most people won't even notice. It's a seasonal reduction to cover maintenance in low season. There really isn't much to discuss.

no business type wants to go via another OZ city to get to LAX. Via AKL or NAN is still popular with leisure crowd.

I think VA should drop either BNE, SYD or MEL & make the other 2 daily.

Qantas will have an almost monopoly on business market to USA ex BNE, esp when they start BNE/SFO & BNE/ORD nonstops soon. Alternatively, there must be 100s of 777s out there for lease at a low cost. Must be some with similar config/same engines? Any excess capacity could be used for HKG, HND perhaps or as they do now, to NAN or perhaps AKL or DPS or ?

lessredtape wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

this is not good as plays into QF hands. VA needs to somehow go daily, even with a smaller aircraft. Surely they could work out something with one of their owners, or send an a330 to LAX via somewhere ?

Where though ?

NAN with absolute min stop ? Fijians wouldn't give them rights NAN/LAX though.

APW ? Sure Samoans would give them rights APW/LAX. No idea what runway at APW is like.

In late August/early September most people won't even notice. It's a seasonal reduction to cover maintenance in low season. There really isn't much to discuss.

no business type wants to go via another OZ city to get to LAX. Via AKL or NAN is still popular with leisure crowd.

I think VA should drop either BNE, SYD or MEL & make the other 2 daily.

Qantas will have an almost monopoly on business market to USA ex BNE, esp when they start BNE/SFO & BNE/ORD nonstops soon. Alternatively, there must be 100s of 777s out there for lease at a low cost. Must be some with similar config/same engines? Any excess capacity could be used for HKG, HND perhaps or as they do now, to NAN or perhaps AKL or DPS or ?

Given that VA operate a JV with DL, I’ve never understood why their schedule isn’t a bit smarter. For example, wouldn’t it make most sense for VA to reduce SYD and make MEL and BNE daily. Given DL already operate SYD daily, it means they will have the 3 east coast airports daily and SYD at something like 10-11 weekly. I think it would make VA much more competitive in the corporate market and improve yield potentially.

I think VA need to ditch the 332/77W and replace with 789s. It would suit their needs very well and offer the flexibility and level of capacity that is more suitable to them.

tullamarine wrote:

QF742 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

no business type wants to go via another OZ city to get to LAX. Via AKL or NAN is still popular with leisure crowd.

I think VA should drop either BNE, SYD or MEL & make the other 2 daily.

Qantas will have an almost monopoly on business market to USA ex BNE, esp when they start BNE/SFO & BNE/ORD nonstops soon. Alternatively, there must be 100s of 777s out there for lease at a low cost. Must be some with similar config/same engines? Any excess capacity could be used for HKG, HND perhaps or as they do now, to NAN or perhaps AKL or DPS or ?

Given that VA operate a JV with DL, I’ve never understood why their schedule isn’t a bit smarter. For example, wouldn’t it make most sense for VA to reduce SYD and make MEL and BNE daily. Given DL already operate SYD daily, it means they will have the 3 east coast airports daily and SYD at something like 10-11 weekly. I think it would make VA much more competitive in the corporate market and improve yield potentially.

I think VA need to ditch the 332/77W and replace with 789s. It would suit their needs very well and offer the flexibility and level of capacity that is more suitable to them.

You can't return aircraft to lessors just because you think there is a better new model available. Both the A332s and leased 777s still have a period remaining on their current lease terms and PS is trtying to get these costs reduced going forward probably be extending the terms in exchange for a reduced lease amount. When total cost of ownership is considered, it is likely these will end up with overall costs less than VA could operate a new 787 or A350.

Yes - I understand they can’t just return leased aircraft, I was speaking of an ideal scenario. I am sure VA have weighed up all the costs and benefits of the current fleet to reach their decision to renew leases etc.

QF742 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

In late August/early September most people won't even notice. It's a seasonal reduction to cover maintenance in low season. There really isn't much to discuss.

no business type wants to go via another OZ city to get to LAX. Via AKL or NAN is still popular with leisure crowd.

I think VA should drop either BNE, SYD or MEL & make the other 2 daily.

Qantas will have an almost monopoly on business market to USA ex BNE, esp when they start BNE/SFO & BNE/ORD nonstops soon. Alternatively, there must be 100s of 777s out there for lease at a low cost. Must be some with similar config/same engines? Any excess capacity could be used for HKG, HND perhaps or as they do now, to NAN or perhaps AKL or DPS or ?

Given that VA operate a JV with DL, I’ve never understood why their schedule isn’t a bit smarter. For example, wouldn’t it make most sense for VA to reduce SYD and make MEL and BNE daily. Given DL already operate SYD daily, it means they will have the 3 east coast airports daily and SYD at something like 10-11 weekly. I think it would make VA much more competitive in the corporate market and improve yield potentially.

