planemanofnz wrote:

qantas747 wrote:

I do hope this mini hub in PER will be bigger than just a couple of flights to LHR and CDG.

Aside from LHR, CDG, FRA, JNB and maybe BOM, where else though? Perhaps CPT? I can't see the Middle East working, or the rest of Africa.

mariner wrote:

I'm not sure the fact that Jetstar did it badly makes if a bad idea.

If an Asian LCC were given cabotage rights ex-DRW, would it be more viable? Whether or not this would be politically acceptable, I don't know.

Cheers,

C.

I can see QF having daily flights out of Perth to LHR, CDG, FRA, JNB and BOM as you suggest. They would need to have seamless east coast connections to be entirely successful.

An Asian LCC probably wouldn't be given local cabbage rights out of DRW. Australia has been very protective of local airlines in the past, see the whole SQ fiasco from last decade.

QR says DOH-SYD-CBR will see QSuites on a daily basis from June

https://www.ausbt.com.au/qatar-airways- ... ource=hero

planemanofnz wrote:

mariner wrote:

Then again, Jetstar couldn't make AKL-SIN work

Albeit in a less fuel efficient 332 (compared to a 788), while oil was still high, and before New Zealand's current tourism boom.

Cheers,

C.

There would barely be any point in JQ operating AKL-SIN (or any AKL-AISA routes) currently you can get Auckland to Asia for around $500NZD return on an full service airline. For JQ to work they would have to be selling fares around the $300-400return mark, which for an 12hour flight defiantly isn't going to make money.

Serval Asian based airlines are offering very low fares into AKL already, some with A332/A333s.

SIN isn't really an desnations from New Zealand, more an transit point.

zkncj wrote:

There would barely be any point in JQ operating AKL-SIN (or any AKL-AISA routes) currently you can get Auckland to Asia for around $500NZD return on an full service airline

That is to China, and actually the fares have now gone up - the cheapest is on GS to CKG for about NZD 650 - 700 return.

SIN is the gateway to ASEAN (DPS, HKT, PEN etc) - different market to CKG, so it would not compete with those GS fares.

Cheers,

C.

JBusworth wrote:

[
I can see QF having daily flights out of Perth to LHR, CDG, FRA, JNB and BOM as you suggest. They would need to have seamless east coast connections to be entirely successful.

I think we are getting carried away here as what that PER mini-hub is about to achieve. It will be the bridge to Europe due to the proximity and current aircraft range limitations. Once this is overcome, and QF can fly non-stop MEL/SYD-Europe, the PER mini-hub will be history. By the same logic, flights to the likes of BOM or CPT will not happen form PER, at least not on QF. They will fly them from the East Coast or not at all.

Another factor is aircraft: to operate the scissor hub efficiently, the planes going out must also be the ones coming in. Realistically, that's only 3 flights (from SYD, MEL, BNE), continuing to 3 destinations (LHR, FRA, CDG). I just do not see anything beyond that.

Lastly, airport infrastructure: for a seamless hub to work, all those planes must arrive and depart around the same time from the same terminal. That does not happen anytime soon, before QF moves all ops to the Intl side.

Of particular significance is Brisbane Airport’s interest in a route to India. Currently, the only non-stop route between Australia and India is Air India’s four times weekly Delhi-Sydney service. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the most popular country of birth for residents in Queensland after Australia, New Zealand and England is India, with 50,000 residents. An opportunity could exist for Air India or Qantas to operate to India with Dreamliner aircraft, with the potential route just one of many long haul opportunities Brisbane Airport could boasting in the future.

(Bit dodgy about sydney-delhi being only route but gets point across)

Brisbane Airport has previously expressed interest in using its new runway infrastructure to expand to more Asia Pacific destinations, specifically Japan, China and India. According to CAPA and OAG scheduling data, Brisbane Airport already serves four destinations in China, and one route in Japan. Still, international departures from Brisbane congregate primarily in the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia:

https://blueswandaily.com/brisbane-airp ... australia/


Seems like BNE and PER are both now looking for flights to India. Very sensible considering the massive growth in outbound travel from India. Within the neext few years I think BNE and PER will both have flights to Delhi whilst MEL and SYD will get Mumbai with BNE and PER to follow later. Very exciting times ahead for commercial aviation throughout Australia!

JBusworth wrote:

An Asian LCC probably wouldn't be given local cabbage rights out of DRW.

