NZ Aviation Notes

Talofa Virgin Samoa, farewell Pacific Blue and V Australia

2011-12-07T08:33:00.000+10:00

Effective today Wednesday 7-December-2011 Polynesian Blue will now be known as Virgin Samoa. The Polynesian Blue aircraft Boeing 737-8FE ZK-PBF Tapu'itea is being painted in Virgin Samoa colours and will be fitted with the upgraded interior for entry into service in early 2012.

The major difference in the livery other than the name will be the engine scheme which features the Virgin Samoa tatau.

Also today V Australia and Pacific Blue adopt the Virgin Australia brand. The V Australia aircraft have started to undergo the re branding process, while the Pacific Blue aircraft are expected to undergo the repainting process next year.

Read more from the Virgin Australia Blog HERE or check out virginsamoa.com

Things look peachy for future NZ domestic

2011-11-07T13:44:00.002+10:00

Future Air New Zealand Link/Air New Zealand National looks like it will have a brighter outlook for the carrier than current Air New Zealand Link/Air New Zealand National.

Future Air New Zealand Link/Air New Zealand National will reopen the tourist route Christchurch-Mt Cook-Queenstown with Mt Cook Airline ATR 72-500s while the current Rotorua-Christchurch-Queenstown ATR route will get a bump up to a B733.

The Mt Cook route will operate for a six week trial period from 23-December-2012, while the Rotorua Boeing flights will operate between November 2012 and March 2013.

These announcements from Air New Zealand come on the back of the announcement made in late October that Air New Zealand will order seven new ATR 72-600 aircraft with an option for a further five. These aircraft are expected to be based in Auckland, with the operator as yet unknown.

So the future for domestic services in New Zealand looks to be a healthy one for the National carrier.

Read more about the route upgrades from stuff.co.nz HERE and the new ATR purchase from ausbt.com.au HERE

Virgin Business class close

2011-11-04T10:04:00.000+10:00

Virgin Australia have announced that from 18-January-2012 all flights in the SYD-MEL-BNE triangle will operate with the new business class offering.

On board the 737, there are two rows of business class in a 2-2 configuration, with a standard domestic business 38 inch seat pitch. (Pitch is the distance between your seat back and the one in front: the space that's yours during the flight.)

All flights on these routes will operate with either new or refitted B73H equipment, with passengers able to see these seats now as the aircraft become more common in the fleet.

Read more from ausbt.com.au HERE

Air Australia media reveal

2011-11-04T09:55:00.001+10:00

Air Australia had its media reveal/launch yesterday in Brisbane, and showcased its new look livery and new staff uniforms.

Air Australia's livery is undeniably eye-catching: a lime-and-white fuselage where the green cleverly morphs into the lightest of golds, to play up the Australia's national colours in a refreshingly un-bogan manner, with touches of silver-grey. That's accompanied by more obvious boomerang-style flourishes in the logo, wingtips and tail.

The first aircraft in the new livery is A320 VH-YQC which arrived back into Brisbane at 0100 yesterday in preparation for the 1000 media release.

Air Australia are also looking to launch a frequent flyer scheme, but it looks to be based on the fly X times and get the next flight free type of scheme.

Read more on Air Australia's media launch from ausbt.com.au HERE and couriermail.com.au HERE

QF back in the air

2011-10-31T15:18:00.000+10:00

The above image shows the first two Qantas aircraft to depart from Brisbane since the grounding. Airbus A330-300 VH-QPJ operating QF51 to Singapore and Boeing 737-838 VH-VZS operating QF974 to Townsville.

Image thanks to balus.info

2011-10-31T12:05:00.000+10:00

At time of grounding the locations of the QANTAS fleet was as follows:

Adelaide - 9 x Boeing 737-800, 1 x Boeing 737-400.Avalon - 2 x Boeing 747-400, 2 x Boeing 737-400.Brisbane - 1 x Boeing 747-400, 1 x A330-300, 1 x A330-200, 8 x Boeing 767-300, 6 x Boeing 737-800, 4 x Boeing 737-400.Buenos Aires - 1 x Boeing 747-400.Canberra - 3 x Boeing 737-400.Dallas-Fort Worth - 1 x Boeing 747-400.Frankfurt - 1 x A380, 1 x 747-400.Hong Kong - 2 x Boeing 747-400, 1 x A330-300.Johannesburg - 1 x Boeing 747-400.London Heathrow - 2 x A380, 2 x Boeing 747-400.Los Angeles - 1 x A380, 6 x Boeing 747-400, 2 x A330-200.Melbourne - 1 x Boeing 747-400, 2 x Airbus A330-200, 4 x Boeing 767-300, 11 x Boeing 737-800, 3 x Boeing 737-400.Manila - 1 x A330-300.Noumea - 1 x Boeing 737-800Perth - 1 x A330-300, 1 x A330-200, 3 x Boeing 767-300, 5 x Boeing 737-800, 1 x Boeing 737-400.Shanghai - 1 x A330-300.Singapore - 3 x A380, 2 x 747-400, 2 x A330-300, 1 x 767-300.Sydney - 3 x A380, 3 x 747-400, 2 x A330-300, 2 x A330-200, 7 x 767-300, 12 x 737-800, 1 x 737-400.Tokyo Narita - 1 x Boeing 747-400.

You can read more including the location of each individual aircraft at the amazing website The Qantas Source HERE

the Qantas drama

2011-10-31T10:13:00.000+10:00

After being grounded since 5pm Saturday evening AEDT it looks like Qantas will be back in the air and flying as scheduled within 24hours after FWA determined that all industrial action by the airline and unions must be terminated.

You can read the FWA decision yourself HERE or the order HERE from the Fair Work Australia website www.fwa.gov.au one thing you can read from the decision is point 10

[10] It is unlikely that the protected industrial action taken by the three unions, even taken together, is threatening to cause significant damage to the tourism and air transport industries. The response industrial action of which Qantas has given notice, if taken, threatens to cause significant damage to the tourism and air transport industries and indirectly to industry generally because of the effect on consumers of air passenger and cargo services. The Qantas evidence was that the cost to it alone is $20 million per day.

Which to me is a slap in the face for Qantas as they are tarred with being detrimental and damaging to the countries economy.

There have been plenty of stories written and reported on through out the media but I recommend you read those published by Australian Business Traveller HERE and The Australian HERE

BREAKING NEWS - Qantas grounded

2011-10-29T16:15:00.001+10:00

Alan Joyce has just announced that effective immediately all Qantas Mainline domestic and International flights will be grounded until further notice.

Also from 8pm AEDT Monday all Union workers will be locked out.

Qantas will only restart flights once Unions drop their industrial action.

*** Update ***
The grounding will not effect subsidiary airlines - Jetstar, Jetconnect, QantasLink etc will all still fly as scheduled

Virgin expand

2011-10-14T08:58:00.000+10:00

While Virgin Australia look to take advantage of a larger market share due to displaced Qantas passengers moving to them, during the current and upcoming period of uncertainty and disruption, they are slowly going about expanding not only domestic services but also international connections.

Virgin has been granted draft approval by the ACCC to codeshare on selected Singapore Airlines services, bringing the number of international connections available to Virigin passengers up by almost 50.

London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Sao Paulo, China, India, Japan and Vietnam are some of the countries on Virgin Australia's to-do list when its alliance with Singapore Airlines kicks into gear later this year.
Those are among almost 50 codeshare destinations listed in a joint Virgin-Singapore submission to the ACCC, which today received the rubber stamp of draft approval.

Read more HERE

Meanwhile on home soil Virgin are adding additional services in the west to cater to the growing mining boom, with additional flights from Perth to Port Hedland and Karratha.

That's a boon for business travellers in the WA mining sector, who will now see a total of three daily return flights between Perth and Port Hedland during the week.
Karratha passengers also get an extra return flight on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for a total of three returns daily.

Qantas intensify strike effects

2011-10-14T08:51:00.000+10:00

In a bold move Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has announced that from Monday 17-October-2011 the airline will ground 5 aircraft and cancel 100 flights on 5 different routes as a counter measure to the ongoing strikes by members of the TWU, ALAEA and AIPA.

Yesterday Qantas was forced to cancel 14 flights and delayed 38 while members of the TWU took industrial action, and today will cancel 18 flights and delay a further 27 while members of the ALAEA take industrial action.

Mr Joyce said that by taking preemptive action and grounding aircraft, Qantas would reduce the impact on service reliability.
The 72 hours' notice unions are required to give means Qantas has been able to reschedule rather than cancel passengers.
Mr Joyce said that operations during yesterday's strike had achieved a 93 per cent on-time performance domestically and 100 per cent internationally.

Ground staff at Qantas group airline Jetstar, have also joined the campaign refusing to charge passengers excess baggage fees until 0330 tomorrow. (see HERE)

The "war" between the carrier and unions looks set to last for a while longer yet, with passengers set to suffer delays and cancellations unless they decide to book with rival Virgin Australia.

Read the many articles on the wires
CourierMail.com.au HERE
TheAustralian.com.au HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE & HERE
AustralianBusinessTraveller HERE HERE & HERE

NRL GF extra t-t flights

2011-09-27T09:32:00.002+10:00

It is nice to be able to blog about sport at the same time as aviation. The mighty Auckland Warriors have made the NRL Grand Final for only the second time in their 16 season history. At the same time their National Youth League Toyota Cup team have made back to back Grand Finals, heading in this time as defending premiers, and in an unparalleled feat the Warriors feeder team the Auckland Vulcans have made the Grand Final in the NSW Cup.

So to get all the fans across the tasman for Sundays games the major airlines have added additional flights/capacity.

Air New Zealand have added an additional Boeing 747 flight from Auckland to Sydney which sold out within 6 minutes! This is in addition to the first they sold on Sunday through their Grab-A-Seat website, which sold the flights, tickets etc in a single package.

Qantas have added two additional Boeing 737-400 flights which still have a few selected seats available.

