Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[OATEK]

QF2 looks like it will not be leaving Perth tonight after all:

QF2EK5002PerthSydney
Departs18:30
Arrives05:10


18:30

CANCELLED​

05:10

CANCELLED​

 

[JohnPhelan]

I wonder how long it would take Boeing to supply QF with a dozen or so 748 or 777 aircraft?

I suspect a few people at QF may be wondering the same thing!

 

[TimB]

I wonder how long it would take Boeing to supply QF with a dozen or so 748 or 777 aircraft?

"As of February 2015, the backlog of undelivered 777s totals 278 aircraft, representing just under three years of current production at 8.3 aircraft per month" (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777#Production_updates_and_improvements).

"On June 25, 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported that the order backlog was down to 32 and Boeing had decided to reduce production to one aircraft per month in 2016." (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-8).

It would be multiple years, not months, before Boeing could supply a significant number of 777/747-8 aircraft, based on the above information.

 

[Kefci2000]

I wonder how long it would take Boeing to supply QF with a dozen or so 748 or 777 aircraft?

I suspect a few people at QF may be wondering the same thing!

Am thinking my SYD-HKG next Tuesday on a 747 May be subbed out for an A330 (and not one of the good ones)

 

[jb747]

Am thinking my SYD-HKG next Tuesday on a 747 May be subbed out for an A330 (and not one of the good ones) 

Why???????

 

[Melburnian1]

A388 VH-OQB, not the aircraft that had been marooned in PER, formed the much delayed QF1D this morning, departing SYD at 0733, 15 hours and 33 minutes late.

The QF website claims that it will arrive DXB at 1550, a gain of 17 minutes on the schedule and a fair call, but then the website shows the onward leg departing at 1635, a stay of only 45 minutes which (and I'm happy to be corrected) must surely be next to impossible. The flight is then allegedly to arrive in LHR at 2115 but my tip is (assuming an uneventful trip) it may be closer to 2215.

The Monday 31 August QF9 ex MEL is fortunately on time and should form QF10(D?) at a delayed 1545 hours ex LHR today (Tuesday 1 September). As previously noted, the Wednesday 2 September 2255 hours QF9 will then inevitably be late departing MEL.

I have difficulty in seeing how QF2(D?) tonight will depart LHR at 2310 as QF claims.

FlightAware - Flight Tracker / Flight Status / Flight Tracking suggests that A388 VH-OQD remains in PER as its 31 August flight from PER to SYD is merely shown as 'scheduled'. Is this correct?

Perhaps JohnPhelan can become the officer AFF fleet adviser to QF.

I have no expertise in maintenance but even a layman can deduce that continual, forced fast turnarounds of transport equipment is hardly ideal and eventually something may give. Unfortunately because QF has little or no spare large aircraft, any problems are highly visible to the travelling public. On Tuesdays there is no eastbound QF7 from SYD to DFW but that must be connected with routine maintenance schedules given that QF keeps suggesting that the DFW route has been very successful as an alternative to travelling via LAX if one has onward connections in the USA.

These delays must also create difficulty for QF staff and the Sydney operations centre. Both groups are used to such challenges but doubtless it is a lot of demanding work: changed rosters, sign on and sign off times, different rest periods and not to mention in some cases hundreds of bemused or annoyed passengers with deadlines to meet.

 

[Kefci2000]

Why???????

I was referring to what looks like a relatively lightly loaded 747 into HKG and the potential of an out of action A380. Assumed it would be most logical to remove a relatively short haul 747 if required

 

[Melburnian1]

Kefci2000, pilot jb747 explained above that it is not possible at very short notice to substitute aircraft types for long or medium haul at the flick of a switch because the crews currently trained differ - and therefore one would have to have an A333 tech crew up in HKG a day or two before the 'substitute' to which you refer went northwards.

It isn't a country or interstate rail network where all the drivers are concurrently trained on any locomotive type.

The other difficulty would be that the B744 might indeed have not many passengers going up, but coming home bookings may be heavier, so one cannot just examine the one way passenger loadings and conclude that it could be 'subbed' by a smaller aircraft.

 

[knasty]

When I was last on Qf 127 744 one of the cabin crew mentioned they were mostly or all (can't remember) dual rated on the 744 and A330.

 

[JohnPhelan]

When I was last on Qf 127 744 one of the cabin crew mentioned they were mostly or all (can't remember) dual rated on the 744 and A330.

True for cabin crew, but not so for tech crew.

 

[Melburnian1]

Not surprisingly because it is in a different country, LHR's ways to minimise late night and super early morning aircraft noise differ from the system in Oz that operates at SYD and a small number of other Oz airports.

