Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

On Wednesday 8 February, QF9 (1920 hours PER-LHR, B789 VH-ZNF) was airborne at 2108, arriving at gate on Thursday 9 at 0623 hours, 78 minutes tardy.

However QF10, the 1150 hours LHR down to PER was not in the sky until 1722, so today (Friday 10), at gate arrival is suggested as 1736 hours, 311 minutes late. As Fridays sees through working of the B789 to MEL, the 1355 hours onward sector is delayed to an expected pushback at 1905, making for a post-midnight arrival in Melbourne.

 

[Melburnian1]

If the below was a result of yesterday's storms meaning a shortage of aircraft in their correct places as per the working diagram, it's understandable.

However A332 VH-EBM after coming in from BLR via its CBR diversion to SYD spent overnight at the latter. This morning it operated QF401 (see above) from SYD to MEL, arriving at 0644 hours, 69 late thanks to the fog in Melbourne. It then ran QF426, the 0900 hours back, airborne form MEL at 1007. This arrived at its Sydney gate at 1115, 50 late and then had to transfer to the international terminal, so QF19 (1225 hours SYD-MNL) was not in the sky until 1411 this afternoon with suggested arrival 1845, 75 late.

Shareholders need a return on their capital, especially since QF has had so many losses in recent years and rarely pays a dividend (none since 2019!) but it isn't ideal to operate domestic flights like this as they can run late and hence a costly delay to QF19/QF20 will be incurred.

A388 VH-OQJ on QF11 (1120 hours late morning SYD-LAX) was in the sky at 1231 with suggested same day arrival at gate of 0635, half an hour late.

 

[@WhiteboardKing]

A388 VH-OQJ on QF11 (1120 hours late morning SYD-LAX) was in the sky at 1231 with suggested same day arrival at gate of 0635, half an hour late.

I see VH-OQI is still sitting at workshop in LAX, wonder when it will return to service and how much work it actually needs done beforehand.

 

[789nerd]

However QF10, the 1150 hours LHR down to PER was not in the sky until 1722, so today (Friday 10), at gate arrival is suggested as 1736 hours, 311 minutes late. As Fridays sees through working of the B789 to MEL, the 1355 hours onward sector is delayed to an expected pushback at 1905, making for a post-midnight arrival in Melbourne.

This flight eventually pushed back in Perth at 19:46 AWST, with a Melbourne arrival of 01:45 AEDT this morning, 5 hrs 30 minutes late.

Edit : the aircraft for this flight B789 VH-ZNF, having completed 3 weeks on the QF9/QF10 route, has positioned to Brisbane this morning as QF614 (on time), ready for an Antarctic Charter tomorrow.

As a consequence B789 VH-ZNA, has positioned from Sydney to Melbourne as QF6001 to take over today's full QF9 service. However despite arriving in Melbourne at 13:20 AEDT, the 16:50 AEDT departure of QF9 is posted with a 5 hour delay to 21:50 AEDT - that delay holding through to an eventual Heathrow arrival at 10:05 GMT/Z Sunday.

 

[789nerd]

Yesterday's QF63 SYD-JNB (B789 VH-ZNK) eventually pushed back at Sydney at 17:31 AEDT, and arrived in Jo'burg at 22:23 SAST, 7 hrs 48 minutes late.

The return QF64 didn't push back until 00:15 SAST, so revised arrival in Sydney is 20:19 AEDT this evening, 6 hrs 54 minutes late. For the last two Saturday's this flight has turned around and done another QF63/Qf64 rotation on Sunday. If that holds, there will be no flow on from this delay.

 

[789nerd]

Sunday's QF9 MEL-PER & QF10 PER-MEL sectors have been cancelled, which implies B789 VH-ZNE will instead turn around in Perth when it arrives with QF10 LHR-PER early Sunday afternoon.

This change will see it remain on the QF9/QF10 PER-LHR-PER service until next Saturday.

 

[Flyerqf]

Friday’s QF94 is delayed 24 hours so that’s why Sunday’s QF9/10 MEL-PER sectors are cancelled.

 

[789nerd]

Friday’s QF94 is delayed 24 hours so that’s why Sunday’s QF9/10 MEL-PER sectors are cancelled.

The delay to QF94 would not have been an issue if VH-ZNF wasn't on "Antarctic' duties tomorrow. FWIW neither FR24 nor FlightAware are showing the delay yet.

I think the B789 fleet's problems all week have a more clear root cause : VH-ZNI has been grounded in Los Angeles since 4:04 p.m. PST Monday. Two cancellations & 21 delays (of varying lengths) since then.

 

[Melburnian1]

The expected delay to tonight's QF9 from MEL to PER and up to LHR has increased slightly, with pushback suggested at 2215 hours from MEL, 325 minutes behind schedule. PER departure is expected at 0045 hours on Sunday 12, also 325 late.

QF19, the 1225 hours SYD-MNL continues to have woeful timekeeping, with A333 VH-QPJ airborne at 1413 hours for expected at gate arrival of 1838 hours, 68 behind. This will similarly delay redeye QF20 back down to Sydney. The aircraft had yesterday been a minute early arriving SIN at 1744 as QF35 from MEL, but took off on QF36 (1940 hours back down to Melbourne) at 2239, arriving MEL this morning at 0839 hours, 149 late. It then operated empty as QF6008, airborne at 1101 hours, arriving at 1206 hours at gate in SYD, making it impossible to depart from Manila on time.

 

[Flyerqf]

VH-ZNI has been grounded in Los Angeles since 4:04 p.m. PST Monday

It was always scheduled that way. Fri QF94 was the first flight scheduled since arriving as QF17 on Mon. Scheduled maintenance but has not returned as scheduled.

 

[Flyerqf]

The delay to QF94 would not have been an issue if VH-ZNF wasn't on "Antarctic' duties tomorrow. FWIW neither FR24 nor FlightAware are showing the delay yet.

QF7 is not operating today. If the Antarctica flight wasn't happening, then QF7 may not have been cut.

 

[jrfsp]

The expected delay to tonight's QF9 from MEL to PER and up to LHR has increased slightly, with pushback suggested at 2215 hours from MEL, 325 minutes behind schedule. PER departure is expected at 0045 hours on Sunday 12, also 325 late.

QF19, the 1225 hours SYD-MNL continues to have woeful timekeeping, with A333 VH-QPJ airborne at 1413 hours for expected at gate arrival of 1838 hours, 68 behind. This will similarly delay redeye QF20 back down to Sydney. The aircraft had yesterday been a minute early arriving SIN at 1744 as QF35 from MEL, but took off on QF36 (1940 hours back down to Melbourne) at 2239, arriving MEL this morning at 0839 hours, 149 late. It then operated empty as QF6008, airborne at 1101 hours, arriving at 1206 hours at gate in SYD, making it impossible to depart from Manila on time.

QF9 lost another hour last night on top of the predicted delay

 

[789nerd]

QF7 is not operating today. If the Antarctica flight wasn't happening, then QF7 may not have been cut.

As noted way back on 1st February (in post #14255), Saturday's QF7 is one of several flights removed from the timetable to cover the current absence of ZNJ, then ZNK as they undergo 3 Yr Heavy Maintenance in Singapore.

I note that the Wednesday QF7 was reinstated last week, so SYD-DFW is back to 5 services a week.

Full seven day a week QF7 services are due to resume on March 5th, albeit still with staggered departure times, with a single departure time from March 12th.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Sunday 12 February as QFi far too often continues to suffer from delayed flights, QF27, the 1200 'high noon' scheduled departure from SYD to SCL (B789 VH-ZNB) was airborne at 1400 hours with same day estimated arrival becoming 1205 hours, 70 minutes late. In departure, QF28 is likely to be similarly delayed. The aircraft had been in Sydney since prior to 0800 hours so goodness knows why it was tardy.

Quickly following was VH-QPF on the 1225 hours SYD-MNL, in the sky at 1404 with suggested at gate arrival becoming 1842 hours, 72 late. This daily flight has been at least an hour late arriving Manila in its previous five trips, one of which was two and a half hours late.