Read more from stuff.co.nz HERE

QF face more industrial action

2011-09-27T09:03:00.000+10:00

In a move that is likely to cause disruption for the busy Grand Finals weekend in both AFL & NRL as well as school holidays, TWU workers will walk off the job on both Thursday and Friday this week.

A smaller two-hour stop work by 50 TWU delegates will take place on Thursday, while 3,800 baggage handlers, ground staff and other Qantas employees will strike for an hour on Friday.

This comes on top of the stop work action being carried out by Customs staff today.

Read more about the action from ausbt.com.au HERE and theaustralian.com.au HERE

NZ ups stake in VA

2011-09-27T08:52:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand have upped their stake in trans-tasman alliance partner Virgin Australia to 19.99%

Air NZ paid A$32.8 million, or 29.7 cents per share, to lift its stake 5 percentage points to 19.99 per cent, according to a substantial shareholder notice lodged on the ASX.

The announcement has Air New Zealand now sitting on the takeover threshold, although CEO Rob Fyfe says they have no plans to mount a takeover bid. Air New Zealand is yet to seek board representation as part of the deal although it is expected that this will happen.

Virgin Australia shares rose 3.3c in trading yesterday, in response to the announcement, bucking the trend of the ASX.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE, stuff.co.nz HERE or the nzherald.co.nz HERE

JQ ups ZQN

2011-09-26T16:17:00.000+10:00

Queenstown has had a big win from the announcement by Jetstar with additional flights from Melbourne and new flights from Wellington and Sydney.

Jetstar's new Sydney-Queenstown return flights will run twice weekly from 23 December.
The airline is planning the flights for Monday and Friday mornings, which is a welcome addition since there are no existing flights on Mondays.

Although not announced it looks like these flight will replace the current Monday and Friday morning flights from the Gold Coast to Queenstown.

The new once daily flight from Wellington to Queenstown has had a massive launch with a cheap fare sale

Jetstar is selling limited $7 fares today to promote its new Wellington-to-Queenstown route in a bid to further breach Air New Zealand's hold on the domestic market.

The NZ Herald also report that Auckland-Queenstown flights will be increased.

Read more from the nzherald.co.nz HERE & ausbt.com.au HERE

VA/DL codeshare update

2011-09-19T12:52:00.001+10:00

Virgin Australia and Delta Airlines have announced the code shares they will begin their trans pacific partnership with. The flights are available for sale from today, and will commence from Sunday 06-November-2011.

Velocity frequent flyers will be able to earn full frequent flyer miles on Delta's trans-Pacific flights from Sydney to LAX airport, and will also have access to Delta's Sky Club lounges. Reciprocal arrangements are also in place for Delta's passengers.
But in even better news, V Australia's arriving flights will move from the awful Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at LAX, and will instead arrive at Delta's Terminal 5.

Delta will codeshare on V Australia flights to/from LAX-BNE/SYD/MEL with Virgin codesharing on Delta's SYD-LAX route.

Read more on the announcement and the codeshare from ausbt.com.au HERE

Strike chaos looms for QF

2011-09-19T12:47:00.000+10:00

Qantas passengers look set to suffer as Qantas are forced to cancel 28 flights and delay a further 27 tomorrow due to industrial action.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) is striking as are Sydney based ALAEA engineers.

The Australian airline said despite minimising the expected impact of the strike by using larger wide-body aircraft and deploying management staff to operational roles it has been forced to cancel 28 flights tomorrow and delay a further 27 by up to 35 minutes.

Read more from ausbt.com.au HERE and theaustralian.com.au HERE

Tiger confirm new CEO

2011-09-14T15:30:00.000+10:00

Tiger Airways have announced the appointment of former Virgin COO Andrew David as their new CEO of Australian Operations replacing Tony Davis.

Read more about Andrew David and his new role at Tiger Airways from theaustralian.com.au HERE and HERE

AirAsiaX see success with CHC

2011-09-07T10:01:00.000+10:00

Flying in the face of the general trend of fewer passenger numbers and lower yields on routes to and from CHC, AirAsiaX have reported higher than expected loadings for the first three months of operation.

AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said the airline was pleased with its first three months of operations in Christchurch and that forward loads were building well.
"Our loads for the period April to June were consistently above 80 per cent, higher than forecast, and we're starting to see an improvement in yield. There is inbound demand to New Zealand not only from Malaysia but from a number of our connecting markets including Thailand, India, Britain and France," Osman-Rani said.

Things are promising for the airline that launched it services after the second devastating earthquake on February 22nd. And while the airline is committed to CHC for 2years they have yet to announce if they will increase flights from 4x weekly to either 6 or 7x, and if they will make the routing permanent.

Read more about the success from The Press HERE

Jetconnect OK - FWA

2011-09-07T09:48:00.000+10:00

Fair Work Australia (FWA) have rejected the claim from Qantas Pilots (AIPA) that Qantas' New Zealand subsidiary Jetconnect is a sham set up to undercut wages and conditions.

The Australian International Pilots Association had been hoping a favourable decision would bolster their campaign to get all pilots flying Qantas planes operating under the same award. The ACTU also joined the test case, which had the potential to affect other Australian companies operating overseas.

The ruling also found that AIPA was unable to represent the Jetconnect Pilots.

"New Zealanders living and working in New Zealand for a New Zealand company should be subject to New Zealand's industrial laws and agreements and not to Australia's industrial laws," Ms Wirth said.

Read more of the AIPAs case and reaction as well as the FWA decision from Steve Creedy at theaustralian.com.au HERE

More - Air Australia

2011-09-02T12:35:00.000+10:00

I have now been directed to the Airlines and Destinations website where there is a pic of the new livery on an A320

Read their full article HERE

Air Australia livery revealed

2011-09-02T10:38:00.001+10:00

Strategic Airlines have revealed their new Air Australia livery at a staff event last night. The livery designed by Sean Cummings is designed as a "breath of fresh air" in the industry.

The livery will be launched on one A330, when Strategic move to its new low cost model on October 30th.

The livery is designed to roll out over the airline's other A330 and A320 aircraft and also to be reflected in uniforms and other customer "touch points".

Read more about the Strategic/Air Australia re-branding and the new livery from Steve Creedy of theaustralian.com.au HERE

Tiger seek new CEO

2011-08-30T09:36:00.000+10:00

Tiger Airways Australia are seeking a new CEO with news Tony Davis is set to return to Europe in November. Mr Davis recently returned to the helm of Tiger Australia after the departure of CEO Crawford Rix in relation to the CASA grounding drama.

Mr Davis was CEO of Tiger Australia when it first launched before moving to Singapore as Group CEO and Chairman. In light of the issues with the grounding he was replaced as group CEO and chairman and was then positioned back to Australia as CEO when Mr Rix resigned and has overseen the resumption of Tiger services.

Tiger is in the process of appointing a new chief executive for Tiger Airways Australia and said an announcement would be made in due course.

Read more about Tony Davis and Tiger Airways Australia HERE and HERE

Skywest positive

2011-08-30T09:28:00.000+10:00

Perth based Skywest Airlines are looking at the possibility of growing its FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) charter market, as well as the expected fleet growth associated with the wet-lease deal to fly up to 18 ATR-72s for Virgin Australia.

The airline has announced a 7% growth in net profit and 11% growth in revenue for the financial year ended June 30th.

Skywest this year introduced an A320-200 and are looking at the possibility of adding a second to the fleet. This places Skywest in a unique position as the A320 is believed to be the biggest of its type operating on FIFO contracts worldwide.

Read more on Skywest from Steve Creedy at theaustralian.com.au HERE

Qantas & Virgin in minimum separation breach

2011-08-30T08:46:00.001+10:00

Qantas and Virgin have been involved in a vertical separation breach in the skies over Southern Queensland.

On the morning of July 29th the two 737-800s were in a holding pattern 91km south of Brisbane Airport when one of the jets breached the minimum vertical separation distance. Qantas has claimed it was the Virgin aircraft that made the breech.

The ATSB are investigating the incident and will report back in around 12 months at which time CASA may take action if they wish.
____

I now want to take issue with the way this has been reported by the media and in particular the article by Robyn Ironside in the CourierMail

Firstly congratulations to the report for correctly identifying the aircraft involved as a 737-838 for Qantas and 737-8FE for Virgin, although these details could have come directly from the ATSB.

But sadly that's were the congrats end, as I take issue with several things.

The headline this story is running under Qantas-Virgin crash avoided by meters is clearly incorrect and sensationalises the incident, see the rationale below.

TWO commercial passenger jets came within metres of colliding over Coolangatta last month, putting 300 lives at risk.

This lead paragraph of the article then builds on the sensationalism of the headline. The jets were not meters from each other, yes they were below minimum safe vertical separation, but they would have still been over 200m apart vertically and there is no indication that lateral separation was breached. This paragraph attempts to make it sound like they were 2 meters apart, and disaster was imminent.

The article then concludes with reference to an incident involving Qantas and Jetstar aircraft near Hamilton Island back in 2004. The reference then adds to the sensationalism by mentioning that passengers on that flight felt "frightened" after one had to bank sharply. This has no relevance to the incident this article deals with, and adds nothing to it, other than to try and sensationalise it, once again trying to build on the notion that disaster was narrowly avoided,

Finally just a "cosmetic" complaint - the photo used with this article is of a Qantas Dash-8 and Virgin 737 not a Qantas 737 and Virgin 737.

Read the entire article HERE

Velocity

2011-08-26T11:51:00.000+10:00

Yesterday Virgin Australia announced the changes to their frequent flyer rewards scheme Velocity, which was flagged earlier in the year.

