20 replies to this topic

[zipp]

QF announces final flight of VH-OJA.

Qantas have announced that the final flight of the first 747-438, VH-OJA, will take place on the 8th of March.

OJA, which flew London-Sydney non-stop in 1989, was the first 747-400 delivered to Qantas and the 12th -400 produced. 

In January of 2014, it was announced that Qantas would be VH-OJA to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Service (HARS) and placed on display at Illawarra Regional Airport, located south of Wollongong. View a Qantas press statement regarding this here

 

James Hogan steps down from Virgin Australia board

The CEO of Eithad, James Hogan has stepped down from the Virgin Australia board owing to lack of time due to other commitments. Eithad Airways is Virgin's second largest shareholder with a 24.2% stake in the Brisbane based carrier after a $22.2 Million Dollar stock purchase in January of this year.

 

Virgin Blue disappears from Australian skies

Nearly 4 years after announcing a rebrand to Virgin Australia, the final aircraft to carry the old Virgin Blue colour scheme was repainted into the Virgin Australia scheme. VH-VUL was the final 737 in the carrier's 56 strong fleet to be repainted, with 23 of these aircraft being repainted by Townsville based Flying Colours.

Virgin Australia has produced a video showing the repainting process.

 

China Southern Dreamliner to Perth

The Guangzhou based airline has announced that it will join Air New Zealand, Thai Airways and Scoot in serving Perth with the 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft will replace the A330-200 already deployed on the thrice weekly service from Guangzhou.

 

 

 

There's probably a lot more but I couldn't be bothered.

[Chubby Bear]

All Australians Aboard! We have our own unique thread to keep us busy....Do Follow AUSBT.com to get newest Australian airline news.

[Chubby Bear]

I want to go see that aircraft land at Wollongong but the airport decided to close the perimeter fence road for visitors on the day. Why would they do this? What security concerns are there?

[vsauce]

I'm not exactly an aussie, but may i?

[Frdm920]

I'm not exactly an aussie, but may i?

 

The forum isn't limited to just Aussies/Kiwis contributing so of course! (but it is limited to stuff relevant to Aviation in Oceania)

[ar157]

LAN In Oceania

Way back in July 2002, LAN initiated long haul service to Oceania plying the Santiago de Chile - Auckland - Sydney route thrice a week with A340-300 equipment. More than a decade onwards this route has now been built up to a daily service with an additional 3 weekly frequencies to be added in late 2015. The A340s are set to serve the route until the 15th April, 2015 with the service the next day being operated by 787-8 equipment.

[Chubby Bear]

Virgin Australia climbs back to profitability
Virgin Australia has eked out a slim $10.2 million pre-tax profit over the first six months of the 2015 financial year, but reported an overall statutory loss after tax of $47.8 million from July to December 2014, a period when air travel is typically at its strongest.That number is still well down on earlier analyst expectations of a $100+ million deficit, with falling fuel prices helping push back the tide of red ink.The overall trend is positive, with Virgin climbing from a $45 million pre-tax loss in the same period last year.

Virgins Brisbane,Perth lounges coming along
Virgin Australia’s new lounges in Brisbane and Perth are beginning to take shape, although travellers will wait a while longer for Premium Entry in the Sunshine State.Following months of extension works to double its size, the Brisbane lounge is on-track for completion in March – easing the squeeze by giving guests considerably more room to work and relax – with Premium Entry following in August

Virgin Australia Business class seat pushed back
Virgin Australia's launch of its next-generation business class seats has been pushed back to mid-year, extending Qantas' valuable lead-time as the two airlines fight for premium passengers on the lucrative east-west market.Virgin originally planned to have the extra-wide and extra-long lie-flat beds (below) debut in March, with all six of the twin-aisle Airbus A330 jets upgraded by August.
http://www.ausbt.com...ng-777-920a.jpg
 

[Chubby Bear]

It is s a bit unsettling to think I am supposed to land at Brisbane International on Saturday afternoon and there is currently a Category 5 cyclone Marcia making landfall there as I type. Heavy delays being experienced. My parents letting me know that main roads leading to the airport are currently mostly flooded.

[Chubby Bear]

Qantas looking to make history Sunday with its 747 flight from SYD to Wollongong Regional, The world shortest 747 flight (15min), to put to rest its first 747-400 received.

[Chubby Bear]

QF
Qantas handed over its first 747-400 the the Wollongong museum today.
March 08, 2015: Four experienced Qantas captains made a challenging landing look easy as they delivered a 747-400 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society hangars at Illawarra.
Read more at http://www.9news.com...brDoiUmIhW5T.99
http://prod.static9....s1_9.ashx?w=603


VA
Virgin Australia Airlines (Brisbane) has announced it will introduce flights between Tamworth, New South Wales and Sydney from May 2015.The airline will introduce this new service on May 25, 2015, using its ATR 72 turboprop 68-seat aircraft to operate six return services between Tamworth and Sydney each week.Virgin Australia will operate a return flight every day (excluding Saturday) departing Sydney at 1.55 pm (1355) arriving into Tamworth at 3.00 pm (1500). The flight will depart Tamworth at 3.30 pm (1530) arriving into Sydney at 4.35 pm (1635).http://airlinersgall...(PTG)(46)-M.jpg

[Chubby Bear]

[Chubby Bear]

Cant Wait to try VA new business class

[Chubby Bear]

Emirates axes chauffeur drive for Qantas flights
Emirates is no longer offering its complimentary Chauffeur Drive service to business and first class passengers flying with Emirates but booked under a Qantas QF flight number to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
Chauffeur Drive remains available on these routes when travelling on an Emirates EK flight number, whether the reservation was made via Emirates or Qantas.

