Qantas to keep FRA till October 2013; BA Singapore codeshare to continue

[dk4]

Qantas services to Frankfurt will continue until October 2013

Presumably at which point they will switch to oneworld hub Berlin, flying from Australia via Dubai, perfectly timed for Brandenburg's (latest new) opening date on 27th October 2013?

(Berlin obviously being the key German destination NOT serviced by Emirates from Dubai.)

 

[fjc]

I've just spoken to QF telephone sales and they tell me that the new schedules will be loaded today.

Also, flying Budapest - Sydney will still have to go through Frankfurt, Zurich etc, as Emirates doesn't fly into Budapest.

 

[docjames]

This quote can be interpreted in an interesting way....

Qantas starts selling UK via Dubai tickets[/url]]

"Today's announcement on Qantas schedules reflects that Qantas is adjusting its international network irrespective of whether its partnership with Emirates is approved," Qantas said.
"The revised Qantas schedule does not require coordination between the two airlines and therefore does not need ACCC approval."

Could this be read as "we may as well go ahead anyway as if the codeshare with EK doesnt come off we can always just fly our pax to LHR via DXB without codeshare and dump SIN anyway? Plus we need to rejig our international network anyway."

 

[dot]

On Saturdays it will also operate via ADL.

Yes, missed that. Sorry.

To correct my statement re QF81:

QF81 will run direct ADL-SIN three days a week - Tue, Thu, Sat 1500/2100,
QF81 will run direct SYD-SIN on Sun, mon, Wed, Fri 0940/1600 and run SYD-ADL-SIN on Tue, Thu, Sat 1200/2100

So if you are looking for good connections out of SIN, you will need to travel via SYD on Sun, Mon, Wed or Fri .... or via PER on Tue, Thu or Sat....

 

[dot]

It's PER. QF doesn't care.

Although PER is getting a twice daily service to SIN and back - better than MEL or BNE is getting! (I don't count JQ direct options even though there is a QF flight number)

 

[fjc]

Found the following quote from link very interesting. It will take nearly 6 months to approve the agreement. No wonder Australia's productivity is so low. No approval should be necessary - it's a commercial decision that the government should stay out of.

Qantas starts selling UK via Dubai tickets

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will continue to assess the deal, and expects to hand down its final decision by the end of March 2013.

 

[mannej]

Although PER is getting a twice daily service to SIN and back - better than MEL or BNE is getting! (I don't count JQ direct options even though there is a QF flight number)

But at 00:40 and 4:40 on 330 metal?

Atleast MEL and BNE have the option of better metal to and from SIN.

 

[markis10]

Very disappointed there are no SIN Australia Day flights!

 

[JBH]

agreed, QF's chance to change timings ex SIN to a day service, surely attractive to pax, hope they think again.

Very disappointed there are no SIN Australia Day flights!

 

[dot]

But at 00:40 and 4:40 on 330 metal?

Atleast MEL and BNE have the option of better metal to and from SIN.

I perfer 330 over 744 - much quieter and better IFE - esp since the new schedule looks like being all 333 rather than one 333 and one 332 on PER flights.

I also have no problem with a 0040 arrival - still time to get to your bed and get a reasonable night's sleep (assuming you don't live 2 hrs form the airport that is). I agree a 0440 arrival is not great if you live in PER, but it's reasonable for connection for the east coast.

 

[mannej]

I perfer 330 over 744 - much quieter and better IFE - esp since the new schedule looks like being all 333 rather than one 333 and one 332 on PER flights.

I also have no problem with a 0040 arrival - still time to get to your bed and get a reasonable night's sleep (assuming you don't live 2 hrs form the airport that is). I agree a 0440 arrival is not great if you live in PER, but it's reasonable for connection for the east coast.

The 332(intl) and 333 have the same IFE as the older 747's, so that point is moot. The refurbed 747's have the same IFE system as the 380's.

You have obviously never arrived into PER at 00:40 before have you? It took over an hour to get out of customs the other day, and even though I am within 25k's of the airport, I wasn't home until around 3am.

 

[TonyHancock]

I'll be sticking with QF9/QF1 and QF2/QF10. Minimal impact on me.

 

[docjames]

New Sin timings are somewhat underwhelming. You'd think two/day would split am/pm at least.

 

[ozmille]

Disappointed about the FRA bit, booked a JASA for AUG next year in the hope I would get put on a 380 instead of the old 744

 

[moa999]

The timing of the QF81 direct is good (4pm SIN arrival) opens up a lot of other connection options.
But why only 4 days a week, and why keep the via ADL service.
Whilst I know ADL deserves some direct flights, given the routing surely tagging ADL-PER-SIN makes more sense.

QF35 (MEL) and QF51 (BNE) aren't as good, as far less connections post 8pm in SIN, particularly on oneworld/3K/VF

--

Mind you I suspect these timings are only temporary.
If/ when QF/EK is approved, and/or FRA dropped, would expect to see more alterations.