If QF2 takes off extremely late at night or in the small hours on respectively today London time or Wednesday morning, it will be ascribed a value of '2' in the attached chart:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quota_Count_system

Night flights | Noise | Heathrow

Is the 5800 annual cap referred to in the Heathrow Airport attachment '5800 landings' plus '5800 take offs' or is it 2900 of each?

The delayed QF1D that left this morning at 0733 from SYD is still showing as due into DXB at 1550 but going by the indicated and median speed on www.flightradar24.com , this may be a small underestimate of the actual flight time including landing and taxiing. If so, this will not help minimising the delay to tonight's (London time) QF2.

 

[Melburnian1]

The badly delayed QF1D has arrived at DXB at 1606, 16 minutes later than QF had predicted - VH-OQB, forming a likely midnight or later London time LHR - DXB - SYD QF2 tonight (Tuesday 1 September) while QF9 is landing as I write this and should be at the LHR gate (VH-OQL) about five minutes early at 1345, forming the delayed QF10 back to MEL, the normally timed 1330 hours departure. Maybe it will get away at 1530 or so if every check runs smoothly and there are no tardy passengers or other problems.

 

[Flyerqf]

True for cabin crew, but not so for tech crew.

More likely to have A330 tech crew available in HKG (as they operate BNE and MEL flights there) than a 744 flight crew in DXB or LHR.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Tuesday 1 September 2015 delayed QF9 departed LHR at 1343, an hour and 57 minutes late and is enroute to DXB.

As I had surmised above, the delayed QF1D timings on the QF website underestimated the delay with the flight not arriving DXB until 1606 on Tuesday and departing at 1745 for a suggested 2200 hours arrival in the world's financial capital. Unrealistically, QF still suggests that the delayed departure of QF2 on Tuesday from London will be at 2310. One doubts that turning around an A380 in 70 minutes is achievable.

It is always surprising that flight status websites like QF (and it is not the only 'offender') are not somehow programmed (or manually adjusted) to reflect known minimum turnaround times when an incoming flight that is known to form an outgoing flight is late. After all, QF does not have a fleet of 20 A388s sitting in LHR to choose from to operate QF2 or QF10. If teh website is not adjusted to reflect reality, this presumably means that passengers receive incorrect information on their devices that understates the delay that will occur. Perhaps not so important for half an hour extra, but for an hour or more additional tardiness many passengers would want to know this, and they cannot all be bothered or have the time to calculate this manually themselves.

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed QF10 departed LHR at 1543 and was at DXB from 0134 to 0329 this morning, departing the latter an hour and 54 minutes late. QF suggests that it will pick up 54 minutes on the schedule on the run to MEL where it should be at the gate at 2155.

Wednesday 2 September's returning QF9 is now expected to depart MEL at 0015 on Thursday morning, 80 minutes late.

The delayed QF2 from LHR departed at 2354 on Tuesday night and should be at DXB between 0920 and 1045 for an 0610 hours Thursday morning arrival in SYD, exactly an hour late if QF's sometimes optimistic prediction is completely accurate.

Touch wood - these should be the final instalments in this series of delays.

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed QF10 arrived on Wednesday 3 September at 2241, 106 minutes late. QF9 departed MEL at 0052 this morning, later than QF had predicted and three minutes shy of two hours late. It is forecast as arriving and departing DXB 110 and 80 minutes late erspectively with a 70 minute late arrival in LHR at 1500 hours today local time anticipated.

The delayed QF2 pulled into SYD this morning at 0630, 80 minutes late and again worse than the QF website had been showing. One moral might be to remember that sometimes the QF predictions can be somewhat optimistic.

 

[Melburnian1]

Friday 4 September's QF1 from SYD, the 1600 hours flight, did not depart until 1734. It is forecast to be an hour late into DXB but again the QF website has not adjusted the DXB departure and LHR arrival times - the shown 40 minute stop at DXB is much faster than normally occurs and next to impossible.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF19, the 1210 from SYD to MNL was initially shown as delayed until 1240 but that has now blown out to 1320 hours for a suggested 1920 hours arrival in MNL, 50 minutes late. If true, that should not affect the 2050 hours departure on Saturday 5 September 2015 of QF20 back to SYD.

 

[Melburnian1]

Monday 7 September 2015's QF11 from SYD to LAX departed 106 minutes late at 1136 and will not arrive the latter until 0750 today, 80 minutes late. The same day QF11 from LAX to JFK (which originates in BNE) is forecast to be 35 minutes late departing, at 0930 LAX time, for a 1740 hours arrival at JFK, 25 minutes late. In turn, QF18 from JFK back to LAX may be late departing as it is scheduled out at 1845.

 

[Ansett]

QF10 DXB - MEL delayed till 0300 departure on the 8th September.