Qantas boosts international capacity, wet lease Finnair aircraft

[N860CR]

Finnair crew will undergo Qantas service
training and operational support will be in place to support onboard service delivery.

That’ll be quite the interesting course! How do you train someone to perform worse than usual?

Edit: just found the exam online. Here’s one of the questions;

What do you do when a business class passenger asks for a wine top up?
A) Smile and say “certainly, sir” as you do in Finland
B) Give the 50 year old CFO a lecture about RSA (despite the fact that the flight has been dry for the 2 hours it took to get the carts ready)
C) Roll your eyes, sigh and storm to the galley
D) Both B and C

 

[AIRwin]

I can see QF291 operating on 30th October which appears to be the first date and they are selling PE on it.

Just in time for HEL-oween!

 

[CorporateFlyerMEL]

Oh why can't this be out of Perth........never get anything decent!

I think Qantas and Perth airport are still in dispute over terminal redevelopment and moves...

 

[elanshin]

Doubt they would. Likely send people to the JAL lounge, which is fairly nice anyways!

I doubt they would as well, but if they do it'll mean JQ passengers with status get lounges albeit needing to shuttle around the terminals.

 

[SYD]

Hmm, it looks like QF81/82 have been dropped in lieu of the AY operated. I’m booked QF1/QF82 J in November but they haven’t moved me over yet….

But I guess I’ll get to try the new AY seat for the first time. Being a night flight, it should be fine.

Edit: apparently QF81/82 will still operate some days and QF291/292 other days.

 

[Billtrain]

Oh why can't this be out of Perth........never get anything decent!

Lol. Literally the only direct flight from Australia to London.
Let me talk to you about living in Canberra..

 

[otchi]

The seatmaps are up on QF website:
Finnair for Qantas Airbus A330-300 seat map

 

[dairyfloss]

This is great news, on the re-fitted AY 333s for SYD<>SIN & BKK! I've only flown J in the older AY J product between SIN-HEL a couple of times, so was a bit unsure about this until seeing upthread it would be the new AirLounge product for QF's lease. Also provides us with some more Y+ inventory into the Lion City, and for the first time (?) into BKK; both handy for the day flight up, and classic upgrade request fallbacks.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[oz_mark]

I suspect the wet/dry lease combo was a requirement from the AY end. They don't want to be stuck with eight aircraft worth of crew when they are only operating six.

Over a few years natural attrition (retirements, upgrades etc) makes it easier to shift to dry lease.

Probably suits both sides. Qantas doesn't have the crew either

 

[Gold Member]

“Etuoikeus Lennolle” is Finnish for Priority Boarding. Maybe some new signs in Finnish would be more effective since Qantas ground handling crew don’t give a shart.

 

[Kendall Roy]

The Spirit of Helsinki

 

[SYD]

The Spirit of Helsinki

Finlandia?

 

[http_x92]

Probably gonna serve as a connection to AY flights from BKK, where J class to Europe via Helsinki is as cheap as you will get

 

[elanshin]

Probably gonna serve as a connection to AY flights from BKK, where J class to Europe via Helsinki is as cheap as you will get

Most likely it will.

AY 131/132 connects nicely onto QF291/292 in Singapore so it only goes with reason that they'll try to make BKK connect nicely too.

 

[dajop]

Most likely it will.

AY 131/132 connects nicely onto QF291/292 in Singapore so it only goes with reason that they'll try to make BKK connect nicely too.

BKK/HEL operates daytime. Good for those who like to have a night in BKK to break their journey. HEL/BKK operates mid afternoon arriving early am. These don’t and won’t connect with QF.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Any ideas when these will be loaded? I was checking EF but haven't seen a new timetable loaded for QF4.

 

[Saab34]

So crew will still be based in bases overseas and these will just be BKK extension flights?

 

[eastwest101]

With the older business cabin?

Should have kept the two other A330s instead of disposing of them

Yes disposal and conversion of the A330 to freighters looks like an epic fleet planning blunder to me. Its like a C-suite mid-covid panicdemic zoom thought bubble that got a bit out of hand, and too embarrassing to turn around as events unfolded.

 

[Himeno]

View attachment 329346

They may not have changed everything in the GDS yet.
Both flights can't leave HND at 2200. They have a day slot and a night slot. The flight using the day slot will have to depart before 2200 (if only by a few minutes - the night slots are between 2200 and 0600).

I can see QF291 operating on 30th October which appears to be the first date and they are selling PE on it.

Some of the AY A330s have PE. https://cms.finnair.com/resource/blob/2938260/8f0b7a126b54fc7a86c602e52c24187f/A330_new_cabin.png

AY have a 3D tour of the updated A330s on their website Finnair fleet

 

[MELso]

I can toast the news of daily MEL-TYO services with a glass of blueberry juice!