The Kangaroo route

[zainman]

I wonder what the odds are that there's an aircraft change to an A321XLR?

If they do that, that's a lot less J seats and I can't imagine people being too happy about it when they're promised a widebody.

 

[anat0l]

Aren't these the ones that specifically target, how shall we say, the more elderly traveller? That they travel with a doctor also?

Eh, might well be; after all, who has that kind of money and time for this?

If I had both money and time, I'd probably try one of these for kicks, and I'm barely into midlife. Again, like above, that kind of money could probably fund a similar trip for less, but if money wasn't a problem, it would be for kicks....

 

[Mattg]

If they do that, that's a lot less J seats and I can't imagine people being too happy about it when they're promised a widebody.

No doubt, but if Qantas changes the aircraft on you from an A330 to a 737 they don't compensate as they say it's the same product

 

[Melburnian1]

Symptomatic of an airline that is more focused on shrinking to irrelevance, spin/PR and becoming a big data/bank/insurance company than an actual airline flying people around. Taking a A333 out of service for 2 weeks typifies this thinking. I'm sure that if Qantas management got what they wanted they would make Qantas a banksurance loyalty company flying bizjets for CL members/politicians overseas and get rid of that pesky airline with its aircraft/passengers and employees.

As highlighted in the delays/cancellations thread, QF has many problems with its A333s and A332s. I don't understand how the airline can justify taking one on a charter for two weeks when often enough it struggles to have a serviceable aircraft available for every scheduled 'normal' flight.

 

[Himeno]

As highlighted in the delays/cancellations thread, QF has many problems with its A333s and A332s. I don't understand how the airline can justify taking one on a charter for two weeks when often enough it struggles to have a serviceable aircraft available for every scheduled 'normal' flight.

Another question.
This charter is only 1 way. What are they going to do with the aircraft once if gets to London?

 

[DC3]

…. after all, who has that kind of money and time for this?

Probably those who do not need to ask the price of the tickets before booking. Plenty of Yanks do this sort of thing.

 

[DC3]

…. I don't understand how the airline can justify taking one on a charter for two weeks …

$$$$$$

 

[eastwest101]

$$$$$$

The maths must be that taking a A333 out of service for 14 days is taking 28J and 269Y seats out of the network for 14 days. Now assuming they are mostly used for international medium haul to Aisa and very rough approximation of 2.1 flying sectors per day of utilization that would be approx 823 J seats and 7908 Y seats not available to sell. Assuming an average load factor of 78% which is not unrealistic for much of Asia served by the A333 thats now 642 J seats and 6168 Y seats that would have been presumably been available during that 2 weeks of operation of the A333 to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Fiji, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Phillippines & India most likely. Not counting for higher load factors on the J seats and ignoring all the freight revenue in the belly that would also have been obtained during that 14 day period. Assuming J fares of $2K per J sector and $500 per Y sector then thats a combined total of $1.2M+3.04M = $4.24M revenue but as we all know the margins of airlines are skinny and dependant on class with J class having higher margins than Y class, but obviously more Y seats to sell so would need to be able to take a % of that as pure profit which covers all the operating and admin costs.

Considering the low utilization of the aircraft during this 2 week charter, and probably only going to be say 60-65% load factor the charter organiser would have to be adding in quite a bit of costs on top of the accomodation/meals and tours provided and then get their own profit margin out of the exercise, so the actual cost per passenger for this charter would have to be pretty mind-boggling.

 

[DC3]

Yes. I can’t imagine QF is doing this in order to lose money on the charter.