I think VA need to ditch the 332/77W and replace with 789s. It would suit their needs very well and offer the flexibility and level of capacity that is more suitable to them.

SYD/LAX 10-11 week makes sense if they get no more 777s, but do DL & VA flights need to be a few minutes apart ? Surely they could be a few hours apart at least ?

Another idea, surely there would be some very cheap to lease 772s around ? (cheaper than 773s ?) IIRC 772s are smaller than 773s. Most pax would not know the difference.

lessredtape wrote:

QF742 wrote:

lessredtape wrote:

no business type wants to go via another OZ city to get to LAX. Via AKL or NAN is still popular with leisure crowd.

I think VA should drop either BNE, SYD or MEL & make the other 2 daily.

Qantas will have an almost monopoly on business market to USA ex BNE, esp when they start BNE/SFO & BNE/ORD nonstops soon. Alternatively, there must be 100s of 777s out there for lease at a low cost. Must be some with similar config/same engines? Any excess capacity could be used for HKG, HND perhaps or as they do now, to NAN or perhaps AKL or DPS or ?

Given that VA operate a JV with DL, I’ve never understood why their schedule isn’t a bit smarter. For example, wouldn’t it make most sense for VA to reduce SYD and make MEL and BNE daily. Given DL already operate SYD daily, it means they will have the 3 east coast airports daily and SYD at something like 10-11 weekly. I think it would make VA much more competitive in the corporate market and improve yield potentially.

I think VA need to ditch the 332/77W and replace with 789s. It would suit their needs very well and offer the flexibility and level of capacity that is more suitable to them.

SYD/LAX 10-11 week makes sense if they get no more 777s, but do DL & VA flights need to be a few minutes apart ? Surely they could be a few hours apart at least ?

Another idea, surely there would be some very cheap to lease 772s around ? (cheaper than 773s ?) IIRC 772s are smaller than 773s. Most pax would not know the difference.

I also do think that VA changing its schedules to fly less than daily on SYD-LAX could work, given DL is on the route.

It would be a far more balanced offering across the MEL, BNE and SYD markets to LAX, but they have the data and are the ones in control of that.

As for the schedules, the market on Australia-US routes has tended to prefer morning departs from Australia and late night departures from the US. I guess they are just appealing to their customers requirements, along with their fleet availability.

For the fleet, the main school of thought is that the 77W is the wrong aircraft for them these days, but as they are locked in to using them for some time to come, there aren’t that many options available other than trying to get more favourable financial terms for them.

Expecting them to get more aircraft at this point in time is just not going to happen. They will need to make best use of what they have.

Jetstar workers to walk off the job over Christmas period

Travel plans over Christmas may be thrown into chaos this year, after Jetstar employees voted in favour of industrial action.
Baggage handlers and ground crew will walk off the job over their work hours and wages after the company "rejected basic demands".

"(This includes) 30 guaranteed hours of work per week and increases to current wages, which are among the lowest rates in the industry," the Transport Workers Union said.


https://www.9news.com.au/national/jetst ... 508b5ce9f3

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

VA & DL would have some idea of how many inbound pax to LAX from OZ connect onto other flights at LAX (not all as know of many people who fly whoever to LAX & then use QF or VA ff pts to go onto other U.S. or Canadian cities). Assuming a decent chunk don't continue onward, then, if DL daily SYD/LAX was to arrive at 0600 (IIRC think you can land earlier but customs only opens at 0600) & then a flight a few hours later would work. eg. you can still fly LAX/NYC as late as 1530 & get to NYC just before 2359

EK413 wrote:

Jetstar pilots decide on Christmas strike


Jetstar ground crews and baggage handlers across the country have voted to strike in the weeks leading up to Christmas and beyond.

The decision was taken after the workers rejected the airline operators rejected their demands for better employment conditions.

These included 30 guaranteed hours of work per week and increases in current wages.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/jetst ... 0bf12cd7a8




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That linked article doesn't mention pilots at all.

EK413 wrote:

Jetstar pilots decide on Christmas strike


Jetstar ground crews and baggage handlers across the country have voted to strike in the weeks leading up to Christmas and beyond.

The decision was taken after the workers rejected the airline operators rejected their demands for better employment conditions.

These included 30 guaranteed hours of work per week and increases in current wages.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/jetst ... 0bf12cd7a8




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

this is unionism gone mad. We're heading into a massive & long recession. SOme pilots will end with pay cuts of up to 100%

Whatsaptudo wrote:

EK413 wrote:

Jetstar pilots decide on Christmas strike


Jetstar ground crews and baggage handlers across the country have voted to strike in the weeks leading up to Christmas and beyond.

The decision was taken after the workers rejected the airline operators rejected their demands for better employment conditions.

These included 30 guaranteed hours of work per week and increases in current wages.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/jetst ... 0bf12cd7a8


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That linked article doesn't mention pilots at all.

Correct, I’ve done another search and the link I’ve just posted was from 30mins ago.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk