Qantas Fleet

[oz_mark]

Eh, let QF, the supposed premium brand/product, use the newer and partly brand new 330-200 fleet? Oh yes, can't do that because JETSTAR has to be run on a shoestring and can't accommodate aircraft that have unnecessary maintenance costs.

While I would have preferred they shuffled Australian's 767's off to Jetstar, that was not their choice

Eh, lease some newer aircraft as a stop gap measure (compensatory deal from both SCAREBUS and BOEING, perhaps) - no, Qf would rather have the cash and guard its profit so Geoff et al can have a bonus year of a few extra million bucks in their greedy deep pockets.

I don't know what the lease market is like these days, but I would suspect that it is pretty tight and there aren't too many planes around for leasing. I am sure Qantas have looked at the options.

 

[JohnK]

While I would have preferred they shuffled Australian's 767's off to Jetstar, that was not their choice

I do not understand the decision to allocate new aircraft to a LCC who will carry once a year travellers, paying low airfares, to holiday destinations.

What was wrong with putting the 767s on JQ routes SYD-HKT, MEL-BKK, SYD-DPS, SYD-HNL, SYD-SGN, SYD-KUL. It is not like anyone would seriously listen to a complaint of the type aircraft used for these routes when they only paid $199 for the airfare....

 

[oz_mark]

I do not understand the decision to allocate new aircraft to a LCC who will carry once a year travellers, paying low airfares, to holiday destinations.

What was wrong with putting the 767s on JQ routes SYD-HKT, MEL-BKK, SYD-DPS, SYD-HNL, SYD-SGN, SYD-KUL. It is not like anyone would seriously listen to a complaint of the type aircraft used for these routes when they only paid $199 for the airfare....

I imagine it is part of the game of keeping costs low in their LCC, and pushing the costs into the full-service airline. Aside from the maintenance issues mentioned before, I would guess that the A330's are more fuel efficient than the 767's. So, keep the cheaper to run planes in the LCC.

The same thing will play out with the 787's. The first of them (787-8's), will go to Jetstar, with the A332's coming back into mainline. When the 787-9's arrive the -8's will swap into the QF fleet, and the -9's will go new into Jetstar.

 

[serfty]

This fuel efficiency thing is really signifiant; I saw an article (hardcopy) somewhere in the last days or so that indicated the A380/787 are to be 10-15% more efficient than 747/767/777 in long haul travel irrespective of loadings.

 

[docjames]

You'd also want aircraft that arent going to go unserviceable, because there's less slack in the system to make up if one aircraft is offline.

Hence, the 767s stay with QF.

 

[NM]

I do not understand the decision to allocate new aircraft to a LCC who will carry once a year travellers, paying low airfares, to holiday destinations.

What was wrong with putting the 767s on JQ routes SYD-HKT, MEL-BKK, SYD-DPS, SYD-HNL, SYD-SGN, SYD-KUL.

Another reason is because the pilots would all want to continue to be paid per QF conditions. With the introduction of a new type in JQ, they can start new "negotiations" for conditions for crewing a new type.

I expect it was not any one of the previously mentioned issues that resulted in the decision for JQ to get the ones, but a combination of all of them.

 

[Yada Yada]

The same thing will play out with the 787's. The first of them (787-8's), will go to Jetstar, with the A332's coming back into mainline. When the 787-9's arrive the -8's will swap into the QF fleet, and the -9's will go new into Jetstar.

I have to say that for QF pax, this really sucks! QF gets the second-hand equipment after Jetstar have used them.

I also wonder if some of the decision to put the new equipment is also to try to coax more QF regulars onto JQ services?

 

[Evan]

QF would currently be thinking what to do with the 787's, the delay has probably made them change there mind a little.

Somebody mentioned conpensation, QF did get some, cheap A330's and presumably extra discount on the extra 8 option's of A380 they ordered.
It remains to be seen what if anything they wil get from Boeing (but they do have additional 737-800's on order that may drop in price for example, or taking more 787 options as a reduced cost or just outright compensation. I see ANA has made more orders, so i assume that would be at a discount to the price negotiated in the past)

Another issue for QF when they made the decision to send the A332's to Jet* was the fact they could not be (easily) fitted with skybeds, and did not do all that well on domestic operations due to turn around times etc.

E

 

[Drav]

This fuel efficiency thing is really signifiant; I saw an article (hardcopy) somewhere in the last days or so that indicated the A380/787 are to be 10-15% more efficient than 747/767/777 in long haul travel irrespective of loadings.

Interesting reading! can you post the link? Any comparisons for 787 V A350XWB?

 

[NM]

Any comparisons for 787 V A350XWB?

Considering the 787 is just a full-scale construction model at the moment, and the A350XWB is still a paper plane, any comparisons are not going to reflect much reality. That will be a wait-and-see exercise preceded by an exercise in seeing which manufacturer's marketeering you believe the most.

 

[pauly7]

This fuel efficiency thing is really signifiant; I saw an article (hardcopy) somewhere in the last days or so that indicated the A380/787 are to be 10-15% more efficient than 747/767/777 in long haul travel irrespective of loadings.

I read that as well... I think it was in Aviation - the magazine. DJ were really forced into choosing the older 777 for V Oz (due to timings), in a couple of years both JQ and QF will have a much newer more efficient jet and will be interesting to see how that battle plays out!

 

[Yada Yada]

I read that as well... I think it was in Aviation - the magazine. DJ were really forced into choosing the older 777 for V Oz (due to timings), in a couple of years both JQ and QF will have a much newer more efficient jet and will be interesting to see how that battle plays out!

Fuel efficiency won't be the sole cost difference - each airline would have a number of cost-base differences. QF will always struggle because it is a legacy airline with legacy costs it must try to drive down, with resulting negative impact on staff and customers.

 

[pauly7]

Fuel efficiency won't be the sole cost difference - each airline would have a number of cost-base differences. QF will always struggle because it is a legacy airline with legacy costs it must try to drive down, with resulting negative impact on staff and customers.

Fuel/Staff on costs make up about 30% of the average airline operating costs . I know LCC like DJ and JQ pay their staff peanuts and Qantas is trying to get to their levels but fuel efficiency is a huge advantage that any airline would gladly take.

If the 787 was available to them DJ would be first in line, they were backed into a corner with waiting lists, the global shortage of leased aircraft and the timing in which they wanted to launch which left them not much choice.