QF103/QF104 SYD-HNL-SYD are constantly late with Saturday's QF103 arriving in the USA popular beach destination at 1029 hours, 64 minutes tardy with A333 VH-QPD. The 1110 hours Saturday QF104 scheduled departure became a 1238 hours in the air, so Sunday evening arrival in Sydney should be at about 1926, 46 minutes late. This however is "early" for this extremely tardy flight. One would think with flight times of about nine and three quarter hours each way - say 10 hours and 10 minutes allowing for pushback and travelling to the gate upon landing - there'd be just enough time to turn the aircraft around at both ends (given quite often, an A333 does three return trips before being pulled off the route) but that assumption wouldn't be supported by how the flights perform re punctuality.

Other airlines based overseas can mostly operate punctually into and out of Australia, but QFi seems more interested in obtaining revenue from Antarctic specials that further reduce the number of operational aircraft available for passengers, some of whom would be loyal to this second rate operator. As a peeved friend said the other day 'Qantas can't even run an airline so why does it flood my inbox with many offers ranging from wine to credit cards?'

QF41, the 1355 hours A332 from SYD up to CGK is suggested as pushing back 95 minutes late at 1530 mid afternoon, though it may pick up time en route.

QF10, the Sunday 12 February LHR-PER is expected to depart half an hour late at 1220 hours.

 

[789nerd]

Sunday : Despite this morning's QF63 SYD-JNB (B789 VH-ZNG) departing on time, due to a weather avoiding path taking it well north of the usual Great Circle route, to flying over/near the SW tip of WA, the revised arrival in Jo-burg is 15:15 SAST, 40 minutes late.

Qantas estimates this will lead to a 15 minute delay in the departure of the return QF64 - those same weather conditions aiding an on time arrival back into Sydney early on Monday afternoon.

 

[789nerd]

Qantas estimates this will lead to a 15 minute delay in the departure of the return QF64 - those same weather conditions aiding an on time arrival back into Sydney early on Monday afternoon.

The estimated delay stretched to 33 minutes prior to push back, however arrival is still expected at, or close to 13:25 AEDT.

the 1200 'high noon' scheduled departure from SYD to SCL (B789 VH-ZNB) was airborne at 1400 hours with same day estimated arrival becoming 1205 hours, 70 minutes late. In departure, QF28 is likely to be similarly delayed.

QF28 was only 9 minutes late pushing back, however those same winds that brought QF64 back on schedule, have delayed QF28 en-route for an expected 18:28 AEDT arrival in Sydney, 38 minutes late.

 

[789nerd]

QF10, the Sunday 12 February LHR-PER is expected to depart half an hour late at 1220 hours.

This flight was eventually in the air at 13:00 GMT/Z, so revised arrival in Perth is 13:41 AWST, 76 minutes late. The onwards flight to Melbourne is posted as running 70 minutes late, for a 21:35 AEDT arrival.

In the opposite direction QF9 (B789 VH-ZNE) was 50 minutes late at take off in Perth, however is expected to make up time for an on time arrival into Heathrow.

 

[789nerd]

Monday : while the B789 operated QF93 MEL-LAX (VH-ZNC) was about 30 minutes late departing Melbourne this morning, it is expected into Los Angeles on or a little ahead of time.

Meanwhile the A380 operated QF11 SYD-LAX (VH-OQB) was 70 minutes late departing Sydney this morning, and is expected to arrive in Los Angeles at 07:09 PST, 64 minutes late

 

[jrfsp]

QF55 has been cancelled not sure why

 

[789nerd]

Tuesday was looking good, with all B789 flights on time, however Tuesday's QF10 LHR-PER has been delayed by 26 Hrs 50 minutes for a London departure at 14:40 GMT/Z Wednesday.

This delay is shown on Qantas flight status as slowly reducing with the following QF9 PER-LHR down to a 25 hour delay for a 20:20 AWST Perth departure on Thursday.

The flow on QF10 LHR-PER is shown as down to a 20 hrs 10 minutes delay with an 08:00 GMT/Z London departure on Friday. The same delay carries through to the QF10 PER-MEL sector on Saturday