---

List of oneworld/ future oneworld (MH,FY) and QF subs (3K,VF) (per Sing airport today) ignoring departures back to Australia

The SYD-SIN direct QF81 with 4pm arrival opens up
1705 9W18/QF3954 New Delhi
1715 JL719/QF4022 Tokyo Narita
1725 MH605 KL
1755 VF204 Jakarta
1805 CX735 HK (for the status runners)
1815 FY3547/MH9821 Ipoh
1825 3K558 Ho Chin Minh
1825 MH613 KL
1835 3K698 HK
1840 3K676/QF4227 Penang
1905 CX635 HK
1910 VF248 Surabaya
1930 MU565/QF4067 Shanghai
1940 3K544 Hanoi
1945 3K682/QF4235 KL
2010 CX636 HK
2030 3K357 coughet
2045 3K841 Guangzhou
2115 MH610 KL
2140 FY3522/MH9950 Subang
2150 JL36 Tokyo Haneda
2300 9W17/QF3955 New Delhi (assuming this continues)
2325 MU566/QF4068 Shanghai (as above)
2335 AY82 Helsinki
0115 3K723 Osaka via Taipei

 

[anat0l]

Taking a handful of destinations from SIN (including all of JQ, VF, 3K, MU, 9W and JL codeshares), the following destinations in Asia would be "connectable" from most SIN bound flights from Australia.

• BKK
• BOM
• CAN
• CGK (2 flights)
• DEL
• HGH
• HKT
• KUL (2 flights)
• MES
• MNL
• NRT
• PEK
• PEN
• PVG (2 flights)
• SGN
• TPE

As for connecting from Asia back to Australia, the list is the same; in fact, pretty much every destination I took in the handful can connect to the services to Australia, though in some cases you'll be waiting a long time for the connection (viz. greater than 6-8 hours). So not ideal.

Notwithstanding that the flight which arrives in SIN the earliest to allow the greatest number of connections only operates on alternate days (and it's an ex-SYD flight), and putting aside all airlines that people may love to hate (e.g. Jetstar), on paper there are still quite a few Asian connections possible. (Naturally, for us Eastern seaboard pax, QF will most likely push us onto SYD on the days when QF81 is operating for the earliest arrival to SIN).

Day flights from SIN to Australia are obviously more comfortable, though that said there are less Asian destinations that have services that land in SIN in time to connect to day flights (e.g. leaving at around 0900 to 1000) (notwithstanding arriving in SIN at around midnight). Definitely could still work, though.

Similarly for PER, putting a flight to PER which leaves SIN in the afternoon (or early evening better) allows connections from a good handful of destinations.

To be honest, irrespective of keeping the FRA service, the "handcuffs" for flight timings are somewhat still there due to BA's SIN-LHR codeshare being proposed, plus the AY codeshare SIN-HEL. (That said, you don't really have to worry too much about the connection times to these flights, since they are so late at night).

I should probably point out that most of my checking has assumed a MCT of 60 minutes, which means that if going from QF to Jetstar or vv., through-check is possible (as long as flights are on the same ticket). If this is not the case, or people like to leave more room for comfort, then that might be a problem.

 

[Platinum A332]

Will QF be refurbishing some more 744 now, or some of the 330 fleet? A Skybed that is nearly 10 years old in design and amenity pales in comparison to the SQ A380 Business Class product.

 

[dot]

The 332(intl) and 333 have the same IFE as the older 747's, so that point is moot. The refurbed 747's have the same IFE system as the 380's.

You have obviously never arrived into PER at 00:40 before have you? It took over an hour to get out of customs the other day, and even though I am within 25k's of the airport, I wasn't home until around 3am.

The A330 IFE, while being a Rockwell system like the B747 is similar, but is not the same and does not suffer from the same reliability problems that the B747 system does. As for the refurbished 747 IFE system, I have only had one refurbished QF 747 flight and the screen was not noticably bigger (admitedly, I did have a Y bulkhead seat - seatback screens may be bigger) nor did it have any additional content over the A330 system, so I would argue that the Panasonic 744 is not a huge improvment on the Rockwell A330 system. So, I would much rather have the quietness of the A330 and two services per day with good connectivity options out of SIN than one refurbished 744 per day with limited connection options out of SIN.

I have arrived in the wee hours of the morning into PER from SIN, HKG and CGK - all bar one flight connecting to the east coast. Never has it taken anything like an hour to get land side - then I get to enjoy:shock: the 24 hr coffee shop in the Intl terminal before catching the first bus to the Domestic terminal later in the morning.

 

[mannej]

The A330 IFE, while being a Rockwell system like the B747 is similar, but is not the same and does not suffer from the same reliability problems that the B747 system does. As for the refurbished 747 IFE system, I have only had one refurbished QF 747 flight and the screen was not noticably bigger (admitedly, I did have a Y bulkhead seat - seatback screens may be bigger) nor did it have any additional content over the A330 system, so I would argue that the Panasonic 744 is not a huge improvment on the Rockwell A330 system. So, I would much rather have the quietness of the A330 and two services per day with good connectivity options out of SIN than one refurbished 744 per day with limited connection options out of SIN.

I have arrived in the wee hours of the morning into PER from SIN, HKG and CGK - all bar one flight connecting to the east coast. Never has it taken anything like an hour to get land side - then I get to enjoy:shock: the 24 hr coffee shop in the Intl terminal before catching the first bus to the Domestic terminal later in the morning.

I can tell you first hand that it did take over an hour to get landside on Tuesday morning (on 78), and this isn't the first time either.

The line to get through quarantine was bottlenecked. Not a very nice experience.

 

[moa999]

Will QF be refurbishing some more 744 now, or some of the 330 fleet? A Skybed that is nearly 10 years old in design and amenity pales in comparison to the SQ A380 Business Class product.

QF is presently refurbing 9 747s to A380 standard with Business (SkyBed II), Premium and Economy.

I unfortunately think they should have rolled out SkyBed III - a fold out smallish TV, no direct aisle access and a bed that droops no longer cuts it.