Well when this posts it’ll be midnight in the United Kingdom and the New Year will be amongst us. The times on this server are bit behind that though .

Today’s airplane art is two 747-400′s – A Lufthansa 747-400 in the foreground and a Qantas 747-400 in the background at Frankfurt-am-Main Airport.

The week and a bit extra of airplane art will be concluding on Monday before it shifts back to it’s usual Sunday slot (least of all, I’m having this nasty feeling I could well be beginning to scrape the barrel of what I have that’s reasonably new in the archive).

I’ll have to fix that in February

Maybe I see comedy in all it’s odd forms (those who read my trip reports will understand that), but if Alan Joyce thinks the following is going to placate his flyers and build up the lost goodwill… he’s in cloud cuckoo-land.

Now that Qantas has resumed normal operations I would like to update you on what the recent decision by Fair Work Australia means for you.

I apologise sincerely for any inconvenience that you or your family experienced during the grounding of the Qantas fleet between Saturday evening and Monday afternoon.

The decision to lock out some of our employees was an immensely difficult one and one that I did not want to have to make. But it was a decision that we were driven to by the industrial action of three unions, together representing less than 20 percent of Qantas employees.

As of last Friday, industrial action by those unions had forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights, disrupted 70,000 passengers and cost Qantas $68 million. Two union leaders had warned that industrial action could continue into next year.

This would have had a devastating effect on our customers, on all Qantas employees and on the businesses which depend on Qantas services.

On Saturday, I came to the conclusion that this crisis had to end. I made the decision to proceed with a lock-out, the only form of protected industrial action available to Qantas under the Fair Work Act, so that agreement could be reached quickly.

Unfortunately, it was necessary as a precautionary measure to ground the fleet immediately after the announcement that a lock-out would take place.While I deeply regret the short-term impact of the fleet being grounded, following the Fair Work Australia decision we now have absolute certainty for our customers. No further industrial action can take place. No more aircraft will be grounded and no services cancelled as a result of industrial action.

You can now book Qantas flights with complete confidence. This is an immeasurably better situation than last Friday, when Qantas faced the prospect of ongoing disruptions, perhaps for another 12 months.

We have now moved into 21 days of negotiations with each of the unions with the assistance of Fair Work Australia. All parties will be treated equally in order to reach reasonable agreements. If this cannot happen, binding arbitration will take place to secure an outcome. We will respect whatever decisions are reached.

Regardless of how and when the agreements are reached, the period of uncertainty and instability for Qantas is over. We are moving forward and putting this dispute behind us.

Our focus now is on our customers. We want to restore your faith by returning our on-time performance to its normal high levels, continuing to invest in new aircraft and lounges and ensuring the best possible in-flight experience.

The end of industrial action means we can concentrate on what matters – getting you to your destination on time and in comfort, offering the best network and frequency of any Australian airline and rewarding your loyalty as a Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Thank you for your patience and for your continued support of Qantas

I’m still not sure if Alan’s decision to lock-out the workers was an act of desperation, an act of wanting to get attention from the Government or just something really put up and say “Don’t blame me, blame the unions”.

However, there is a lot of goodwill hurt in this – from the workers, the unions and now – the passengers.

With Qantas’s drive towards Asia to lower costs and seek new revenue streams, this may be “solved” by the arbitration at the top, but the seeds of discontent are well and truly sewn at the grass-roots.

I hate to be negative – but this is not over by a long shot…

Meanwhile, Qantas has agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to further compensate passengers affected.

Qantas have stated:

“Qantas agrees to, and accepts, the ACCC’s request that it compensate passengers for all reasonable losses incurred as a direct result of the grounding,”

“Qantas has always intended to ensure that disrupted customers incur no financial loss.”

So get those claims in if you were hit. Details are that it will reimburse passengers up to a total value of A$350 comprising of A$250 for accommodation and A$100 for meals, phone calls and any other costs incurred.

Passengers must keep their receipts in order to make the claims. These reimbursements are separate to refunds for booking cancellations and waiver of rebooking fees that Qantas is also offering.

A literal grab from the Reuters/BBC News feed (before I close the computer down for the night).

According to a breaking news headline, Qantas has been cleared to fly by the Australian Regulators from 15:00AEDT.

Mentioned on the Qantas Twitter feed:

Qantas resuming services today, subject to approval. All customers booked on afternoon flights should go to airport. Some delays expected.

For those of you who are stranded or stuck, head to http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/disruptions/global/en

… and safe travels onwards.