I received the following email from them informing me of the changes

The main points of interest in the changes are

New Velocity Platinum Frequent Flyer Level
Status matching for other airline FF members
Family benefits
Earn and Redeem on partner flights around the world
Redeem points for any seat on any flight on any airline

Specific articles on these announcements can be found below

New Velocity Platinum level

Free status matching

Family pooling benefits

Earn and redeem around the world

For more check out the velocity rewards home page HERE or our good friends at Australian Business Traveller who have several comprehensive reports.

I'll leave you with a look at the new look Velocity rewards card, just the normal one most people will see

Mixed financial results

2011-08-25T10:57:00.001+10:00

There have been mixed financial results announced by the airlines in the Australasian region, with the two big ones who quietly go about their business reporting losses, while the outspoken one who claims to be failing has reported a healthy profit.

Qantas bullish after earning $552M

QANTAS officials say demand at the airline remains robust even as it heads into an operating environment that is "challenging and volatile".
Executives yesterday said the domestic market had pulled back on the big capacity growth of last year, but demand remained strong, with seat factors -- the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers -- holding up well.

To me this seems to fly in the face of everything Alan Joyce said last week at the announcement of "a new spirit"
But it is good news for the national carrier, but will add some fuel to the fire that is the current fight with unions, with the unions expected to use the profit as justification for their pay increase demands.

Virgin Blue FY loss of $67.8M

VIRGIN Blue Holdings Ltd has reported a full year loss as the airline expects an improvement in financial performance in 2012.
"There are early indications of improving earnings in financial year 2012, with positive trading results in July and continued strengthening in the government and corporate markets,'' chief executive John Borghetti said in a statement today.

Virgin Australia have had a revenue increase but have still reported a loss, but unlike their competitor they still see a future with Australian based labour.

Air NZ profit plunge

Air New Zealand has announced a 45 per cent plunge in profits, thanks to the effects of the Christchurch and Japan earthquakes and ongoing high fuel prices.

While still announcing an overall profit Air NZ have seen a loss compared to the previous year, not a bad result really considering the impact of the CHC earthquake on the domestic market, and their large Japanese market effected by the Japan earthquake.

Regional Express dogged after a rough year

REGIONAL Express says full-year profit has fallen due to high fuel prices, natural disasters and the ending of tax incentives.

Like Air NZ, Rex have still recorded a full year profit despite the figure being well down on the previous year.

Jetstar ready for growth after another record result

Jetstar's underlying earnings before interest and tax was $169 million, up 29 per cent on the previous year, as capacity grew 19 per cent and passenger numbers soared 14 per cent to 18.8 million.

Jetstar are set for a 19% capacity growth in the current financial year, partly due to the "a new spirit" changes with the vast majority of growth coming in the asian market, including Jetstar Japan, althought Jetstar domestic could see an 11% increase.

There has as yet been no announcement from Tiger but I would suspect they would have continued with the recent for of recording a loss.

BA axe LHR-BKK-SYD

2011-08-22T09:10:00.001+10:00

The Sunday Times' Karl West has confirmed the widely tipped move, stemming from the changes announced by Qantas last week, that British Airways have announced the axing of their LHR-BKK-SYD (Heathrow-Bangkok-Sydney) flight, instead operating only the LHR-BKK sector before transferring passengers to QF for the BKK-SYD leg.

This of course matches up with the QF announcement last week that it was axing its SYD-BKK-LHR route with passengers flying SYD-BKK before being transferred to BA for the BKK-LHR leg.

BA and QF will only operate LHR-SIN-SYD and SYD-SIN-LHR together with QF using A380 metal and BA upgrading the current B777 to a B747.

Read more about the changes to the flights HERE

QF engineers to enact rolling stoppages

2011-08-22T09:02:00.000+10:00

Steve Creedy of theaustralian.com.au reports that ALAEA engineers have confirmed they will begin rolling 1 hour stoppages from next thursday until December 16th.

They will affect Brisbane line maintenance on Monday, Sydney domestic terminal on Tuesday, Adelaide line maintenance on Wednesday, Sydney Aircraft maintenance on Thursday and Melbourne line maintenance on Friday.

The report also mentions that Pilots are set to take a ballot next week which will open the way for protected industrial action to occur. SO Qantas could be in for a torrid time in the coming months.

Read the rest of the report HERE

Virgin - Australian aviation's knight in shining armour?

2011-08-19T10:41:00.001+10:00

According to an article in the couriermail.com.au Virgin Australia is seeking to save the jobs of the 1000 staff to be made redundant from Qantas by offering them positions with VA.

Virgin Group executive Richard Tanner even said the airline was prepared to deal directly with its rival to take the workers off their hands.
"We are keen to ensure that as many as possible of the highly skilled staff being displaced by Qantas are provided the opportunity to be considered for suitable roles at our airline," Mr Tanner said.

Virgin Australia is making all the right moves to remain an Australian airline, while Qantas has said it cannot survive unless it creates ventures overseas (see previous blog posts for these ventures) and therefore there is a risk that Qantas could loose its reputation as "The Spirit of Australia" to Virgin Australia who look to be strongly committed to Australian workers and Australian based jobs.

Read more on the job offers and union responses HERE

Jetstar Japan to grow rapidly

2011-08-19T10:27:00.000+10:00

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan has revealed the plans for rapid growth at Jetstar Japan. With the airline starting with a fleet of just 3 Airbus A320s and a staff of 150 in its first year, expanding to 24 A320s and 800 staff within a few years.

Mr Buchanan said Jetstar already had a team of seven people in place in Japan and the new airline was well advanced in obtaining operational approvals.

Jetstar will offer fares 40% lower than current Japanese full service airlines, with a cost base 50% lower than these traditional carriers, and isnt phased by the competition from the low cost competitor being created by Air Asia and All Nippon Airways.

Australia is also set to benefit from the new airline because it will provides a feeder network to Osaka and Tokyo.
"You'll be able to sell in different prefectures and all around the region -- Korea, China -- that will feed into those services and create a much greater catchment area, especially for those long-haul flights," Mr Buchanan said.

Read more of Mr Buchanan's comments thanks to Aviation writer Steve Creedy at theaustralian.com.au HERE

A New Spirit Video

2011-08-16T16:13:00.000+10:00

Qantas have placed the following video on youtube to promote their A new Spirit message - check it out, and look out for the Air New Zealand 767 making a cameo behind Alan Joyce

Links to QF articles

2011-08-16T15:00:00.002+10:00

Below is a list of articles published on todays announcement by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce of "A New Spirit"

From The Australian
Qantas job cuts in review inflame tensions with unions

From Australian Business Traveller
Joyce reveals more about Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum One
Qantas delays A380 to buy 110 A320s, while eyeing first 787
Jetstar Japan is Qantas' new low-cost Asia play
Qantas to axe 1,000 jobs
Qantas to launch premium Asian airline, but it's "not Qantas"
Qantas drops international routes in major restructure
BREAKING NEWS: Qantas announces "A new Spirit"

From Courier Mail
Qantas to axe 1000 jobs and retire four aircraft in bid to win back market share

From Stuff
'New Qantas' to cut about 1000 jobs

This is by no means an exhaustive list and Im sure there will be more written in the next few days.

A New Spirit

2011-08-16T11:14:00.001+10:00

Today at 10am AEST Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce held a press conference to launch the “a new spirit” concept that is the base for sweeping changes in the way Qantas looks, feels and operates.

The announcement of these changes have been widely publicised and expected and has now been introduced.

A brief overview of the changes coming up are:

Qantas will axe its SYD-EZE (Buenos Aries) route instead flying to Santiago (SCL) initially 3x weekly

Qantas will focus its A380s onto services to/from LAX and LHR via SIN
Qantas will cut other services to LHR via any intermediary other than SIN (ie BKK, HKG)
Qantas will focus on its relationships with fellow OneWorld airlines American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA) and Malaysian Airlines (MH) offering multiple services on these airlines throughout America and Europe
By years end QF will have 12 A380s, Qantas have also deferred the delivery of 6 A380s by 5-6 years, with A380s nuber 15-20 being delivered in the period of 2018-2021 to match up with the retirement of the 744 fleet.
4 747-400s (744) will be retired this year, with the remainder being upgraded to match the product offered on the A380s, with the entire 744 fleet completed by June 2014.
New lounges will be opened in SIN, HKG, BKK, LAX
There will be a new Platinum 1 tier for frequent flyers with additional benefits for Silver and Gold members
A new fleet strategy aimed at a simplified, high flexibility fleet offering lower costs
A new order has been placed with Airbus for 110 A320s, of which 28-32 will be the current generation with 78 A320NEO, the NEO options will comprise roughly 50% fleet replacement and 50% new aircraft to meet expected growth

And the biggest announcement is that of a new Joint Venture Full Service airline to be based in Asia.

New Name – will not be QF
New Look
New Feel
New Brand
New Aircraft
Will leverage Qantas knowledge and safety
49% stake from QF
Base, etc to be announced in the near future
Initial fleet of 11 A320s, comprising 8 from the new order and 3 existing aircraft.
Will fly throughout Asia and especially China/India as well as flying to Australia.
Will provide feed to Qantas and visa versa

More details on the Qantas announcement including links will be blogged later on

Jetstar Japan a goer

2011-08-16T10:50:00.002+10:00

Jetstar Japan has been announced with the low cost airline a joint venture between Jetstar (Qantas Group), Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi. The announcement that has been expected for some days was officially made today by Alan Joyce at the launch of changes to the Qantas brand.

Jetstar Japan will begin domestic flights in Japan by years end, based at Tokyo Narita Aiport, with a fleet size growing to 24 aircraft within a few years. These aircraft will be funded by the Qantas Groups balance sheet.

Jetstar Japan will then target international flights from Japan to China and other South East Asian destinations.

Qantas see this as a win as they will get a new domestic feed to their services to Australia, and this will be a big boost for the current Jetstar international routes from Japan to both Cairns and the Gold Coast.

Read more from the preview of this airline at theaustralian.com.au HERE or one of the links to todays press conference which will be posted later.

A Strategic move?