They should definitely not give anyone cabbage rights!

planemanofnz wrote:

If an Asian LCC were given cabotage rights ex-DRW, would it be more viable? Whether or not this would be politically acceptable, I don't know.

Why not? With Australia's quaint rules for domestic airlines anything can happen.

I thought a variant of it is what Tiger (Australia) would do when (pre-Virgin) they started DRW but I don't think they ever connected with Tiger (Singapore). I never understood that.

mariner

zkncj wrote:

planemanofnz wrote:

mariner wrote:

Then again, Jetstar couldn't make AKL-SIN work

Albeit in a less fuel efficient 332 (compared to a 788), while oil was still high, and before New Zealand's current tourism boom.

Cheers,

C.

There would barely be any point in JQ operating AKL-SIN (or any AKL-AISA routes) currently you can get Auckland to Asia for around $500NZD return on an full service airline. For JQ to work they would have to be selling fares around the $300-400return mark, which for an 12hour flight defiantly isn't going to make money.

Serval Asian based airlines are offering very low fares into AKL already, some with A332/A333s.

SIN isn't really a desination from New Zealand, more a transit point.

Direct fares you are looking at 1600NZD between AKL-SIN. NZ are ripping off the market with their JVs.

SIN is also more than a transit point these days.

Regarding India. I’ve often thought the best way for QF to service it would be using a A330 from Perth, with feed from the eastern states. It wouldn’t be a stretch like it was from MEL back in the day.

A350OZ wrote:

JBusworth wrote:

[
I can see QF having daily flights out of Perth to LHR, CDG, FRA, JNB and BOM as you suggest. They would need to have seamless east coast connections to be entirely successful.

I think we are getting carried away here as what that PER mini-hub is about to achieve. It will be the bridge to Europe due to the proximity and current aircraft range limitations. Once this is overcome, and QF can fly non-stop MEL/SYD-Europe, the PER mini-hub will be history. By the same logic, flights to the likes of BOM or CPT will not happen form PER, at least not on QF. They will fly them from the East Coast or not at all.

Another factor is aircraft: to operate the scissor hub efficiently, the planes going out must also be the ones coming in. Realistically, that's only 3 flights (from SYD, MEL, BNE), continuing to 3 destinations (LHR, FRA, CDG). I just do not see anything beyond that.

Lastly, airport infrastructure: for a seamless hub to work, all those planes must arrive and depart around the same time from the same terminal. That does not happen anytime soon, before QF moves all ops to the Intl side.

I do agree with you in principle with the current setup and fleet plans ( CDG/FRA if they happen won't until at least 2019 with new 789s), however when the time comes that QF fly direct to Europe from the East, PER should still maintain their services.

Airport infrastructure is due to be upgraded around 2023 when the direct flights might start, but by that time the market may have matured; and who knows if the EK alliance will still exist.
Longer term there would still be scope for PER-CPT/JNB/NBO as well as the proposed LHR/CDG/FRA services. They won't be flying east coast to Europe non-stop, so there would still be a market for this secondary traffic through a mini-hub. And I would think customers from SA and WA won't want to be backtracking and can help feed the flights along with their Eastern cousins.

The subcontinent is an interesting one, as SEA (SIN/KUL/BKK) are the main transit points along with recent direct services; however there could be significant growth still to come as the emergent middle class whets their appetite for travel. QF could play a role with having that traffic filter through PER to 3 or 4 key cities on the sub continent (think CMB/DEL/BOM/HYD)
Heck- as a way out there idea, perhaps JQ gets in on the act ex PER and uses the dreamliners in conjunction with an Indian Domestic network.

QF doesn't have as many regulatory hiccups when it comes to PER ( compared to redQ in SIN, HKG Jetstar); and in fact are able to use their brand recognition and power as leverage with the AU government to get them to invest.

It would be much cheaper to operate this kind of thing ex Asia, but if LHR goes well and subsequent flights follow; this could be the start of something much bigger for PER.

Think Widebodies from SYD/MEL/BNE/ADL/AKL/CHC and regular dailies ex DRW/CBR/OOL/CNS/TSV/NTL using PER as their key connecting point to Africa, Europe and the Subcontinent.
- Almost like a mini EK. That could be a reality in 10years.... subject to lots of $$ and other challenges of course!

qantas747 wrote:

I do hope this mini hub in PER will be bigger than just a couple of flights to LHR and CDG.