CX adds more 77W to SYD
Cathay Pacific will add a second Boeing 777 onto the Sydney-Hong Kong route from October 1 to cater for increased demand, especially for onwards flights to Europe.
The Boeing 777-300ER will slot into Cathay's daily CX100/101 service, replacing the current Airbus A330 and adding 90 more seats to the flight.

[Chubby Bear]

Qantas LAX expanded lounge to open in May
Qantas expects the new wing of its Los Angeles Business Lounge to open in early May, adding rooms for an extra 200 passengers as well as a dedicated dining area.The original date was pencilled in for late 2014, however the December opening of the Qantas Los Angeles First lounge proved an immediate remedy to the over-crowding which had seen some Qantas Club members turned away during busy periods.

 

[Chubby Bear]

http://www.stuff.co....utes-rise-again

Smaller airlines are rising to fill the gap left by Air NZ because they are retiring their entire fleet of Beechcraft B1900D aircraft by 2016. They currently serve lots of smaller towns (Whakatane, Kaitaia, Westport etc.) who cant sustain larger ATR services and will now have no service from Air NZ. Air Chathams with their Convair 580 and Metroliners have been the first to try and fill the gaps left by Air NZ.

Great Barrier Airlines grounds planes
Great Barrier Airlines has grounded two of its aircraft due to concerns over maintenance "discrepancies".
New Zealand's Great Barrier Airlines chief executive Mark Roberts said the airline chose to ground its Britten Norman Islander and Piper Chieftan last night after its new maintenance provider raised concerns over discrepancies in the maintenance log book.The airline, which has a chequered safety past, flies between Auckland Airport and North Shore Airport, and Great Barrier Island and has won the contract to provide flights between Auckland and Kaitaia, starting in April.Roberts said the new maintenance provider took over this week and was not happy with maintenance checks based on log books.However, it was likely any discrepancies would be resolved through paperwork and the airline's customers were not in any danger, he said.
 
Invercargill to host first ever international flight
The first chartered international passenger flight originating from Invercargill is set to take off in November with travel agent Tony Laker snaring an Air New Zealand A320 jet to fly 168 punters to the Melbourne Cup for a day trip to remember.The House of Travel Lakers owner-operator said he could not quite believe he had pulled off what would be a historic package involving Air New Zealand cancelling a scheduled Christchurch to Melbourne flight on November 3 and giving it to him to fly up to 168 people to cup day on the jet leaving Invercargill at 6.30am and touching back down at 1.30am the next day

[Chubby Bear]

Air NZ runs off runway in Christchurch
Air NZ confirmed that a 737 slid off the runway in rainy conditions at Christchurch international on 6th March

Thousands fell for Qantas facebook page
People world wide fell for a scam in which a fake Qantas facebook page was created and offered free First class flights in a series of competitions with the first draw to be held on 17 April. The page was removed by authorities this morning.

Qantas signs over its first 747-400
Qantas today signed the last paperwork to hand over its first 747-400 for Display purposes at an aviation meuseum and to be used possibly for movies in the future

China southern goes daily to Australia
Perth residents are in for more Dreamliner Delight with China Southern ramping up its non-stop Guangzhou flights from three to four times each week.From July 16, the airline’s Wednesday departures from Perth are replaced by flights on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the existing Friday and Sunday services remaining on the roster.However, Friday’s CZ320 flight sees its current 8:30am pushback time switched to 11:30pm, with the same adopted by the new Tuesday service.On the journey home from China, CZ319 pushes back at 2pm on Fridays and Tuesdays – aligning with the later departures from Perth – and at 10pm for an overnight flight on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.China Southern will also boost its Brisbane-Guangzhou flights to daily from June 23, with Melbourne-Guangzhou going double-daily from July 1.

[Chubby Bear]

Qantas to continue season Perth-Auckland flights

Qantas' Airbus A330 flights between Perth and Auckland will run again this coming summer, but with the airline bringing the start date forward to spring.

From October 30 through December 6, QF111 is wheels up from Perth at 8:30pm on Fridays, arriving into Auckland at 8am the following morning.

On the return, QF112 will depart Auckland at 12:25pm on Sundays, touching down in Perth at 3pm on the same day.

That ramps up to twice-weekly from December 11 2015 until 26 March 2016, with services from Perth on Fridays and Saturdays and return flights from Auckland on Saturdays and Sundays – following the same timing as above.

[Chubby Bear]

Qantas upgrades Dallas and Hong Kong

Qantas will ramp up its Airbus A380 flights to Hong Kong and Dallas over the 2015-2016 Christmas/New Year period, with the flagship superjumbo adding scores of extra seats on both routes during the high-demand holiday season.

The A380 already flies six days a week between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth but will toggle to a daily service from 8 December 2015 to 19 January 2016.

And while Qantas currently runs daily Boeing 747 flights between Sydney and Hong Kong, from 10 December 2015 to 20 January 2016 Qantas will upgrade five of those days – Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday – to the A380, with the jumbo still plying the route on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

[Chubby Bear]

[zipp]

Just gonna bump this with QF-Group fleet fun

 

Qantaslink Fokker F100! 

Pictured above is the first Network Aviation (NA) to be repainted in Qantaslink colours as part of a restructure of the Perth-based Qantas Group subsidury

 

Jetstar Q300

Yay Jetstar! cbf writing something so copy pasta from Australian Aviation article

"Jetstar has repainted the first of five turboprops that will be used on regional New Zealand routes"\

Plane is ex-Qantaslink and will be operated by Eastern Australian Airlines for Jetstar after an interior refresh to match JQ's current product