2011-08-12T12:41:00.002+10:00

Brisbane based full service airline Strategic Airlines has won US DOT approval and has been issued with a foreign carrier permit, with authorisation to fly between Australia and the US.

They have released details on their website of services from Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu Hawaii commencing on 14-December-2011, with fares available for sale from Monday 14-August-2011. Fares begin at $499 ex Brisbane and $599 ex Melbourne.

Strategic are also set to rebrand themselves from Sunday 30-October-2011 as Air Australia. With the rebranding Air Australia will also move to a new low-cost model.

In addition to the launch of the Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu flights Strategic will also launch on the Brisbane-Melbourne domestic route. Other changes to the Strategic route structure include the conclusion of services today Friday 12-August-2011 on the Brisbane-Gladstone route, the conclusion of the Brisbane-Townsville-Denpasar and Perth-Denpasar routes, while boosting services on Brisbane-Bali and flights to Phuket from both Brisbane and Melbourne.

Strategic targeted Brisbane and Melbourne as underserviced markets and said early this year it planned to move to seven leased A330s over the next three years, with the fleet growing to three by the first quarter of next year. An additional A320 aircraft will come to Australia later this year to bolster the three planes already here and a fifth could be added early next year.

Also as part of its expansion, Strategic have announced the creation of a Brisbane engineering base to service its Airbus fleet.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE and check out the Strategic Airlines website HERE

New Blog

2011-08-11T13:05:00.000+10:00

I have set up a second blog for non aviation posts. Its somewhere I can post my thoughts, opinions, questions, comments etc on a vast range of topics that aren't aviation.

NZOM Pilot's Musings

If you're interested check it out HERE

Tiger to return to the air (sort of)

2011-08-10T15:24:00.003+10:00

CASA have allowed Tiger to resume flying under strict conditions, a maximum of 18 sectors/day for the remainder of august. Although this will let tiger return to the air, the maximum sector cap will severely crimp the routes and frequency that they can fly.

The air safety regulator has ordered additional training for pilots, improved pilot rostering and fatigue management systems, and changes to Tiger's safety management system.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) today lifted its suspension order after grounding the airline on July 1.

Read more from the couriermail.com.au HERE

On their website Tiger are advertising fares on the Melbourne (Tullamarine) - Sydney route, and it looks like they will resume flying on this route on Friday 12-August-2011. A quick search of fares on other routes suggest they wont be available until CASA lifts the sector cap, which Tiger can apply for in September.

Tragedy at Woodbourne

2011-08-08T10:15:00.000+10:00

Tragedy today at Woodbourne as a SAFE Air engineer was killed during a routine engine testing procedure.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of this man and all staff of SAFE Air and associated businesses/people in the close-knit Marlborough Aviation Scene.

For more on this tragic story follow the Marlborough Express coverage HERE

JQ to hub in HKG?

2011-08-05T13:21:00.002+10:00

Reports out of China suggest that Jetstar may setup shop in Hong Kong. The reports suggest the new Jetstar branded LCC will be based there and operate through China.

The Chinese language Apple Daily said yesterday the airline had begun talks with the city's government to apply for an air operator's certificate to launch an airline focused on mainland China routes.

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan has previously signalled the airlines intentions to expand into China, and to date this has been happening from their Singapore base.

Read the full story from theaustralian.com.au's Steve Creedy HERE

Tiger still waiting

2011-08-05T13:10:00.001+10:00

Australian Low Cost Carrier Tiger Airways remains grounded with CASA now requiring changes to documentation to bring it up to standard.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said last night that the regulator had identified deficiencies in some of Tiger's documentation.
"These need to be addressed by Tiger and resubmitted for review before CASA can complete its assessment. This will necessarily take some more time," Mr Gibson said. "Progress is essentially dependent on Tiger providing complete, correct and up-to-date documentation to CASA."

CASA has now kept Tiger grounded since the beginning of July.

Read the full report from Steve Creedy of theaustralian.com.au HERE
__________
Tiger have also reported that their financial report for the year ending March 2011 will be significantly effected by both fuel prices and the grounding of the Australian operation

It said the Australian operations were likely to report a net loss for the financial year ending March.

Virgin announce 1st ATR route

2011-07-28T16:20:00.003+10:00

Virgin Australia through their blog http://blog.virginaustralia.com/ and twitter account have announced the first routes their new ATR fleet will begin operation on.

The first flights from October will be Brisbane-Gladstone twice daily and a once daily Brisbane-Port Macquarie, plus additional flights on the Sydney-Canberra route, bringing the route up to 60x/wk.

Below is the pic from the blog which shows off the ATR in Virgin colours

from virgin australia blog

Jetstar Cabin Crew fatigue issues?

2011-07-28T11:47:00.002+10:00

Jetstar has responded to claims of unsafe working practices caused by fatigue of cabin crew who are working 20+ hr shifts.

Staff say exhaustion on long-haul flights is common and have raised concerns with senior management numerous times about not being alert enough to handle an emergency.
At least 60 complaints have been raised internally, citing serious concerns over fatigue on just the Sydney-Darwin and Sydney-Perth routes alone, ABC's Lateline reported last night.

The claims made on ABC Lateline are backed by AIPA's Richard Woodward who says "cabin crew are suffering very badly."

Read the claims by cabin crew and AIPA from theaustralian.com.au HERE

CEO Bruce Buchanan speaking today with ABC News has rejected the claims outright, and has also said Woodward is misrepresenting things. See the video of his interview on ABC News HERE

Qantas face "tough" changes

2011-07-20T14:34:00.001+10:00

Speaking at an aviation conference in Sydney, the CEO of Qantas Alan Joyce has said that the announcement next month by Qanats will begin a "phased by tough" change of the International division.

This of course lends weight to the rumours that QF are looking at a major offshore base somewhere in Asia, possibly China.

"Change is always tough," he said. "But the competitive challenges we face make major change essential and our commitment to the change process is absolute.

Read more from his speech from theaustralian.com.au HERE

Meanwhile the industrial action being taken by members of the ALPA, protesting this potential move to Asia and the effects it will have on job security, will involve small things like work to rule, stop work meetings, not complying with airline uniform policy and most noticeable by passengers, inflight announcements about the issues. At this stage major strike action is not on the cards but this hasn't been ruled out.

Read more on the industrial action HERE

Lightning hits NZ

2011-07-13T10:59:00.001+10:00

A lightning strike has forced an Air New Zealand AKL-WLG flight to return to Auckland after it was struck shortly after takeoff.

The flight departed AKL and was struck by the lightning bolt shortly after 8pm last night. The pilot initially informed passengers they would return to Auckland, but unsure of the damage caused and with the weather getting worse at AKL they continued south towards WLG, before returning to AKL on instruction form engineers.

Read the account from stuff.co.nz HERE or the nzherald.co.nz HERE - note the inaccuracies in the herald report, the pic is of a 767 (aircraft involved was either a 737 or A320) and the report references the RNZAF aircraft recently hit as a 747 (actually a 757)

More QF industrial hassles

2011-07-12T15:12:00.002+10:00

Qantas is facing serious strife as its long-haul pilots vote to take protracted industrial action.

Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) vice-president Richard Woodward yesterday said 94 per cent of the 1429 pilots who voted in a ballot were in favour of the action.

If the pilots vote over the weekend to take their action in the form of a strike it has the potential to ground all Qantas flights through New Zealand, both the trans-tasman services and the SYD-AKL-LAX service.

Read more from stuff.co.nz HERE

CASA on JQ's tail

2011-07-11T16:18:00.002+10:00

CASA are investigating an issue that saw 4 Jetstar A320s pulled from service after they missed maintenance inspections.

Emergency light batteries on board the aircraft were tested, while hydraulic fluid was sampled and door switches were lubricated.

This comes just weeks after CASA grounded fellow budget airline Tiger for safety breeches .

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE

Small win for NZ

2011-07-11T16:14:00.003+10:00

Air New Zealand have taken a small win with the US Department of Justice dropping them from the ongoing Grand Jury investigation into the international airline cargo cartel.

After five years of Air New Zealand defending its position and insisting it has done nothing wrong, US Department of Justice Federal Prosecutors have confirmed by letter that they have ended their investigation and Air New Zealand “is no longer a subject or target of the ongoing grand jury investigation”.
The end of the Department of Justice investigation follows successful outcomes for the airline last November when it was not among airlines fined by the European Commission and before that, confirmation from regulators in South Korea that Air New Zealand was not among airlines fined at the conclusion of their investigation.

However Air New Zealand are still being investigated by the New Zealand Commerce Commission in relation to international air cargo pricing.

Read more from the Air New Zealand press release HERE

VA/NZ launch trans-tasman alliance advertising

2011-07-11T16:06:00.001+10:00

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand have launched their joint advertising campaign's as their new trans-tasman alliance begins.

Air New Zealand have sent two emails to their airpoints members regarding this, the headers of both can be seen below

Air New Zealand's "Bromance" sale is an interesting one (name wise), but it does include some good deals for the introduction of the alliance.

Virgin Australia have launched the following advertisement as seen on their facebook page

The front page of the Air New Zealand website looks like this

As you can see Air New Zealand are not only advertising the direct services but also $50 add on fares to other ports on the Virgin Australia domestic network. The link below this to the find out more shows you how the Virgin Australia (Pacific Blue) fares and service equates to the Air New Zealand Seats to Suit fares. See for yourself HERE

At time of writing the Virgin Australia website was showing advertising for their daily happy hour sale. But in their media release section is the release pertaining to the new tie-up (HERE) below is an extract of what customers can expect.