Ultimately i think you'll find it is just that - once they work out how to do SYD/MEL-LHR/JFK the need for PER do be the base for the European flights will diminish. However it may still play a role for the O&D and larger ports (eg LHR) as it may become a feeder for the smaller ports (eg ADL/HBA/DRW etc) though these would also have connection to SYD/MEL that could be used by pax.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmTVKs15n4U

Found this on youtube. An amazing historical set of photos and motion picture on flying boat ops to Lord Howe Island. Well worth a watch. I know of one young lady who is a contributor to this thread that did go to Lord Howe recently whom I suspect would love this. enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQYGqt3x9s8

and this one, absolute magic. Thank you all for indulging me with this passion of flying boats in Australia. cheers

redroo wrote:

Regarding India. I’ve often thought the best way for QF to service it would be using a A330 from Perth, with feed from the eastern states. It wouldn’t be a stretch like it was from MEL back in the day.

I have vague recollections of QF previously operating an Indian service a number of years back with A333's via SIN.

Qantas gave Mumbai several attempts before axing it, B743 & A333 SYD-DRW-BOM, then A332 SYD-BOM, then via SIN before they pulled the plug.

EK413

QF744ER wrote:

redroo wrote:

Regarding India. I’ve often thought the best way for QF to service it would be using a A330 from Perth, with feed from the eastern states. It wouldn’t be a stretch like it was from MEL back in the day.

I have vague recollections of QF previously operating an Indian service a number of years back with A333's via SIN.

QF51 was BNE-SIN-BOM, maybe 3 days a week? Can’t recall the exact frequency

EK413 wrote:

Qantas gave Mumbai several attempts before axing it, B743 & A333 SYD-DRW-BOM, then A332 SYD-BOM, then via SIN before they pulled the plug.

EK413

Back in 1986 I travelled on a previous incarnation of the BOM service, when it was one of two one-stop B743 options to LHR (the other was BKK). IIRC it operated a kind of triangular service: the outbound service left MEL direct to BOM and LHR, and then the return arrived in SYD nonstop from BOM mid-evening, and then headed for MEL, arriving very late at night. I well remember sleeping in the international terminal awaiting the 6am flight to HBA!

Qatar Airways is looking at building a 5 star hotel in Canberra, also has said they may look at non-stop flights to DOH from CBR if the runway is extended to accommodate the long haul flight

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/def ... ew-routes/

DavidByrne wrote:

EK413 wrote:

Qantas gave Mumbai several attempts before axing it, B743 & A333 SYD-DRW-BOM, then A332 SYD-BOM, then via SIN before they pulled the plug.

EK413

Back in 1986 I travelled on a previous incarnation of the BOM service, when it was one of two one-stop B743 options to LHR (the other was BKK). IIRC it operated a kind of triangular service: the outbound service left MEL direct to BOM and LHR, and then the return arrived in SYD nonstop from BOM mid-evening, and then headed for MEL, arriving very late at night. I well remember sleeping in the international terminal awaiting the 6am flight to HBA!

You left me intrigued so I did a quick search. I’m dumb founded the amount of routes Qantas once upon a time operated
The only BOM service was;
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Amsterdam
&
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Manchester

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... s-network/

EK413

Jet Airways and Qantas use SIN as a scissor hub of sorts feeding into each other's flights from BOM/DEL/BLR and SYD/MEL/BNE/PER respectively. I think they will be content with this arrangement for now. The immediate expansion in India-Australia traffic will be AI making their SYD and MEL flights daily.

While India is a large and fast growing source of inbound tourists to Australia, the number of tourists is only a fifth as that of China, so it will be sometime before we see a meaningful expansion in direct flights between India and Australia.

We were talking about DRW - and now Darwin is talking to AJ at Qantas:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-13/d ... li/9443486

"Darwin must be more competitive against Bali, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says"

The NT seems ready to spend a fair amount of money.

mariner

mariner wrote:

We were talking about DRW - and now Darwin is talking to AJ at Qantas:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-13/d ... li/9443486

"Darwin must be more competitive against Bali, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says"

The NT seems ready to spend a fair amount of money.

mariner

I don't quite see how DRW and DPS are direct competitors apart from their general location. One is a resort island, tacky but established. It has beaches that can be swum at and everything in fairly close proximity. Darwin is a frontier town. You can't swim at most of the beaches due to crocs. There are some great tourist attractions but you need to drive 200kms+ to see them. Accommodation in DRW is not resort based. It is hotels and apartments. There is an opportunity to link DPS and DRW as a combined holiday and some people are already doing this. I don't think they are natural competitors.

