Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

The Canberra fog has led to four SYD - CBR flights in quick succession with QF1513 having been estimated to land at 1100 (an hour and 50 minutes late), QF1543 (originally ex BNE at 0600) due in at 1115 more than three hours late, QF1467 82 minutes late at 1117, QF1471 a relatively minor 37 minutes late at 1127 and the diverted ex ADL QF706 at 1145, two hours and 55 minutes late.

Three more CBR - SYD flights are cancelled this afternoon including the 1610 ex CBR, but that is the only way QF can even remotely approach on time running when the morning has had fog.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

QF11 from SYD to LAX is becoming progressively later, with departure time amended from 1130 to 1200 and now to 1220. I'd like to think that the at least two and a half hour late departure was only due to waiting for connecting passengers ex CBR that had been fogbound for some of this morning.

QF81 from SYD to SIN departed 59 minutes late at 1119, not the 20 minute delay forecast by the QF website.

Due to the delayed arrival of QF16, today's BNE to LAX QF15 departed 59 minutes late at 1124.

UPDATE: QF11 departed SYD at 1238, almost three hours late.

 

[Mattg]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

I notice that QF8 DFW>SYD has called into AKL this morning.

 

[Pushka]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

MrP's flight to Sydney this am 90 mins delayed. He took 6am flight as he is talking at a Business Lunch and didn't want to risk not arriving. Blackout at airport. Hopefully on a flight now. He had no luggage - I am bringing that on my flight. Due to depart at 9.30am. I dare not look at what is happening there...

 

[Mattg]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

MrP's flight to Sydney this am 90 mins delayed. He took 6am flight as he is talking at a Business Lunch and didn't want to risk not arriving. Blackout at airport. Hopefully on a flight now. He had no luggage - I am bringing that on my flight. Due to depart at 9.30am. I dare not look at what is happening there...

There was some pretty bad fog in Sydney this morning. It's just about lifted now.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Mattg, the 93 minutes that Sunday 3 May's QF8 spent on the ground at AKL this morning will result in a suggested four hour, five minute late arrival in SYD at 1035.

Pushka, QF730 (the 0600) from ADL departed at 0713 for SYD but the following QF732, the 0655, has yet to depart even though in ADL it is now 0730. Strangely the two early morning MEL flights were not delayed ex ADL, while the 0620 to PER only left five minutes late. The 'Adelaide Adevrtiser' is reporting strong winds and 'thousands losing power' but has not yet specifically referred to Adelaide Airport. Perhaps standby power kicked in, or the grid was restored?

Mattg, the 0600 QF400 from MEL to SYD did not depart until 0715 and will be 70 minutes late into SYD at 0835. QF408, the 0700 left 20 minutes late but is forecast to be 37 minutes late at 0902.

QF12, the Sunday night flight ex LAX (A388 VH-OQJ) is in a holding pattern near Cessnock as it had diverted into BNE, presumably because of fog in SYD, and is expected in SYD at about 0845, two hours and 35 minutes late.

Many QantasLink flights into SYD are also significantly late: the 0745 normal arrivals of QF2037 and QF2101 from DBO and CFS respectively have been altered to 0845 and 0905 while QF2019 will be an expected 66 minutes late in arriving in SYD at 0856. These delays inevitably flow on to mid morning departures ex SYD.

 

[CMA222]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

I notice that QF8 DFW>SYD has called into AKL this morning.

A smart move. Far better to be on the ground in AKL than in a holding pattern for ages over SYD/BNE/MEL or CES !

 

[BD1959]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Arrived in ADL on this morning's 671 about 10mins late due strong headwinds.

Terminal appeared to be operating normally, no sign of a blackout.

Regards,

BD

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Far better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

Ultra long range flights simply cannot carry much holding fuel. Diversion fuel only exists if there is a very close (less than about 100 miles) option. Even if a destination has Cat II/III you still need an alternate. An extra wrinkle is that diverting one of these flights will almost certainly run the crew out of hours.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

As an example of delays 'cascading' through the QF (and other airline) networks due to the relatively brief though severe fog in SYD this morning, QF842, the 0855 for DRW took off from SYD exactly an hour late at 0955 and will be a suggested 48 minutes late into DRW, delaying the return QF843 that is timetabled ex DRW at 1350.

QF2205, the 0820 from SYD to ABX did not take off until 0942 with an expected arrival on the 'Border' (a most pleasant city) at 1053, 78 minutes late, in turn delaying QF2206, the 1000 from ABX until 1117 for an estimated SYD arrival at around 1227, 77 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

The often punctual QF63 from SYD to JNB departed 46 minutes late at 1036 (B744 VH-OJT) and is not due in JNB until 1700, 50 minutes late so expect QF64 to be late departing rather than at its scheduled 1810 hours.

QF23 (A330 VH-QPG) departed SYD exactly an hour late at 1045 and should be 45 minutes late into BKK at 1720, so QF24 tonight will be late leaving to at least a minor extent.