From July 26, Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia trans-Tasman services will offer:
Reciprocal Frequent Flyer programmes that cover both airlines’ networks, enabling Airpoints and Velocity members to earn and redeem frequent flyer points on each other’s services;
Reciprocal lounge access for eligible customers¹;
Priority seating in dedicated zones for top tier frequent flyers;
Priority Check-in, Baggage and Boarding for Premium Guests and eligible Airpoints and Velocity members; and
Complimentary tea, coffee and water in-flight to all customers, as well as a food and beverage service for customers on the relevant fare types. The new Virgin Australia food and beverage service includes a continental breakfast, lunchtime wrap or evening meal with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Cat fight accelerates between JQ and NZ over ash

2011-07-07T16:14:00.001+10:00

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan has accelerated the 'cat fight' over Air New Zealand flying under and around the ash cloud, while Jetstar cancelled its services, with comments made while holidaying in Queenstown.

“I wouldn’t [fly Air NZ] because I sit there with the best experts in the world, telling me what the safety risks are,” Buchanan says.

Air New Zealand through PR boss Mark Street have hit back at Mr Buchanan

“If the parent company of his organisation is saying it’s unsafe to fly, why are they rebooking their passengers onto other carriers?
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Read more of Mr Buchanan's comments and Air New Zealand's counter comments from scene.co.nz Queenstown reporter Philip Chandler HERE

Tiger grounding extention sought

2011-07-07T16:07:00.002+10:00

** Been a busy week so these blog posts are a touch delayed **

CASA has filed an application with the Federal Court to extend the grounding of Tiger until the 1st of August 2011

If CASA completes its investigations and determinations before 1 August 2011 and is satisfied Tiger Airways Australia no longer poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety it may be possible for it to resume operations earlier.

Read the full CASA press release HERE

Tiger Grounded

2011-07-02T11:02:00.001+10:00

In a not unsurprising move CASA have grounded Tiger Airways effective today.

CASA says the action has been taken because it believes permitting the airline to continue to fly poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety.

At this stage Tiger flights will remain grounded until next saturday.

CASA are holding a press conference at 3pm AEST today 2/7/11 to discuss the grounding.

Read more from the couriermail.com.au HERE

Virgin/SQ announcement

2011-06-29T15:57:00.001+10:00

Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines have tendered documents to the ACCC which show under their alliance they are looking at creating new routes and increasing capacity on existing routes.

Documents tendered to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) by both carriers list a series of new 'city pairs' under consideration by the airlines, although these have been blanked out from public issue as being 'commercial-in-confidence'.

Read more from The Australian Business Traveller HERE or read some of the full ACCC documents HERE

Pilot fronts court

2011-06-28T16:18:00.001+10:00

A Pacific Blue pilot charged over the after dark departure of flight DJ89 from ZQN-SYD last year has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the event.

The airline itself has not been charged in relation to the incident - hence why I have not included their logo in this post.

Read more from The Otago Daily Times HERE

Qantas engineers to strike

2011-06-28T16:13:00.000+10:00

Qantas is set to suffer from strike action next week as engineers in Melbourne begin rolling stoppages from Monday. The strikes have the potential to have a massive impact during the busy school holiday period.

In a unique move the union that is striking has offered Qantas the use of its members who are not rostered on, on that shift as long as Qantas pay them double time for coming in to work to cover their rostered colleagues who are partaking in the rolling stoppages.

Qantas labelled the offer a "cynical stunt" as the engineers would have to be paid a minimum four hours each. "No Australian company would pay staff four times their normal rate to go on strike," said Qantas group executive of operations Lyell Strambi.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au's Industrial editor Ewin Hannan HERE

Qantas edit domestic fare structure

2011-06-23T14:47:00.001+10:00

Qantas have restructured their fare structures to make them simpler.

The new structure looks remarkably similar to other offerings out there in the market

* Red eDeal - offering low year-round fares;

* Flexi Saver - offering a greater range of flexibility and choice;
* Fully Flexible - offering complete flexibility with full a refund option; and
* Business - full premium, with additional baggage allowances, Neil Perry designed menus, and dedicated lounges in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra.

An advantage from the change is that all domestic economy fares including red edeal fares can be upgraded to Business class using frequent flyer points based on availability.

For more information and other changes, read the couriermail.com.au article HERE or the official qantas.com.au press release HERE.

Cat fight looms over Air NZ 'ash' rumours

2011-06-23T14:35:00.002+10:00

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe has hit back at "malicious and damaging" rumours that Air New Zealand has endangered passengers and compromised safety for continuing to fly below the layer of ash. Mr Fyfe has firmly pointed the finger at Australia as the source of these rumours.

Fyfe said despite all those in the flight operations team working hard last week to maintain safe operations "behind the scenes however we were constantly battling a series of malicious rumours that emerged from the Australian market and fed to media, suggesting that Air New Zealand had six aircraft in the hangar with ash damage, an aircraft grounded in Australia with ash damage and an aircraft requiring a nose cone replacement as a result of ash damage''.

read the full story from stuff.co.nz HERE

Meanwhile Qantas have denied any part in the rumours

Asked if the Australian boss had referred to Air New Zealand and Virgin airlines having issues, Qantas said Joyce ''never said that''.
''No-one at Qantas, including Alan Joyce, has said or implied at any point that other airlines are operating unsafely. We have simply stated our policy and noted that other airlines have their own processes,'' an Australian-based Qantas spokesperson said.

Read the story from stuff.co.nz HERE

Qantas cut growth

2011-06-15T11:08:00.001+10:00

Qantas have today cut its previously planned flight growth and is deferring or cancelling delivery of new aircraft, in response to slow growth in domestic traffic.

Read more from Dow Jones Newswire writer Ross Kelly via theaustralian.com.au HERE

Perth's turn for Ash

2011-06-15T11:04:00.001+10:00

Perth is the latest Australasian city to fall foul of the ash clouds, with Virgin Australia, Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger announcing cancellation of services to and from the city, with Air New Zealand and Skywest expected to follow suit.

The ash cloud effecting Perth is at a lower altitude 15000ft causing the cancellation of services from Virgin Australia and potentially Air New Zealand.

The latest cancellations cap off a four-day long travel crisis, in which tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE

ASH CHAOS

2011-06-13T00:30:00.001+10:00

Airport terminals have turned into scenes of utter chaos as passengers deal with the fall out of volcanic ash from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chille. Trans-tasman and domestic flights in New Zealand have been cancelled as have domestic flights to Tasmania and now Melbourne.

Qantas and Jetstar began the cancellations, cancelling their flights across the tasman and to tasmania, with Tiger and Virgin following suit with flights into and out of Victoria. HERE HERE

Read more about the cancellations and airport chaos:
theaustralian.com.au HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE
couriermail.com.au HERE
stuff.co.nz HERE
nzherald.co.nz HERE

Airline announcements
Qantas HERE
Virgin Australia HERE
Jetstar HERE
Tiger HERE

First Glimpse

2011-06-07T13:35:00.001+10:00

The first glimpse of the new regional aircraft in Virgin Australia colours. The ATR 72-500, soon to grace regional Australian skies.

airliners.net

If 1+1=OneWorld, does 1+2=Star?

2011-06-07T12:13:00.001+10:00

1+1=OneWorld
Qantas are sponsoring Malaysian Airlines for entry into the oneworld alliance with the process expected to take 18 months to complete.
At the same time Qantas and MAS will look at options for co-operation on Asian routes, and how they can help each others market share.

1+2=Star??
In a move that will strengthen the rumours about Virgin Australia's possible entry into the Star alliance, Virgin have announced their Asian partner will be Singapore Airlines. Virgin now have significant partnerships with two Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines.

It has long been speculated that Air New Zealand would sponsor Virgin for entry into Star, and now with two firm partnerships it looks possible that Virgin may go the way of star. Virgin CEO John Borghetti speaking at the partnership with SQ launch has stated that entry into Star isnt something they are contemplating at the moment and is something that they may look into in 2012 or later.

Read more on the two new partnerships QF & MAS from Steve Creedy at theaustralian.com.au HERE and VA & SQ from David Flynn at ausbt.com.au HERE

Tiger cut one side of the 'golden triangle'

2011-06-07T10:02:00.003+10:00

Tiger is no longer a player on all sides of the famed 'golden triangle' (between MEL-SYD-BNE) after announcing their BNE-SYD service will be axed in August, as part of moves aimed at boosting profits and fixing on-time performance.

The airline announced yesterday that it was moving an aircraft and three routes from Avalon airport, near Geelong, to Melbourne, Tullamarine.

Other routes to face the axe include Sydney-Sunshine Coast, Melbourne-Rockhampton and Melbourne-Mackay. The loss of these routes is blamed on high fuel costs and the recent flooding/cyclones in the Queensland towns.

Read more about Tigers changes from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

Virgin's Velocity revamp step 1

2011-06-07T09:57:00.003+10:00

Step 1 of the long awaited and anticipated revamp of the Virgin Australia Velocity rewards program has begun, with Virgin Australia announcing changes to the way frequent fliers earn status credits.

Fliers now only need to earn 250 credits to qualify for Silver level and 200 to maintain it, in the new rolling 365 day period. For Gold Level membership fliers need 500 credits to qualify and 400 to maintain.

The most significant change is that Virgin Australia now uses a rolling 365 day window for calculating how many status credits its Velocity members have, rather than expiring them in bulk on a fixed date every 12 months as Qantas does (and Virgin Blue used to do).

Read more about the first step in the revamp from either the virginaustralia.com release HERE or from Dan Warne of Australian Business Traveller HERE

Rex to cut routes?

2011-06-02T09:01:00.002+10:00

Australian domestic player Regional Express (Rex) has threatened to cut domestic services to regional NSW and VIC siting the federal governments lack of support for regional air services as a significant factor.

"The very high fuel price is making the situation quite untenable and all airlines are compelled to put in place rigorous measures to remain profitable,’’ Rex executive Chairman Lim Kim Hai said.

Flights from SYD to Taree, Grafton, Moruya and Bathurst, and from MEL to Griffith, Merimbula and King Island are under threat.