The biggest issue in DRW is its pricing during the dry season. It is ridiculously expensive for both airfares and accom which sort of makes it ironic when you hear AJ criticizing DRW as he (and VA) are part of the problem.

EK413 wrote:

The only BOM service was;
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Amsterdam
&
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Manchester

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... s-network/
EK413

Your post left me questioning my own memory - and the records that I made at the time. But no, there WAS a service MEL/SYD-BOM-LHR in 1986 - just not sure exactly when it started. My trip was in April 1986, so probably the route started with the commencement of the NS timetable around the end of March (the OAG you quoted covered the 1985-86 southern summer period). By chance, one of the few old OAGs I have is from December 1986, and the route is still operating then. Interestingly, it's a triangular service, but operating with LHR as the beginning and endpoint: The timings were: (note the SYD-MEL leg has to be an error - perhaps it should be a 2245 arrival in MEL, rather than 2145 - I do recall it was very late at night).

QF10 357 LHR 1030-0045 BOM 0155-1905 SYD 2115-2145 MEL
QF 9 246 SYD 2115-2145 MEL 2350-0610 BOM 0725-1205 LHR

The route dovetailed with the other QF London service, QF1, which then ran MEL-SYD-SIN-BAH-LHR and return. Ten 747 returns a week from LHR to Australia in those days.

I also remember now that the LHR-BKK-SYD route was NOT simultaneous with the BOM route as I had thought - BKK replaced BOM as the stopover after a relatively short while. However, LHR-BOM-SYD has the distinction of being the very first one-stop service by QF to Australia - and that was a very big deal at that time. [Edit: not quite true - there was earlier a service which ran SYD/MEL(?)-PER-BOM-LHR. So PER had the first one-stop sservice to LHR, just as it will soon get the first nonstop.]

It was interesting to see your extract from AirlineRoute - it included SYD-PEK with a 747 (which I also flew on my way back to London on that trip, though by then the 74L was no longer operating it) and HBA-AKL on a 762, which I took on a subsequent trip in early 1987. The last service on that route was 23 March 1987 - I know this for a fact because my return flight AKL-HBA a week later turned out to be the "inaugural" AKL-MEL-HBA flight which replaced it, also with a 762.

Another interesting relic from those days showing up in the link you provided is the AKL-TSV-DRW-SIN weekly 747 flight (the flight number changed from QF61A to QF61 in TSV outbound). And QF was still in those days serving ATH, ROM and BEG. There was a time in the 747 era when even MLA was a stop on the Kangaroo Route. And of course, back in the 707 era there were many stops that are now long-forgotten nodes in the network, including THR, DAM and BEY. How times change!

VH-ZND - New Livery will be released today!! Keep a look out for it!

DavidByrne wrote:

EK413 wrote:

The only BOM service was;
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Amsterdam
&
QF5 2 x weekly Sydney – Melbourne – Singapore – Bombay – Frankfurt – Manchester

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... s-network/
EK413

Your post left me questioning my own memory - and the records that I made at the time. But no, there WAS a service MEL/SYD-BOM-LHR in 1986 - just not sure exactly when it started. My trip was in April 1986, so probably the route started with the commencement of the NS timetable around the end of March (the OAG you quoted covered the 1985-86 southern summer period). By chance, one of the few old OAGs I have is from December 1986, and the route is still operating then. Interestingly, it's a triangular service, but operating with LHR as the beginning and endpoint: The timings were: (note the SYD-MEL leg has to be an error - perhaps it should be a 2245 arrival in MEL, rather than 2145 - I do recall it was very late at night).

QF10 357 LHR 1030-0045 BOM 0155-1905 SYD 2115-2145 MEL
QF 9 246 SYD 2115-2145 MEL 2350-0610 BOM 0725-1205 LHR

The route dovetailed with the other QF London service, QF1, which then ran MEL-SYD-SIN-BAH-LHR and return. Ten 747 returns a week from LHR to Australia in those days.