QF434, the 1300 from MEL to SYD has been cancelled leaving a theoretical two hour gap between flights, quite unusual for QF on Australia's by far busiest air route, although in practice QF430 (the 1200 departure) is 25 minutes late so if the 1200 is not full, let's hope a few booked on the 1300 hours cancellation scrape onto QF430.

 

[Pushka]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Definitely a black out at Adelaide this am. MrP was walking across from the car park and heard a loud bang then dark. Only lasted a bit but all the systems needed rebooting. I am popular now for bringing the luggage on my flight as he was able to change flights quickly and make an important meeting.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

B744 flight QF18 has been delayed on Monday 4 May from departing LAX at its normal time of 2355 until 0225 this morning (Tuesday 5 May) meaning a probable morning SYD arrival at 0950 in lieu of 0740.

At this stage this 744 does not appear to be forming the Wednesday HKG, JNB or SCL flights so its late arrival may not delay any of these (unless there are connecting passengers for the first two.) Earlier, it had not left JFK until 2106 (the schedule is 1845) with a consequent 0009 Tuesday morning arrival in LAX (timetabled at 2140.)

Prior to that, QF11 had departed LAX at 1105 instead of 0855 for a 1946 arrival in JFK in lieu of the timetabled 1715 hours.

In December 2014, CEO of QF Mr Alan Joyce said in what may be (as our mothers taught us) 'famous last words':

Mr Joyce said the defect level on the Qantas fleet was at its lowest-ever levels as a result of the great work of the airline's engineering team. Qantas has been pushing its domestic and international fleets harder and has changed some of its line maintenance procedures as part of a drive to cut $2 billion of costs over a three-year period. "We do believe you can get utilisation up with high reliability," Mr Joyce said. "A lot of other carriers have higher utilisation than we do and have high reliability, so that's not going to be an issue."

 

[RickyT84]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

With 2 A380 and 1 744 out of service, the cracks are beginning to show on QFi's on time performance. Looks like these rolling delays may continue for a couple of weeks

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

The craft operating QF2077, the 0635 from MQL to MEL looks to have failed in MQL overnight as the flight has been delayed until 1300 this afternoon.

The 0900 QF2281 from MEL to LST and its return, QF2282, are resultant cancellations. No further cancellations are publicly shown yet.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

QF95, the B744 from MEL tonight, has surprisingly been delayed in its departure from the usual 1700 hours to what was initially 1830 and is now 1915. I say 'surprisingly' because the aircraft presumably came in on QF96 this morning ex LAX and if so has been in MEL since bright and early after its 0503 hours arrival. If it went to SYD and a new B744 is being ferried down late this afternoon for QF95, please inform us.

RickyT84's comments about 'the cracks are beginning to show' is correct although not every roster is super tight, with aircraft that arrive on time on the ground for many hours in LAX before their next flight and for a smaller, though not insubstantial, time in LHR as two examples where they get a bit of a rest or chance for basic maintenance. However other rosters such as in SYD the arrival QF64 ex JNB at 1400 forming QF17 to LAX at 1740 on some days are much tighter.

And all this is before the commencement of 'seasonal' flights between SYD and YVR. No wonder that QF63/64 has apparently been cancelled on a few days, at the cost of inconvenience to already booked passengers.

 

[Himeno]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

A few years ago, the last time they had issues with delays on the long haul flights (during the A380 grounding IIRC), they leased a BA 777 to cover some of the LHR flights. Why can't they do something similar with one of the 747 routes? at least until they get one of the A380s back online.

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

There is only one 380 that's out of service unplanned. Manila trips are planned years in advance.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

We can all sympathise with transport operators including airlines who lose planes, trains, buses or trucks to service on an unplanned basis - and the A380 damage incident may have been simply a most unfortunate accident, or conversely recklessness on the part of employees or contractors - but in the end, passengers on whatever mode want to safely get where they are going at the advertised time.

The vast majority do not read specialist blogs but if they did, they would see observations like this being made: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ram/bugger-744-substituted-in-a380-67879.html

Apart from the cost to QF - and it's good for yield hungry shareholders and aviation if airlines are profitable at present because many have had years of very high losses - there may be many reasons why it is impractical to quickly lease an aircraft, but it would be interesting to know why QF (despite not having the close ownership and commercial relationship that it had with BA years ago to which Himeno referred) has seemingly not endeavoured to lease an aircraft.

It's a question for others with deep financial knowledge, but did QF shoot itself in the foot a little by reducing its numbers of 747s such as its former VH-OJP and OJQ? There is a daily cost to keeping spare aircraft at the ready even if they have long been fully depreciated for balance sheet purposes, but any publicity from long haul flights being cancelled or delayed is a negative, and sometimes spreads quickly through word of mouth, notwithstanding that many passengers make long haul bookings a fair while in advance. If memory serves me correctly, when VA had to cancel flights due to one of its small long haul fleet being unexpectedly inoperable, it copped some negative publicity.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

QF95's MEL departure time (for LAX) has been further revised from 1915 to 1930 and then 1955, but it still had not departed at 2000 this evening. It is forecast to arrive LAX at 1635, two hours and 25 minutes late and normally in plenty of time for the 2035 hours LAX return working, QF96 back to MEL on Wednesday 6 May 2015.