Read more about Rex from theaustralian.com.au HERE

Qantas baggage charge change

2011-06-02T08:54:00.002+10:00

Qantas yesterday introduced their new charging system for domestic baggage, changing from the old weight based charge to the new number of bags charge.

Although this change was announced last October it has caught many by surprise as it hasn't been widely advertised, and was suddenly implemented yesterday.

The first piece of luggage (up to 23kg) will continue to be free, while the second piece will cost $15 if booked online or $30 at the check in desk, while the third and subsequent pieces will cost $60! Passengers will also be slugged a $20 heavy fee if the bag is between 23-32kgs.

But it isn't all bad news for Qantas passengers

The airline has also changed its international charges to a piece-based system, but has not reduced luggage limits and has increased weight allowances for frequent travellers.

Read more about the luggage changes from theaustralian.com.au's Steve Creedy and Mitchell Nadin HERE

Rats on a plane

2011-06-02T08:43:00.001+10:00

No not some dodgy sequel from hollywood, but an odd problem for Qantas, who were forced to ground one of their domestic 767 aircraft in Sydney yesterday after 5 rats were found in the cabin.

The rats were found in emergency medical equipment just before passenger were due to board.

Qantas do not know where the rats came from or how they got on board. The aircraft was grounded while engineers killed the rats and checked to see they hadn't damaged any wiring, passengers were delayed slightly while the aircraft was swapped.

Read the interesting tail from news.com.au via the couriermail.com.au HERE

Virgin premium lounges

2011-05-24T09:07:00.002+10:00

As part of the Game Changing process that has already bought us a new inflight menu, new uniforms, the A330s (to be introduced on Thursday) and most significantly the Virgin Australia name/brand, Virgin have been working on their new premium lounges.

The new lounge in Melbourne has now opened, with Brisbane to open within 6 weeks, and the new two level lounge at Sydney being worked on.

The Sydney lounge will offer panoramic views over both the airport and Botany Bay while offering premium passengers the opportunity to bypass the terminal with a dedicated entry from the kerbside valet.

Read more about the premium lounge changes from theaustralian.com.au writer Damon Kitney HERE

Check out the lounge page on the virginaustralia.com site HERE

See pictures of the new Melbourne lounge from ausbt.com.au (Australian Business Traveller) HERE

Jetstar check in charge

2011-05-24T08:52:00.000+10:00

In a move set to catapult Jetstar into the ranks of infamous LCCs like Ryanair, EasyJet and Tiger, Jetstar have announced that from November passengers wishing to check in face to face at the airport will now have to pay for the privilege.

The low-cost Qantas offshoot revealed yesterday that all passengers using its 18-port domestic network could now check in using the web, self-service kiosks and its world-first SMS boarding passes as part of a drive to convert all passengers to self service.
Traditional check-in counters will still be available, but passengers wishing to use them after November 1 will pay a "small" fee expected to be about $5 to $10.

Australian Service Workers Union who represents most of the Jetstar check in crew, are worried that this will result in job losses, despite Jetstar saying all staff will be retrained and switched to customer service roles.

At this stage this appears to only affect domestic services in Australia, but I am awaiting confirmation on the effects on New Zealand domestic services.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

Virgin Australia fare roll out

2011-05-23T14:51:00.000+10:00

In a move reminiscent of Air New Zealand's "Seats to Suit", Virgin Australia yesterday rolled out their new "Fares to Fit"

It simplifies airfares into 3 new categories Saver, Flexi & Premium.

Saver: Is the simplest and cheapest fare, offering the seat + carry on baggage, with the option to pay for checked baggage, entertainment and food.

Flexi: Offers a full economy service including a food & beverage package, entertainment and 23kgs of checked luggage, while being fully flexible

Premium: This is the new business class offering all inclusive food and beverage, a whopping 69kgs of luggage, lounge access and much more.

The Premium fare can be used in the new business class seats on the new A330's and will apply to the premium economy seats on the B737sa and the E190s.

All fares will still earn Velocity points, and status credits.

Read more about the fares at virginaustralia.com HERE

Air New Zealand announce changes in NW11 timetable

2011-05-23T14:33:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand have announced some of the timetable changes that will come into effect with their new Northern Winter 2011 timetable.
PEK, PVG & HKG all get extra services, while NRT & SFO get and aircraft change and services return to KIX.

Beijing (PEK) will receive a 3rd year round service from AKL, with Shanghai (PVG) receiving a 4th year round Boeing 777-219ER service. Hong Kong (HKG) get an increase to 9x weekly up from the current 7.

Tokyo (NRT) and San Francisco (SFO) both have their services changed to a Boeing 747-419ER, while Osaka (KIX) get their services returned to a daily Boeing 767-319ER, which was cut as a result of the earthquake

Read more about the announcement form the nzherald.co.nz HERE

Tiger halts growth

2011-05-20T12:39:00.000+10:00

Tiger have halted their planned growth for the coming year due to their $7.1M loss in the financial year to 31 March.

The airline blamed the loss predominantly on the Queensland floods and cyclone, and said it would concentrate on expanding in Asia, where conditions are more buoyant.

Tiger have also had issues this year with on-time performance and they received a "show cause" notice from CASA

Read more about the Tiger announcement from Steve Creedy HERE

Qantas and the unions

2011-05-19T09:49:00.001+10:00

Qantas continues to battle with the unions with both the AIPA and ALAEA, and it looks possible that QF may now be at odds with Ground Staff union the TWA.

The Pilots union, the AIPA, have given Qantas until close of business tomorrow to respond to their ultimatum. Qantas have responded unequivocally NO, and as a result industrial action looks set to occur.

"In case you were in any remaining doubt, the company regards your claim currently entitled Operation and Extension of Employment Contract, which you colloquially refer to as your job security claim, as damaging to the interests of Qantas as a threat to the real, long-term job security of 35,000 employees in the Qantas Group," Captain Wilson (Qantas Chief Pilot) said.

The engineers union, the ALAEA, have according to Qantas made demands described as reckless including

"The engineers, for example, have asked for pay increase and perks that will total $160m over the next three years. They've asked for membership of the Qantas Club for all members, they've asked for an extra week's leave, to take it to six weeks, and they've asked for pay and terms of conditions to be increased by 26 per cent as a minimum over three years." Qantas CEO Alan Joyce

It looks like claim and counter claim, punch and counter punch will continue on for some time yet, and if things dont get better soon then we can expect to see protected industrial action from both unions and possibly also from the TWA. There is a strong likely hood that the public will suffer the consequences of this as flights are cancelled.

Read more about both unions, both claims, both responses and both potential strikes from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE and HERE

Qantas and the fuel prices

2011-05-19T09:21:00.000+10:00

It seems Qantas dont share the same optimistic outlook on the aviation world that competitor Emirates do. While Emirates last week completely scrapped their fuel surcharge, Qantas are mulling over the options of raising theirs, despite the recent drop in the oil price.

"We're still in the territory of going forward looking at further fuel surcharge increases," CEO Alan Joyce said.
Australia's biggest carrier has already raised fuel surcharges three times this year.

The Australian dollar's meteoric rise should have also reduced fuel costs, but this hasn't helped Qantas, who are also looking at the impact the Government's Carbon Tax will have on the airline, and what costs it will mean are passed onto passengers.

Read the article from Dow Jones Newswires reporter Ross Kelly via theaustralian.com.au HERE
And the article from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

NZ/DJ(VA) trans-tasman network announced

2011-05-17T09:04:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia (Pacific Blue) have announced their new joint trans-tasman network.

Some key points

WLG-BNE Pacific Blue to operate a double daily return
CHC-BNE combined double daily return service
ZQN-SYD 1 flight five days a week in peak periods
WLG-SYD Air New Zealand to operate a double daily return service
Air New Zealand to take over all flying AKL-CNS
Pacific Blue to take over all SYD/MEL-DUD peak period services

The biggest winner out of this seems to be Wellington who are now guaranteed a double daily service to both Brisbane and Sydney although Melbourne still isnt served daily. Christchurch gets a double daily return to all 3 major Australian capitals, while Air New Zealand will also increase flights to Adelaide and Perth from Auckland.

For more about the new network check out the airnewzealand.co.nz Press Release HERE
__ __ __ __ __

In slightly related news Virgin Australia yesterday rebranded their HQ "Virgin Village" in Brisbane with the new Virgin Australia branding, replacing the branding of the Virgin group airlines, Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue & V Australia.

Weekend news roundup

2011-05-16T09:14:00.000+10:00

Qantas
Good news for Qantas and passengers with the ALAEA calling a four week truce with the airline over their protracted contract negotiations. This prevented the hour long strike on friday, as well as similar ones planned for today and tomorrow.

"For comfort sake, you should also be aware that we do not intend to take action at any time in the next four weeks." ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas

Read more on this from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

__ __ __ __
Qantas are seeking compensation from the TWU after the federal court found they breached the law by engaging in industrial action.

But the union's federal secretary, Tony Sheldon, highlighted the court finding that, contrary to the Qantas claims, the meetings were not organised to cause damage.

Qantas have flagged they will seek more than $1million in compensation.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au writers Steve Creedy & Ewin Hannan HERE
__ __ __ __
Union officials have warned Qantas that any move to shift Qantas offshore will spark a backlash, after Qantas suggested setting up an Asian based branch of the airline.

Australian and International Pilots Association president Barry Jackson said reports that Qantas wanted to base much of the airline in Asia would set off alarm bells in the community.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

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Jetstar
Jetstar are not immune from potential industrial action either with the airline angering pilots and the AIPA, by employing new pilots under a shell company, in what the AIPA describes a s a move to get around the enterprise bargaining agreement.

Describing the move as "cynical and underhanded", the Australian and International Pilots Association said the decision to set up a new Jetstar Group contract was a sign the airline had declared war "on its pilots group, collective bargaining and the industrial relations system".

