BA has been banned from overflying Russia, is QF next?

[offshore171]

QF9 today




QF9 earlier this month

 

[Mr H]

QF9 today

Looks like a more direct route - win-win

 

[Mattg]

Looks like a more direct route - win-win

It's more direct if you believe in a flat earth

But not too bad. Looks like it added around half an hour to the flight time of QF9.

 

[jrfsp]

QF9 today




QF9 earlier this month

Almost 18hrs flight time! I wonder if they are taking any payload hits?

 

[dajop]

QF9 today

View attachment 272515


QF9 earlier this month

Ignoring the DRW-SIN part of the flight, it seems to follow a SIN-LHR route, which can be compared to SQ and BA, and both of those seem to be avoiding Iraq, but QF did not.

SQ seem to avoid Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, but are comfortable with/allowed to overfly Iran (Iran -> Georgia/Armenia/Azerbaijan-> northern Turkey), whilst BA seem to avoiding Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran (flying via Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before turning towards Europe at Cairo,, except Friday night where they went over Tajikistan, Kazkahstan and Uzbekistan before headings towards northern Turkey).

 

[Mr H]

FWIW, I have flown BKK-Europe a number of times over Afghan airspace. Perhaps things have changed since the Taliban came back and airlines/governments no longer wish to pay fees for use of their airspace.

 

[dajop]

Perhaps things have changed since the Taliban came back and airlines/governments no longer wish to pay fees for use of their airspace.

This. And you can easily visualise the amount of air traffic over Afghanistan at the moment on FR24.

 

[jb747]

Almost 18hrs flight time! I wonder if they are taking any payload hits?

Both the 9 and 1 had about 10 tonnes available weight at take off. Because using that would entail an increased fuel burn, it actually means they had about 5-6 tonnes available for passengers or cargo. So, in round figures, enough weight for about 40-50 passengers and luggage.

As for flying over Iran, I'm not sure why it's an issue. Presumably residual US sanctions. Their ATC were always good to deal with. But, it puts you further north than I'd really want at the moment. I'd much prefer to come out over the Med, than go over the bottom of the Black Sea.

 

[Seat0B]

If it doesn’t change back I presume the routing via Darwin would give you more SCs.

always look on the bright side of life

 

[openseat]

Thread

QF9 today

View attachment 272515


QF9 earlier this month
View attachment 272516

Threading the needle between Iran and Syria!

 

[jb747]

Threading the needle between Iran and Syria!

It's an airway. No threading required. But it wasn't all that long ago that the aircraft would have been flying a parallel airway within Iran.

 

[madrooster]

I thought AY are flying to SIN regularly (AY133).

SIN is largely not affected as you don't take a significant hit doing a detour to/from SIN. BKK, and anything north of that in Asia would take a significant hit.

 

[OATEK]

SIN is largely not affected as you don't take a significant hit doing a detour to/from SIN. BKK, and anything north of that in Asia would take a significant hit.

We have been looking at AY through SIN as an alternative to HKG (the latter being on our do not fly list now). But AY are not yet offering multi-city online, so we are unlikely to use them any time soon. But is is good to know that they might be an option once things get back a bit more normally. But I do wonder what it might mean for those routes to/from north Asia for BA, JL, AY etc.

 

[Melburnian1]

Given that QFi said in comment to media that 'the 2' and 'the 10' will take about an hour longer (although variable by day), why hasn't QFi slowed the southbound schedules if the via DRW route is staying for a while?

(Already on at least one day it rose by a fair bit less than an hour - see QF delays/cancellations).

 

[BD1959]

I thought AY are flying to SIN regularly (AY133). QF has now banned itself as it was a bit hard for our Government to ban Russian planes that never fly here.

The last AY131 (HEL-SIN) flew south, to the west of the Ukraine then down over Turkey to Sinai and turned overflying Dubai and just north of Chennai down into Singapore. Added around 1:45 to the flight time. The return AY132 pretty much backtracked the same routing.

Regards,

BD

 

[BD1959]

We have been looking at AY through SIN as an alternative to HKG (the latter being on our do not fly list now). But AY are not yet offering multi-city online, so we are unlikely to use them any time soon. But is is good to know that they might be an option once things get back a bit more normally. But I do wonder what it might mean for those routes to/from north Asia for BA, JL, AY etc.

Why not book through a reputable TA?

I have an upcoming RTW on QF to SIN, AY to the UK and then back on AY to LAX and QF down ... all booked through my trusted TA.

Regards,

BD

 

[OATEK]

Why not book through a reputable TA?

I have an upcoming RTW on QF to SIN, AY to the UK and then back on AY to LAX and QF down ... all booked through my trusted TA.

Regards,

BD

As I think I said upthread somewhere, there is not much cost difference between AY and the rest at present, and our main destination (for family reasons) is London. No doubt AY will come back into our mix when we start to travel more widely again, but I suspect not until 2023.

 

[Guvner]

EK216 flew straight through the middle last night.

 

[Mr H]

EK216 flew straight through the middle last night.

Airlines that are based in countries that have not closed their skies to Russians will clearly be at a competitive advantage.

 

[dajop]

EK216 flew straight through the middle last night.
View attachment 272612

Not surprising. I’m guessing UAE aren’t going to be particularly anti-Russia, perhaps too much oligarch money in Dubai for that?