Qantas boosts international capacity, wet lease Finnair aircraft

[madrooster]

Finnair, including the wet lease, has been covered in a new Mentour Now! video. It would appear that the AY crews operating the QF flights are rotated between Finland and Australia via BKK. They have 9 day trips HEL-BKK-SYD-SIN-SYD-BKK-HEL.
If AY are having crew problems, then it would make sense for them to ask to reduce to 1 of the routes and shorten the trip time by dropping the SYD-SIN-SYD rotation.

Before BKK started, the tech crew were doing HEL-SIN-SYD-SIN-HEL. I would've thought they'd do the same with BKK, ie. HEL-BKK-SYD-BKK-HEL.

The cabin crew are from the respective SIN and BKK bases so each SYD trip is a new trip for them.

 

[N860CR]

Before BKK started, the tech crew were doing HEL-SIN-SYD-SIN-HEL. I would've thought they'd do the same with BKK, ie. HEL-BKK-SYD-BKK-HEL.

The cabin crew are from the respective SIN and BKK bases so each SYD trip is a new trip for them.

I believe the crew position on the HEL-BKK-HEL sectors, so it’s pretty unproductive to do just the one Australia trip.

The sooner Qantas get this in house the better.

 

[madrooster]

I believe the crew position on the HEL-BKK-HEL sectors, so it’s pretty unproductive to do just the one Australia trip.

AY tech crew are dual rated on the A330 and A350 unlike Aussie tech crew who are rated on one type only. Hence they operate ex-HEL to BKK or SIN, then after 2 nights, onwards to SYD and back.

 

[jpp42]

I believe the crew position on the HEL-BKK-HEL sectors, so it’s pretty unproductive to do just the one Australia trip.

Presumably this is to get around Singapore labour laws? Singapore can't stop them from working sectors of a longer overall trip that route through SIN, but if they were just doing SIN-SYD return over and over again, they'd be required to be domiciled in SIN and classified as Singaporean employees. Jetstar has done some similar shenanigans with Thai based crew.

 

[MELso]

Looks like AY are sacking 36 pilots and one of the wet lease routes for Qantas will be discontinued.

Finnair lomauttaa 36 kaukoliikennelentäjää

Uutiset nopeasti ja luotettavasti.

yle.fi

 

[kpc]

Looks like AY are sacking 36 pilots and one of the wet lease routes for Qantas will be discontinued.

Finnair lomauttaa 36 kaukoliikennelentäjää

Uutiset nopeasti ja luotettavasti.

yle.fi

Not unexpected....AY must be bleeding money with all the costs associated with all the flight cancellations in the last few months!

 

[SCM]

Looks like AY are sacking 36 pilots and one of the wet lease routes for Qantas will be discontinued.

Finnair lomauttaa 36 kaukoliikennelentäjää

Uutiset nopeasti ja luotettavasti.

yle.fi

I'm sure they will immediately be picked up by the ME3, if not Riyadh. Otherwise, bad news for Qantas, their capacity issues are getting worse.

 

[MELso]

Not unexpected....AY must be bleeding money with all the costs associated with all the flight cancellations in the last few months!

Caused by the overtime ban by pilots who are negotiating a new agreement. However, this has been going on for months now. I’m not sure how sacking pilots will solve a pilot-induced capacity constraint though!

(Fortunately my AY flights from MXP-HEL-SIN are operating but were both cancelled a couple of days ago.)

It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, Qantas does to fill the gap.

 

[Himeno]

Looks like AY are sacking 36 pilots and one of the wet lease routes for Qantas will be discontinued.

Finnair lomauttaa 36 kaukoliikennelentäjää

Uutiset nopeasti ja luotettavasti.

yle.fi

Finnair Will Furlough 36 Long-Haul Pilots

Finnair pointed out that its pilot union's recent actions have prevented the airline from operating its wet lease flights on behalf of Qantas.

simpleflying.com

Simple Flying has the pilots as getting put on furlough, not fired.

 

[markis10]

It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, Qantas does to fill the gap.

I am sure they are on the phone to HiFly as we type!

 

[justinbrett]

Some sources are saying it was Qantas that reduced the lease to one

Finnair to Furlough 36 Pilots After Qantas Cuts Deal

Finnish flag carrier Finnair (AY) will furlough 36 pilots following Qantas Airways' (QF) decision to reduce a wetlease agreement by half amid ongoing pilot labor disputes.

aviationa2z.com

 

[tdimdad]

Finnair Will Furlough 36 Long-Haul Pilots

Finnair pointed out that its pilot union's recent actions have prevented the airline from operating its wet lease flights on behalf of Qantas.

simpleflying.com

Simple Flying has the pilots as getting put on furlough, not fired.

Yup, that's a correct translation. Based on the original article, 710 crew pilots have been negotiating and now 36 will be furloughed (that would be only 5% of the group). The furlough will start at the latest in September and continue to at least May 2026.

The Finnish labour laws have many "slow down" clauses which may protract the resolution. QF will need to plan for several months, at least, before AY would be back to its full capacity here (unless a breakthrough in the negotiations happens suddenly).

 

[kpc]

I would be hesitant booking on AY currently less the flight got cancelled at the last minute due to the industrial action where the pilots refuse to go on standby ...esp. if you have a deadline to be somewhere!

We recently flew Syd-Hkg via Qf, then Ay Hkg-Hel-Vie to get to a tour starting in Sofia. I know Ay will book you on other airlines but a delay of more than a day meant we would miss the tour.

Our return flights were Ay Fco-Hel-Hkg than Qf to Mel. The day before, the Fco -Hel flight was cancelled, and 2 days after, the Hel- Hkg was cancelled....dodged 2 bullets there. As this was just prior to Easter and all airlines' flights were really full, there was a high chance we could have been stuck in Europe over Easter!