Read more from Steve Creedy of theaustralian.com.au HERE

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Virgin Australia
As mentioned in the post below, Virgin Australia have come to an agreement with Delta Airlines to take on the leases of their E170 aircraft. As such the first two aircraft VH-ZHA and VH-ZHB have now left Australia on their delivery flights to the States.

The delivery flight's are taking the following track
CNS-SPN-KIX-PKC-ANC-GTF
Cairns-Saipan-Osaka-Yelizovo-Anchorage-Grand Falls
With VH-ZHA already in Grand Falls and VH-ZHB having recently arrived in Anchorage

Virgin secure next step in alliance plan

2011-05-12T12:26:00.000+10:00

Virgin Australia have secured the next step in their global airline partner plan, with the US DOT giving the Virgin/Delta Airlines alliance antitrust immunity.

This means the two airlines can now codeshare on services across the pacific as well as each others domestic services, and will also allow seamless flight integration from point to point.

"The Delta alliance is a key plank in Virgin Australia's strategy to build an international network of airline partners that offers global coverage," Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said.

With this third part of the strategy now in place Virgin Australia now has coverage of the South Pacific and connections onto the US & UK with Air New Zealand, the Middle East and into Europe with Etihad and now North America with Delta.

Virgin Australia are now looking to expand their partner alliance even further while looking for possibly a number of partners in the Asia region.

The link with Delta has also provided the opportunity for Virgin to onsell their remaining lease agreements for their E170 aircraft, which will begin leaving the fleet immediately bound for operations with Delta in the USA.

Have a read of the stories relating to the Virgin/Delta agreement and the search for Asian partners from theaustralian.com.au HERE, & HERE

Black Friday chaos for Qantas & related stories

2011-05-12T11:37:00.000+10:00

Qantas have cancelled 31 peak hour flights and delayed a further 46 tomorrow as they prepare for the peak hour (0800-0900) strike by engineers.

About 1600 union members will stop work for an hour at all airports from 8am local time tomorrow, effectively causing the delays to extend over several hours, according to the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA). The move comes after enterprise bargaining negotiations stalled.

Read about the strike and its effects HERE

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In related news Qantas pilots are planning a stop work meeting and threatening strike action after their job security demands have not been met.

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) says it has "drawn a line in the sand" because Qantas management is not negotiating seriously.
It says if Qantas does not signal a change of intent by close of business on Thursday next week (May 19), the union will take the first steps toward protected industrial action.

Read more about the Pilots industrial issues HERE

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In further related news the painting of Jetconnect Boeing 737-800 ZK-ZQF in Wallabies colours has further heightened the divide between pilots and Qantas as pilots see it as evidence of outsourcing operations.

Read the full story HERE

See ZK-ZQF in Wallabies colours at fellow blogs MRC Aviation HERE and 3rd Level New Zealand HERE

JQ add Dunedin

2011-05-12T11:19:00.000+10:00

In a move set to gain them a small slice of the lucrative Rugby World Cup market, Jetstar have added a daily AKL-DUD-AKL flight timed to coincide with the world cup games in Dunedin. The new flight will also break the Air New Zealand monopoly at Dunedin

Jetstar have launched the route with a Jet Saver Light fare sale of just $5 one way. In response Air New Zealand have used their grabaseat.co.nz site to offer a limited number of $1 flights on the AKL-DUD, CHC-DUD and WLG-DUD routes, which of course were snapped up within minutes.

The article also reports JQ CEO Bruce Buchanan as saying the airline is exploring "further possibilities" around the airlines Queenstown flights

New flights
JQ283 AKL-DUD Daily 0905-1100
JQ282 DUD-AKL Daily 1130-1310

Read a full article on the new flights from the nzherald.co.nz HERE

Rough day in Kiwi skies

2011-05-11T16:46:00.000+10:00

Air2There
air2there.com Piper Chieftain ZK-MYS made an emergency landing in NSN this afternoon after the two pilots on board on a test flight noticed a problem with the nose wheel. The plane landed without its nose wheel and slid along the runway for a couple of hundred meters

Read the full story from the Nelson Mail (stuff.co.nz) HERE

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Jetconnect
A Jetconnect Boeing 737-800 was hit by lightning this afternoon while operating QF26 AKL-MEL and elected to make a return to AKL as a precaution. No damage has been reported.
See the nzherald.co.nz report HERE

Qantas engineering stoppages to commence

2011-05-10T14:14:00.000+10:00

Now that I have finally got blogger working again

Qantas engineers who belong to the ALAEA union will this week begin work stoppages, after they 'hit a brick wall" in their negotiations with Qantas.

Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) federal secretary Steve Purvinas said concerns about job security had not been allayed by Qantas.

One such stoppage will take place at BNE on Friday 13-May-2011 0800-0900

Read more about the planned stoppages from thecouriermail.com.au HERE

Air New Zealand Engine Issues

2011-05-09T12:48:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand have been in the news the last few days after a couple off issues with aircraft engines.

Yesterday Sunday 08-May-2011 an Air New Zealand Boeing 737-3U3 ZK-NGD operating NZ417 AKL-WLG diverted to HLZ landing on only one engine, after the other was shut down in flight.

Today reports have emerged that a second Air New Zealand aircraft - a Raytheon Beech 1900D from Eagle Air - Air New Zealand Link also made an emergency return landing at GIS yesterday on a flight from GIS-AKL, with one engine shut down mid flight.

I'm not going to link to any news reports on these landings as they are too sensationalistic, as these two events were handled in the most professional ways by the crew involved and both aircraft landed uneventfully with no injuries or other dramas.

Virgin Australia coverage

2011-05-04T19:05:00.000+10:00

Check out more from the Virgin Australia launch at any of these great locations

* theaustralian.com.au from aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

* flightglobal.com by Wings Down Under blogger Will Horton HERE

* Australian Business Traveller HERE

* pprune.org - HERE - pages 5-6 of the thread have the launch

* jetspotter.com HERE

* airliners.net HERE

* ninemsn.com HERE contains video

this is by no means a complete or exhaustive list - if there are any other site you have found great coverage on please let me know

Virgin update #3

2011-05-04T11:53:00.000+10:00

* The entire rebranding exercise will cost the same as a single new Boeing 737-800

* Turn over of aircraft (returns to lessors) is helping to keep the costs down

* There will be 20+ aircraft in the new livery by years end

* Premium Economy is certainly a possibility that Virgin Australia is exploring

* New Adverts that look remarkably similar to the Virgin Atlantic ones will begin screening on Australian TV tonight (see below)

* A new low fare sale will hit the website and newspapers tomorrow

Check out the new website www.virginaustralia.com

Virgin update #2

2011-05-04T11:00:00.000+10:00

* Singapore Airlines agrees to use of Virgin Australia name internationally

* Borghetti refuses to say if Virgin had to pay SQ to use it

* ASX release points to new lounges and new look terminals coming soon

* Former Pacific Blue to have a 'Premium Class' but not specific details

* Bold claims from Borghetti that the new Virgin Business Class is better than Qantas

* Borghetti says they are working on exciting new IFE solution but no announcement yet

* Entire rebranding to Virgin Australia will cost the same as a single new Boeing 737-800

Virgin Australia updates

2011-05-04T10:23:00.000+10:00

Blogging as news from the launch arrives

read the Virgin Australia ASX release HERE

Points of interest from ASX
* Virgin Australia brand to replace Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue & V Australia by years end
* Velocity rewards will be relaunched later this year with more options

Other points of interest
It has been noted at the launch that all aircraft will now be named after iconic Australian destinations, with Boeing 737-800 VH-YFC named Bondi Beach and Airbus A330 VH-XFB named Cable Beach

welcome VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

2011-05-04T08:34:00.000+10:00

Virgin Australia the "new" number two carrier in Australian skies will launch in 30 mins at SYD.

Unfortunately after all the hype and everything that has proceeded it, the new livery for Virgin Australia is um well a complete let down.

Im sorry Virgin Australia but Im am completely underwhelmed by your new look, and certainly hope that your new product & service will be good, cause your new look isnt going to grab that much desired market share.

The below photo is from Tim W from jetspotter.com - taken as VH-YFC taxied at CHC on departure to SYD for the unveiling.

http://www.jetspotter.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=12158&start=90#p95107

Read more about the Virgin rebranding from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

Virgin news

2011-05-03T08:30:00.000+10:00

New Brand
As mentioned in the post below the launch of the new Virgin Australia brand will occur at 0900 tomorrow Wednesday 4-May-2011 in SYD, with VH-YFC expected to arrive direct from the paint shop at CHC to launch the brand.
As of now (0825 3/5/11 there has been no movement to change or remove the old Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue, V Australia branding on the Virgin group HQ building)

Delta Codeshare
The Virgin Blue Group has expanded its codeshare with Delta Airlines as it waits for US DOT approval for a closer alliance. This means the Delta code will now appear on flights from Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Auckland and Christchurch.
Read more from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

QF Engineering strike may go ahead.

2011-04-28T08:59:00.001+10:00

Qantas Engineers look set to strike with 11th hour talks not likely to achieve a resolution.

Officials with the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association hold little hope that the enterprise agreement talks will resolve outstanding job security issues that include assurances heavy maintenance on new aircraft types be done in Australia.

It is believed that instead of a full stoppage strike the action will likely take the form of work to rule, overtime ban and rolling stoppages.

Find out more from theaustralian.com.au's aviation writer Steve Creedy HERE

New Virgin brand

2011-04-28T08:51:00.000+10:00

As previously mentioned in the "game changing" plan introduced by Virgin group CEO John Borghetti, he had hoped to rebrand the Virgin group of airlines - Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue & V Australia under 1 brand.

Sadly for Mr Borghetti this doesn't look to be the case with the airline set to rebrand Virgin Blue as Virgin Australia while the Pacific & Polynesian Blue brands look likely to be folded into the V Australia brand.

Virgin have submitted their new name/logo to be trademarked in Australia and a black and white copy as seen here is available through IP Australia the government body responsible.

