I have been watching the recently reinstated QF29/30 ,seems to be late leaving both HKG & MEL, any thoughts
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The three return trips I could access via FR24 all showed QF29 (the pleasantly timed 1245 hours MEL-HKG) being formed by different arrivals. Lunchtime is an excellent time to depart for an Oz east coast to Asia trip. It enables air connections from other capitals such as Hobart, and rural centres such as Mildura, and also surface transport connections such as by rail from Albury, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. It's also a good time to arrive in most of Asia, two or three hours before many will want to rest weary heads.
On all three occasions it's been an A332 northeast bound.
On 20 June 2023, one surmises something went wrong as the scheduled 1230 hours arriving QF70 ex DEL formed this departure that was impossibly due out 15 minutes later. No wonder it wasn't timely.
Two days later, QF423, the 0830 hours SYD-MEL formed it, arriving MEL 61 minutes late at 1106. This should be just enough time (99 minutes) to turn the aircraft around for the journey to HKG, but it was not, as the plane had to transfer from MEL's QFd domestic terminal to the international terminal.
Similar occurred yesterday, 24 June, when QF427, the 0900 hours SYD-MEL ran 38 minutes late into its gate in MEL, arriving at 1113 hours. Again, just impossible to depart on time in 92 minutes given the need for the aircraft to reposition to the separate (though not far away as the crow flies) international terminal.
Given only 90 minutes is allowed for alighting and boarding passengers in HKG, plus taking off/loading freight and mail, cleaning, unloading and loading catering, the crew change plus completing pre-flight checks, it's unlikely the turnaround can be reduced much.
However the southbound flight sometimes seems (at this time of year anyway) to be capable of picking up almost an hour on the timetable.
Like all transport operators, QFi will have a roster, but so far, there's no discernible pattern to outsiders like me. We need a larger sample of a few weeks to see if there's consistency on various days of the week when this thrice weekly flight operates.
At this very early stage, the way in which aircraft have been used for 'the 29' suggests it's a low priority flight, because having to shift a plane between terminals with not much time left on the clock hardly maximises the chances of good punctuality.
The 1 July 2023 departure is displaying as an A330-300 not the '-200' model.
The good news is from this insufficient sample, there've not been any cancellations.
