....it's been named Virign Australia Regional Airlines since oh I dunno May?
Anyhow, EY is expected to bring A388s to SYD and MEL late next year because SYD really needs more A388s, they're also planning to have their own lounges up in SYD (and I think MEL) by early next year so yeah bit of a up yours to VA your lounge isn't good enough 
+ EY services to PER and more flights to BNE, they're also upping their stake in VA
In other news, QF has produced one of the most stupid promos ever.
and the first painted JQ 787, VH-VKA...
Courtesy of moonm - Flickr
As much as I hate Jetstar, I'm impressed.
Administrator of UnitedSkies alliance
and also a member of some other ones, but they're 2vip4u
and the rollout...a few more pictures from Jetstar Airways - Flickr
So while the first 787 for JQ, VH-VKA (LN123) is undergoing pre-flight preparations, the next frame destined for JQ (LN134) is under going final assembly in Everett while the 3rd 787 (LN142) for JQ is destined to be assembled at Everett.
the QF PER-AKL service seems to be operating on Fridays and Saturdays with intl. config A332s.
My understanding is the A330s would normally be on the ground in Perth during these rotations.
2x weekly versus 7 weekly 77Es to Auckland and 2x weekly 763s to Christchurch on ANZ.
Come on Qantas, at least try and compete.
Administrator of UnitedSkies alliance
and also a member of some other ones, but they're 2vip4u
United is, according to a.net, replacing the SFO/LAX-SYD/-MEL 747 flights with a 77E. This will make United somewhat more competitive on the route, seeing as the 77Es have PTVs whereas 744s do not. This does however mean reduction in capacity, possibly United will be trying to improve yields with the better on board product and fewer seats to sell?
Administrator of UnitedSkies alliance
and also a member of some other ones, but they're 2vip4u
United is, according to a.net, replacing the SFO/LAX-SYD/-MEL 747 flights with a 77E. This will make United somewhat more competitive on the route, seeing as the 77Es have PTVs whereas 744s do not. This does however mean reduction in capacity, possibly United will be trying to improve yields with the better on board product and fewer seats to sell?
But they do lose something like ~15 premium seats.
Anyhow, Australian Air Express' first 733F has appeared in QFreight colours. for those who aren't familiar, Australian Air Express has always been part or wholly owned for its history, flying a fleet of 4x 733s domestically. Previously they wore their own livery (a quick google will show you their livery) however QF decided that they would get the roo and this is the result:
http://3.bp.blogspot...<acronym title=
Certainly much better than the 763F imo...
Malaysian Airlines have recently announced plans to boost MEL-KUL and SYD-KUL to 3x daily using their new A333s. Air Asia X are also going double daily on MEL-KUL, PER-KUL and SYD-KUL which would see it become the 4th largest international carrier by the end of the year.
And finally, the pictures of QF's much awaited new business class offering on it's A330s:
QF will also introduce a new economy class on its international A330s while the domestic birds will receive a refurbished product:
And for the sake of it, I may as well include the new 717 configuration which will sport yet another domestic business class product:
Artist's impression but lets pretend those 717 business seats are what they're gonna roll out, i mean it was in the QF PR.
717s should work nicely for Canberra methinks, due to high cycle low flight times and such.
Business looks decent and no doubt ahead of VA's ATRs.
As for A330 business, assuming it's fullflat, which I'm pretty sure it is from the pictures, will probably be a better product than the A380 business class, which I find a little ironic considering the A330 does shorter routes. I wonder if this is the business class we can expect to see delivered on 787s to QF, assuming they still take some.
Administrator of UnitedSkies alliance
and also a member of some other ones, but they're 2vip4u
As for A330 business, assuming it's fullflat, which I'm pretty sure it is from the pictures, will probably be a better product than the A380 business class, which I find a little ironic considering the A330 does shorter routes. I wonder if this is the business class we can expect to see delivered on 787s to QF, assuming they still take some.
I'm sure that if QF are happy with the staggered configuration, they'll be rolled out fleet wide on the 787s and the A380s. In fact, I think they'll roll out the new economy product on the A380s as well along with a First Class refresh and quite possibly a new Premium Economy product which will be again rolled out on the 787s as well, along with possibly the A330s. We've still got a good year to see if QF are going to put Premium Economy on the A330s. (which I think a cabin of about 18 seats would be appropriate)
I fail to see much difference between old economy and new economy, so I think a rollout across A380s seems unnecessary due to the large costs involved.
Administrator of UnitedSkies alliance
and also a member of some other ones, but they're 2vip4u
I fail to see much difference between old economy and new economy, so I think a rollout across A380s seems unnecessary due to the large costs involved.
Maybe in the 575t A380s where the weight savings could prove useful if they throw the a/c on SYD-DFW? But that would mean 2 Y products in the A380s which suck. That said, if the A330s get the new product before the A380s get any new Business or Economy, wouldn't that mean MEL-HKG and BNE-HKG would be effectively have a better product than SYD-HKG on the supposed flagship A380s. Food for thought.
Anyhow, so I think I have previously said that there'll be 5x 717s with business class based in Canberra, well it seems only 4x will be based in Canberra with 1x based in Hobart, which is surprising as Hobart isn't a particularly high yielding destination, dominated by Q400s. Anyhow, they'll appear on the Canberra routes from November 15, 12x weekly to Brisbane, 4x week to MEL and 1x week to SYD with operations ramping up over the following 4 months.
Scoot has also applied for 5x weekly service to Perth with its 772s.
I do find it quite amusing that QF cut its services on PER-SIN from twice daily to daily because they claimed there wasn't enough O&D traffic to warrant the twice daily service, few days later SQ ups their frequency on the route and now Scoot is getting in on the act, hardly surprising given that Singapore is probably our largest international trading partner and we have a lot of Singaporean students here. QF really did shoot themselves in the foot with that move
Whilst TZ certainly targets O&D, I find it interesting that they chose not to increase frequencies on TR seeing as PER is within A320 range. I do agree that QF should've tried to sustain a twice daily service but cuts were necessary in order to operate the SYD-SIN and MEL-SIN terminators. There wasn't exactly a lot of A330 slack in the fleet and there weren't many (if any) on the used market. New orders would've also taken ages to be delivered. SQ also targets not only O&D but plentiful amounts of South East Asian traffic through mainline as well as SilkAir as well as onwards Indian connections, which SQ dominates in this market. That said MH also have an excellent presence in India and CX is also trying to capitalise on the ever growing Australia - India market. I seem to remember being handed a small card whilst flying CX earlier this year which said something about a 3 or 4x weekly service to HYD. A further example of the growing market would be the recently (and by recently i mean like the 787 landed this morning) opened DEL-SYD-MEL triangular routing, making for a daily service from Australia to Delhi.
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