Further to this the first aircraft likely to be painted in the scheme Boeing 737-81D VH-YFC flew MEL-CHC on Friday 22-April-2011 and was towed into the paint shop on Monday 25-April-2011. This ties in with an expected brand launch in the first week of May.

Virgin are also understood to have taken their first Airbus A330-200 VH-XFA to China recently where it had the new livery applied, and undertook filming work for the brand launch, before being removed from the livery before returning to Australia for further proving/training flights.

For more on the upcoming brand changes check out Will Horton's article on his Wings Down Under blog at flightglobal.com HERE

Wellingtons wind strikes again - Jetstar A320 hit

2011-04-27T13:40:00.001+10:00

Jetstar have fallen victim to the Wellington winds, with a baggage cart being blown into the engine nacelle of one of their A320s, forcing the cancellation of their 0820 JQ262 WLG-AKL flight, and a flow on effect with other scheduled flights delayed, some severely as a result of the required engineering checks.

Read about it from the nzherald.co.nz HERE

Updates from Classic Fighters

2011-04-22T12:31:00.001+10:00

For live updates from Classic Fighters 2011 follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/nzompilot

alternatively you can follow @errolwi or search the hashtags #Omaka or #ClassicFighters.

Tweeting live from Classic Fighters all weekend long.

Easter chaos as Tiger cancel flights

2011-04-21T13:10:00.001+10:00

In what could turn into an Easter weekend disaster, Tiger Airways have so far today cancelled two packed flights, one Melbourne-Sydney and one Melbourne-Brisbane, potentially in the wake of serious safety concerns from CASA.

CASA have sent Tiger a show cause notice, believed to be focused on aircraft maintenance and pilot training standards.

Tiger claim todays cancellations are not related to this notice and are for "operational reasons", but that doesnt help the passengers who were booked on these flights, or those who are booked with Tiger over the Easter weekend holiday period who face uncertainty as to whether their flights will operate, or whether they will be left stranded.

For more on the troubles Tiger face read the couriermail.com.au article by Steve Lewis HERE or theaustralian.com.au article from the AAP HERE

Classic Fighters 2011

2011-04-18T19:26:00.000+10:00

I am back in Blenheim, coping with the cold, and looking forward to Classic Fighters 2011 this coming weekend, Easter 22-24 April, at Omaka Aerodrome (NZOM)

I will hopefully be able to provide reports of each days activities on the blog during the show, but will definitely write the show up after its over.

If any readers or fellow bloggers are heading down and want to catch up, and havent been in contact via one of the other websites, let me know.

Trip report:: 3 flight, 3 types

2011-04-17T15:57:00.001+10:00

3 flights, 3 types descending in size flight to flight

Friday 15-April-2010
DJ82 BNE-CHC ZK-PBM 737-8FE Seat: 20A

Push back was smooth and a few minutes early, then we had a short taxi before departure from 01 followed by a right hand turn before flying down to CHC, where with a nice westerly tail wind we arrived early after a roughly 2hr 40min flight.

We had a good crew, all female who made the flight pleasant even keeping the 3yr old ranga kid in front of me placated. He also responded well to them, sitting down and doing his belt up when they told him to.

The legroom was fine for a 3hr flight but the buy on board wasn’t too flash. Those of you who follow this blog will know that I have commented about the “new” Luke Managan inspired menu, and now that I’ve tried it, I can review it.

I chose the Roast Beef, semi dried tomato, rocket & horseradish Panini, along with water, and the Jim beam & pepsi. Once again I’ll say it, I am very disappointed they got rid of the premixed cans of Jim Beam & Cola, and replaced it with a 50ml bottle of Jim Beam at $7 with the mixer separate at 43 and now Pepsi. The water was only 300ml so was exorbitant at $3, and the Panini was disappointing, it was $10 and the bread wasn’t fresh and was slightly stale. It also had very little taste and over all I wasn’t impressed.

Overall the flight wasn’t too bad, I’m just disappointed in the “new” buy on board menu that the Virgin Group has chosen to go with. I know all the airlines are going with celebrity chef’s but sorry Luke Mangan hasn’t created food to be proud of.

Saturday 16-April-2010
NZ5018 CHC-WLG ZK-MCY ATR 72-500 Seat: 09A

I was really looking forward to this flight as it was to be my 1^st in an ATR, and I looked forward to ticking another of NZs types off my list. I had booked this flight specifically to get the ATR over the other flights where I would’ve been in a 733.

I was dropped at the airport and walked the whole way through the new terminal to get to Air New Zealand check in which is still in the old terminal, of course most of this was past the new Air New Zealand check in area. Once I got there and had checked in, tagged my bag and got it onto the belt and off, I went to head to the gate. Looking at my boarding pass I realise I was on gate 47, which is a new gate in the new terminal.

I headed back the way I had come, and found the new domestic area (Gates 43-52) It is a very impressive looking building, and the furniture that Air New Zealand have put in there is contemporary and works well.

Boarding for the flight was orderly, even if it was at the same time as a Q300 for Nelson was also boarding. You go from the lounge, through the “boarding gate” then walk down a long long tunnel area outside until you reach your individual gate, before walking out across the tarmac to your aircraft.

Boarding was orderly and I quickly found my seat and settled in. 09A is at the rear end of the wing, affording great views of the flaps, and the underside of the wing. The outboard actuator?? (can someone tell me if this is the correct name) had the flap settings painted on it, so we departed with flaps 15 and landed with flaps 30.

I was a bit disappointed with the leg room on the ATR and was very cramped. The service on the flight was as expected for a short NZ domestic sector. A water run then a tea and coffee run, and finally a run with the air new Zealand lollies.

We had a bit of a hold with a left hand orbit over the Blenheim/Rarangi area before heading up and landing into the north, despite the co-pilot telling us earlier there was a southerly blowing and we’d be landing from the north. There was no wind and we had a smooth landing, very disappointing considering some of the fun landings Wellington can throw up.

Saturday 16-April-2010
NZ2495 WLG-BHE ZK-EAH B1900D Seat: 05A

The Wellington weather as well as the Blenheim weather had been rubbish all day and as a result the flight was late. We were scheduled to depart Wellington at 1810 we finally left around 1925/1930ish. The flight was as expected for a short 25min leg, slightly cramped with all my bags under the seat but hey it is the shortest flight in the NZ network so who cares.

CAA charge Pacific Blue pilot

2011-04-14T16:24:00.000+10:00

The CAA have charged a Pacific Blue pilot for allegedly compromising safety after departing Queenstown last year after the deadline for departures.

It was reported at the time Flight DJ89 departed Queenstown for Sydney on June 22 in darkness, potentially endangering the 140 passengers and crew aboard.

Read the full article from stuff.co.nz HERE

NZ/EY codeshare approved

2011-04-08T09:32:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand says its codesahre agreement with Etihad has been approved by the government.

This will make a nice tidy Australasian dominance by Etihad who already has a codeshare arrangement in place with Virgin Blue as does Air New Zealand.

Under the agreement, Etihad Airways will code share on Air New Zealand trans-Tasman and domestic services.

The flights should be on sale reasonably quickly, by the 14th April, with travel commencing from the 18th.

Read more from stuff.co.nz HERE

Air NZ announce new group general manager, international airline

2011-04-07T14:52:00.000+10:00

One of the title's thats a mouthful - Air New Zealand's "Group General Manager, International Airline" has a new holder. Former Unilever Canada CEO Christopher Luxon has been appointed to the role vacated by Ed Simms.

Mr Luxon will take up the role from May 30th.

Read more from stuff.co.nz HERE and the nzherald.co.nz HERE

NZ & QF to inspect 737 Classics

2011-04-06T15:10:00.000+10:00

Air New Zealand are set to inspect all 15 of their 733s for cracking while QF only have 5 734 aircraft that require checking as part of a worldwide safety directive after the explosive decompression of a Southwest 737 last week.

The airlines do not expect any service disruptions from the inspections, which were called for after the 1 April fuselage rupture incident on board a Southwest Airlines 737-300.
Qantas says it plans to inspect its aircraft within 10 days while ANZ says it will inspect its single high-cycle aircraft within five days and its remaining aircraft within 20 days. Neither carrier has grounded aircraft.

The aircraft in question all have line numbers in the range 2553-3132, the five Qantas aircraft affected are VH-TJU, TJW, TJX, TJY & TJZ with reports that no Jetconnect aircraft will be inspected, although there is a link to Jetconnect as VH-TJZ is formerly ZK-JTS and is now reported as stored.

Read more from Flight Global HERE and Flight Global Wings Down Under blogger Will Horton HERE

Alternatively the sensationalistic headline Air New Zealand planes checked after explosion leads to the story from stuff.co.nz

CHC set to welcome D7

2011-04-01T19:53:00.000+10:00

Christchurch is set to welcome the inaugural arrival tonight Friday 01-April-2011 of Air Asia X flight D72754/XAX2754 direct from Kuala Lumpur.

The flight is scheduled to touch down at 2355 local. The aircraft with the honour of operating this first flight is 9M-XXH an Airbus A330-343X delivered new to Air Asia X on 22-November-2010

This new service is good news for Christchurch in the wake of flight cuts and time changes from other airlines as a result of the February 22nd earthquake.

JQ PER pilots told to toughen up

2011-03-31T12:38:00.000+10:00

An email sent to JQ PER based pilots a senior perth based pilot-manager has told fellow PER pilots to "toughen up princesses".

The email which was tabled by surprise at a senate committee meeting in Canberra yesterday by independent senator Nick Xenophon, and took JQ CEO Bruce Buchanan and QF CEO Alan Joyce by surprise. The surprise tabling of the email "made it difficult for management to respond properly to the issues raised about its airline subsidiary." Said Joyce

I let you all make your own calls on whether this email is appropriate or not.

Read the full theaustralian.com.au article by Ben Packham HERE - the email itself is linked above