I also remember now that the LHR-BKK-SYD route was NOT simultaneous with the BOM route as I had thought - BKK replaced BOM as the stopover after a relatively short while. However, LHR-BOM-SYD has the distinction of being the very first one-stop service by QF to Australia - and that was a very big deal at that time. [Edit: not quite true - there was earlier a service which ran SYD/MEL(?)-PER-BOM-LHR. So PER had the first one-stop sservice to LHR, just as it will soon get the first nonstop.]

It was interesting to see your extract from AirlineRoute - it included SYD-PEK with a 747 (which I also flew on my way back to London on that trip, though by then the 74L was no longer operating it) and HBA-AKL on a 762, which I took on a subsequent trip in early 1987. The last service on that route was 23 March 1987 - I know this for a fact because my return flight AKL-HBA a week later turned out to be the "inaugural" AKL-MEL-HBA flight which replaced it, also with a 762.

Another interesting relic from those days showing up in the link you provided is the AKL-TSV-DRW-SIN weekly 747 flight (the flight number changed from QF61A to QF61 in TSV outbound). And QF was still in those days serving ATH, ROM and BEG. There was a time in the 747 era when even MLA was a stop on the Kangaroo Route. And of course, back in the 707 era there were many stops that are now long-forgotten nodes in the network, including THR, DAM and BEY. How times change!

I certainly don’t doubt you at all. I’m now questioning my own memory when I travelled on a QF 762 SYD-KUL?
I’ll try and dig up NS timetable from around the end of March. I don’t want to reference Wikipedia as it ain’t always the most reliable source.
Times have certainly changed with long haul services and now QF is talking up of East coast of Australia to LHR & JFK.

EK413

unrave wrote:

Jet Airways and Qantas use SIN as a scissor hub of sorts feeding into each other's flights from BOM/DEL/BLR and SYD/MEL/BNE/PER respectively. I think they will be content with this arrangement for now. The immediate expansion in India-Australia traffic will be AI making their SYD and MEL flights daily.

While India is a large and fast growing source of inbound tourists to Australia, the number of tourists is only a fifth as that of China, so it will be sometime before we see a meaningful expansion in direct flights between India and Australia.

The other problem with India, which is evident in the Jet and SQ routings, is that it is a very dispersed customer base - spread across a number of cities. SQ is able to collect these reasonably well as the economics of such flights from India to SIN make sense given the volume of to/from India traffic going elsewhere in Asia.

Ive wondered if some sort of tie up with UM might be something of interest to QF, Say flights from SYD/MEL/PER to CMB, and then let UM do the last leg. Probably needs a few more flights at the UM end though to make it work which im not sure is possible or not.

JQflightie wrote:

VH-ZND - New Livery will be released today!! Keep a look out for it!

I’ve just heard the same thing. Great news!

Perhaps the cover of darkness was too much to ask for...

QR is lobbying for more rights to Australia - what's the likelihood of this being approved?

See: https://blueswandaily.com/qatar-airways ... -services/.

Is it possible that the government will seek another QR service to 'regional' Australia (AVV, CNS, DRW, HBA, NTL or OOL), in exchange for more tier-one city rights?

Cheers,

C.

qf2220 wrote:

Ive wondered if some sort of tie up with UM might be something of interest to QF, Say flights from SYD/MEL/PER to CMB, and then let UM do the last leg. Probably needs a few more flights at the UM end though to make it work which im not sure is possible or not.

I assume you mean UL (SriLankan Airlines), and not UM (Air Zimbabwe)?

Interesting that UL now says its MEL flight is already profitable, within just six months of operations - UL is now looking at SYD.

Perhaps some sort of expanded QF - UL alliance may be possible soon?

See: https://blueswandaily.com/srilankan-exp ... australia/.

Cheers,

C.

planemanofnz wrote:

qf2220 wrote:

Ive wondered if some sort of tie up with UM might be something of interest to QF, Say flights from SYD/MEL/PER to CMB, and then let UM do the last leg. Probably needs a few more flights at the UM end though to make it work which im not sure is possible or not.

I assume you mean UL (SriLankan Airlines), and not UM (Air Zimbabwe)?

Interesting that UL now says its MEL flight is already profitable, within just six months of operations - UL is now looking at SYD.

Perhaps some sort of expanded QF - UL alliance may be possible soon?

See: https://blueswandaily.com/srilankan-exp ... australia/.

