HBA route massive failure with B717s

[Scott Brown]

What the hell is going on with the HBA schedule? The swap to the B717 seems to have been a massive failure with now daily delays of an hour or more inbound and outbound from SYD and MEL. We have suffered plane failures in MEL and HBA with flights cancelled and other long engineering delays. I work for a company that flies staff in weekly and it's getting to the point that we can no longer count on when they will arrive and have had them stranded along the East Coast trying to get home before curfews. And it's not like there is much choice - the Jetstar schedule comes and goes all over the place. And QC HBA is not the place to spend Friday night with crackers and Kraft Singles sliced up the best on offer!!!

I'm SICK of getting home at 11:15 pm when I should be getting home at 9:00 pm!!

Do they really want me to switch to Virgin??? Anyone else being affected by this?

Sorry, but really grumpy this morning... We had a conference with people today in HBA and have just been told that the plane from MEL is delayed... AGAIN!!

 

[Virgin Bart]

I was flying out of Hobart the other night on a QF flight, boarded at 0105.... I assure you that was not the scheduled boarding time.

 

[markis10]

Sounds like grabbing the last ever 717s available in the world may have come with a few traps, coupled with a staff change at HBA. I would imagine things will get better soon, QF link in terms of Cobham are often slicker than QF mainline in my experience.

 

[serfty]

I was flying out of Hobart the other night on a QF flight, boarded at 0105.... I assure you that was not the scheduled boarding time.

Was the lounge open ... sliced cheese not withstanding ... ?

 

[Virgin Bart]

Was the lounge open ... sliced cheese not withstanding ... ?

It sure was. There were 15 of us in there. And I wasn't driving at the other end...

 

[TheInsider]

Maybe once or twice it may have been an issue with the aircraft. But this happens all the time. I believe the main issue is the ground staff in HBA which is causing all the delays. Cheapest bidder and all that cough.

 

[RooFlyer]

Funnily enough, I flew HBA-MEL on one of those flights yesterday early afternoon and yes, the flight was late by about 45 mins (fortunately TripIt Pro let me know 3 hours beforehand about the first, 15 min delay).

SB, if you rely on meeting people frequently, you might want to look at that product. It nearly always gives delay advices by both SMS and e-mail long before the screens at airports for instance or anything the airline will tell you (often beats them by an hour)

 

[workingman]

What I don't understand is that it is regularly the first flight of the day, QF1500 at 6am, that fails. Today it took off at 8:50am. Of course this then puts the rest of the day's schedule to never catching up. Is it a engineering issue or staff issue that causes the flight to be late?

 

[Lonely Flyer]

What I don't understand is that it is regularly the first flight of the day, QF1500 at 6am, that fails. Today it took off at 8:50am. Of course this then puts the rest of the day's schedule to never catching up. Is it a engineering issue or staff issue that causes the flight to be late?

I always find it hard to get going on cold mornings

 

[JohnK]

I'm SICK of getting home at 11:15 pm when I should be getting home at 9:00 pm!!

I feel for you. It was happening to me ~weekly for 2-3 years SYD-BNE and vv.

 

[docjames]

What I don't understand is that it is regularly the first flight of the day, QF1500 at 6am, that fails. Today it took off at 8:50am. Of course this then puts the rest of the day's schedule to never catching up. Is it a engineering issue or staff issue that causes the flight to be late?

Is the aircraft overnight in HBA or are there issues with the inbound the night before? It may also be crew rest period issue etc if it's a delayed night before inbound.

 

[Scott Brown]

Just not sure what the exact cause is - lately it's been mechanical reliability. BTW, I just noticed that the midday QF back is US now. It's just relentless!

 

[workingman]

The aircraft overnights in HBA, and the crew as far as I know are HBA based. The flight the previous evening was 2:15 late, so maybe crew rest period is an issue.

QF1503/4 were cancelled today, I think so as to make sure that the later flights of 1505/06/07 are on time. So we can see what happens tomorrow morning.

 

[Boof1]

I was going to post this same thread last week as I noticed almost all HBA 717 ops have been delayed since the MEL 717 ops started, however I answered my own questions with some travel over the weekend. Here is the reasons that I could see:

1. The QF/JQ bays have been reduced to 1 from 2 due to some works being done on what looks like the underground fuel transfer system in bay 2. This makes it tight with the JQ schedule as at times there are 3x 320's of JQ plus a 717 on the ground in the mid morning.

2. They can't use VA's 2x bays in the morning due to the MEL and SYD flights clashing although when one or the other is delayed it looks like they are putting a JQ jet on bay 3.

3. The 717's are suffering some teething problems. QF have even ferried a 717 from BNE and back to help a week or so ago.

4. The new ground crews are dealing with all of the above plus learning the ropes.

In regards to point 1 last Friday a MEL 717 arrival waited 10+ mins to take the bay from a JQ320 just as the JQ flight from BNE arrived, the BNE flight sat waiting for the bay for well over 30mins and was still there when I left on VA.

It ain't pretty but with all this going on I'm sure it will iron out soon. On the bright side all reports are once onboard it is a good product.

Cheers,

Boof

 

[lovestotravel]

Delays with a few MEL-HBA-MEL flights this morning too

Aparently due to a "tech fault" with an aircraft

 

[RooFlyer]

Did HBA-MEL yesterday; 1:30pm scheduled departure was 45 mins late. As for product: its a small jet service; how challenging is that?

As for teething troubles with the 717s - are they brand new? Ground crews learning the ropes: I'd much prefer they did this in their own time. 717s into HBA isn't a new occurrence.

 

[Lowjhg]

The SYD-HBA QF1509 utilizes the same aircraft coming in from CBR as QF1510. Now due to fog in and surrounding CBR, delays to the departure of this flight are rampant, and will subsequent delay all later serviced scheduled with the metal. That means the ex HBA QF1508 will likely be delayed as well.

 

[markis10]

As for teething troubles with the 717s - are they brand new? Ground crews learning the ropes: I'd much prefer they did this in their own time. 717s into HBA isn't a new occurrence.

The 717 production line was closed in 2006, Qantas have the last one in the fleet and the newer additions have spent time in storage:



Delivery date Airline Registration Remark
23/05/2006 Midwest Airlines N928ME Last 717 built - Stored 11/2008 Correct
01/10/2009 Click Mexicana N928ME Ceased operations 28 aug 2010
Returned to lessor Boeing Capital Correct
17/04/2014 Cobham Aviation VH-YQW lsd from BCC Correct

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Cobham Aviation-active-b717.htm