Cheers,

C.

Ha. yep UL not UM....

I see that a UL deal, if operationally feasible, would offer a pretty decent competitive edge over SIN/BKK etc. Kind of like the PER-LHR flights. QF loyalists and those willing to pay a QF premium will use the service over SQ/TG etc. The rest who are price concious (assuming that SIN/BKK etc are still cheaper) will go the existing routes. UL is currently daily on MEL.

One thing Im thinking of, they might not be allowed to coordinate for CMB traffic through given that this would be a monopoly route (like HKG). Not sure if you could set up a cooperation agreement to exlucde CMB-Australia OD traffic but coordinate for India/Middle East traffic? Refer to route map here http://www.srilankan.com/download/World-Map.pdf

I do note that UL works with Malaysian extensively in Australia too....

qf2220 wrote:

I see ... a UL deal

Interestingly enough, PER - CMB (3,122 nm) is within the range of the A320NEO and 737-MAX (~3,500 nm).

UL has A320NEOs in its fleet for this, if it wanted to explore further expansion under a deeper QF partnership.

Cheers,

C.

Qantas' new Indigenous livery aircraft has been unveiled:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-unveils-special-indigenous-aircraft-livery/

https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us/our-company/fleet/emily.html

The 787-9 is named "Emily Kame Kngwarreye" after the artist who inspired the livery.

I think it looks spectacular.

Beautiful!

V/F

allrite wrote:

Qantas' new Indigenous livery aircraft has been unveiled:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-unveils-special-indigenous-aircraft-livery/

https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us/our-company/fleet/emily.html

The 787-9 is named "Emily Kame Kngwarreye" after the artist who inspired the livery.

I think it looks spectacular.

It does look good but I wonder why it was released with such a strange photo. Was this rushed out to overcome a leak?

allrite wrote:

Qantas' new Indigenous livery aircraft has been unveiled:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-unveils-special-indigenous-aircraft-livery/

https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us/our-company/fleet/emily.html

The 787-9 is named "Emily Kame Kngwarreye" after the artist who inspired the livery.

I think it looks spectacular.

Stunning, but I must ask has QF leaked they are taking on more than 8 x B789’s?

1) Great Southern Land
2) Waltzing Matilda
3) Quokka
4) Emily Kame Kngwarreye

5) Great Barrier Reef
6) Boomerang
7) Skippy
8) Uluru
9) Dreamtime

EK413

EK413 wrote:

Stunning, but I must ask has QF leaked they are taking on more than 8 x B789’s?

1) Great Southern Land
2) Waltzing Matilda
3) Quokka
4) Emily Kame Kngwarreye

5) Great Barrier Reef
6) Boomerang
7) Skippy
8) Uluru
9) Dreamtime

I'd say it's a late change and this name replaces either Uluru or Dreamtime (though the replaced name will probably roll over to the next batch of deliveries).

allrite wrote:

Qantas' new Indigenous livery aircraft has been unveiled:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-unveils-special-indigenous-aircraft-livery/

https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us/our-company/fleet/emily.html

The 787-9 is named "Emily Kame Kngwarreye" after the artist who inspired the livery.

I think it looks spectacular.

Looks great, no Wunala or Nalanji but still very nice!! Looking forward to seeing her out of the hangar

tullamarine wrote:

allrite wrote:

Qantas' new Indigenous livery aircraft has been unveiled:

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-unveils-special-indigenous-aircraft-livery/

https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us/our-company/fleet/emily.html

The 787-9 is named "Emily Kame Kngwarreye" after the artist who inspired the livery.

I think it looks spectacular.

It does look good but I wonder why it was released with such a strange photo. Was this rushed out to overcome a leak?

Completely agree, if you’re going by to unveil something then a few awkwardly angled photos is not the way to do it.

I like the aboriginal designs generally, but these photos make it hard to give a thumbs up or down to.

I add a qualified 'like' to the photos. Looking forward to seeing more angles of the livery.

Edit: Aust Av has a closeup

https://twitter.com/AusAviation/status/ ... 6226891776

I like it but I think it would have looked far better if the artwork covered the entire fuselage similar to the earlier birds OJB/OEJ, EBU and VXB.


There are more large images here (from the Qantas website):

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/wp-co ... mage-1.jpg
https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/wp-co ... mage-2.jpg
https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/wp-co ... mage-3.jpg
https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/wp-co ... mage-4.jpg

QF has issued a statement on corporate tax after today's report on the ABC

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/featu ... orate-tax/

As stated in QF's press release ZND will arrive in ASP direct from PAR on 2 March

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media ... ft-livery/

tullamarine wrote:

mariner wrote:

We were talking about DRW - and now Darwin is talking to AJ at Qantas:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-13/d ... li/9443486

"Darwin must be more competitive against Bali, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says"

The NT seems ready to spend a fair amount of money.

mariner

I don't quite see how DRW and DPS are direct competitors apart from their general location. One is a resort island, tacky but established. It has beaches that can be swum at and everything in fairly close proximity. Darwin is a frontier town. You can't swim at most of the beaches due to crocs. There are some great tourist attractions but you need to drive 200kms+ to see them. Accommodation in DRW is not resort based. It is hotels and apartments. There is an opportunity to link DPS and DRW as a combined holiday and some people are already doing this. I don't think they are natural competitors.

The biggest issue in DRW is its pricing during the dry season. It is ridiculously expensive for both airfares and accom which sort of makes it ironic when you hear AJ criticizing DRW as he (and VA) are part of the problem.

Too right. I write this from Katherine where I'm on a work trip. I travel to DRW about 6 times a year. My flight from SYD - DRW on Monday on QF was just over $300 booked about a week out. During the dry it'd probably be $800.

Accommodation prices in the dry are crazy as well. Lucky I don't pay. I spent the last 2 nights at Jabiru in the Mercure - $95 a night. In the dry it's been up to $350.

JQ usually has half decent fares in the dry if booked a bit ahead.

From those pictures I'm not quite sure. I definitely think it's better than Mendoowoorrji but not quite Yananyi, Wunala or Nalanji. From those pictures I don't like how the design abruptly stops underneath the Qantas titles if it continued to taper down and wrap around underneath the fuselage it would look better IMHO. Apart from that I do like the colours and how the red blends into ochre.

Also I don't like how it was released in the paintshop without a shot with a decent angle. It would've been far more spectacular to keep it hidden with a middle of the night depature, then the big reveal as it lands at YBAS with the MacDonnells in the background.

tullamarine wrote:

I don't quite see how DRW and DPS are direct competitors apart from their general location. One is a resort island, tacky but established. It has beaches that can be swum at and everything in fairly close proximity. Darwin is a frontier town. You can't swim at most of the beaches due to crocs. There are some great tourist attractions but you need to drive 200kms+ to see them. Accommodation in DRW is not resort based. It is hotels and apartments. There is an opportunity to link DPS and DRW as a combined holiday and some people are already doing this. I don't think they are natural competitors.

I could be wrong but I think it is two seperate issues (i) Darwin wanting more tourism and (ii) AJ somewhat bizarrely, using Bali as the comparison.

The interesting part is that Darwin wants to chase more tourists,

tullamarine wrote:

The biggest issue in DRW is its pricing during the dry season. It is ridiculously expensive for both airfares and accom which sort of makes it ironic when you hear AJ criticizing DRW as he (and VA) are part of the problem.

No argument from me.

mariner

ZND looks good from what I can see. It'll be interesting to see what they've done with the belly titles.

Batik Air has ambitious expansion plans for the Australia-Bali market, with potentially several new routes to be launched in 2019 using A321neoLRs.

In a CAPA interview with the airline's CEO, this was said to include "smaller regional destinations." The airline currently only flies to PER in Australia.

See: https://centreforaviation.com/insights/ ... wth-398865.

Any ideas what cities will be next? AVV? CBR? CNS? DRW? HBA? NTL? OOL? TSV? Sister airline Malindo already flies to BNE, and soon will to MEL.

Cheers,

C.

Batik's LF in November was averaging 35%. Malindo's was better at 65%. Still a joke when JQ is at 90%.

They should actually concentrate on building some brand recognition in Australia because they have none.

getluv wrote:

Batik's LF in November was averaging 35%. Malindo's was better at 65%. Still a joke when JQ is at 90%.

They should actually concentrate on building some brand recognition in Australia because they have none.

Maybe secondary is a winner. Perth to Bali has a gazillion flights and a new entrant is fighting the established players.

A shedload of people from, for e.g., Newcastle go to Bali ( like everywhere else in Australia). Maybe first mover advantage comes into play.