From BBC News, it is reported that an Australian independent tribunal in Australia has ordered a permanent end to the industrial dispute that has grounded all Qantas flights.

The tribunal – Fair Work Australia gave the ruling after examining evidence from all sides – unions, airline nad the government

It’s taken the government to get involved – all the way to the top – Prime Minister Julia Gillard – to halt this dispute.

Alan Joyce (Qantas CEO) who ordered the stop in the first place said that operations would only resume if a permanent end had been issued – which is had.

The Melbourne Age has a deeper in-depth review.

Suffice to say, this is not the end of Qantas’s troubles – rather I think a breather before it all goes to heck.. again. One to watch over the coming weeks.

This people, is big. In the ongoing spat between the unions and Qantas management, Qantas is ground it’s entire fleet. 

What will operate:

• QantasLink
• Jetstar,
• Jetconnect services,
• Qantas freight services (Express Freighters Australia and Atlas)
• Codeshares (eg BA flight 16)

Everything else is off the table.

The grounding occurred at 5pm (AEDT) on Saturday 29 October, with Qantas locking out members of unions of Australian Licenced Engineers Union (ALAEA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian and International Pilots Union (AIPA).

Aircraft currently in the air will complete their current sectors and then be grounded.  However, there will be no further Qantas domestic departures or international departures anywhere in the world, costing  Qantas of $20 million per day. This will continue until Qantas implodes, or the unions drop their some of their demands.

Qantas advise:

Customers booked on Qantas flights should not go to the airport until further notice. A full refund will be available to any customer who chooses to cancel their flight because it has been directly affected by the grounding of the fleet. Full rebooking flexibility will be available to customers who wish to defer their travel.

Assistance with accommodation and alternative flights, as well as other support, will be offered to customers who are mid-journey.

Customers should monitor qantas.com for the latest updates. The latest information will also be posted on Qantas’ Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Meanwhile, there is full advice given at http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/disruptions/global/en. If you’re due to fly the Kangaroo, expect delays and get replanning now.

Virgin Australia have announced domestic rescuce fares: see http://www.virginaustralia.com/servicedisruption/index.htm

In the bigger picture, this is forcing the Australian government to intervene in the dispute with everyone trying to take the high ground.  In fact, the government had only mere moments before Qantas announced the move.

Coverage is on the BBC, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age, Seven Australia, News.com.au and practically every other news outlet in the world.

Qantas have been a bit busy pushing out the PR’s last night. Lets look at the ones that will hit you the poor passenger first.

The Joint Service Agreement Between London and Sydney (Qantas and British Airways)

Currently, the main JSA routes are LHR-SIN-SYD and LHR-BKK-SYD.
The LHR-SIN-SYD run will be operated with Boeing 747′s instead of 777-200′s
Meanwhile the LHR-BKK-SYD service is changed in two ways
LHR-BKK will be operated by BA terminates at BKK.
SYD-BKK will be operated by Qantas and terminates at BKK.

British Airways is to increase it’s LHR-HKG frequency going 17 times weekly from 14 times.

Also announced is the creation of Jetstar Japan in cooperation with JAL and the Mitsubishi Corporation. Operating a fleet on A320′s in 180 seater configurations, this will target the low cost segment in Japan (brining it into conflict with ANA’s “Peach”), operating initally between Tokyo Narita and Osaka, with routes to Sapporo, Fukuoka, and Okinawa on the cards. The aim is once established in Japan, to operate short haul international services.

On top of this, Qantas are readying their “New Premium Asian Airline”, which they’re preparing to launch.

The unnamed airline will not carry the Qantas name, and will take the form of a joint venture, with “a new brand, new aircraft and an exciting new look and feel”.

Expect shenanigans from the unions when this hits.

It’s Sunday, so it’s time for some Airplane p0rn.  This week, it’s a Qantas 737-800 parked up at Sydney International

More airplane p0rn next week!

It’s Friday, and I’ve been under the weather with a cold, so lets do a roundup before I go for another bucket full of lemsip…

Qantas – From Bad to Worse to Bad

Qantas is having one hell of a rough time it seems, with the latest traffic numbers down again by 1.4% year on year. Things are slowly improving, but it’s a hard road for the flying Kangaroo

TUI Group cancels 10 787′s – swaps firms for options

TUI Travel cancel 10 of its 23 787 orders, but instead swaps it for 13 options, leading to a possible 13+13 fleet of them.  Originally part of the First Choice TravelGroup order, TUI group took these on when they merged with First Choice.

TUI insist they’re committed to the 787,  however, there is going to have to be a management of expectation of the project, and containment of costs – however good the fit of the aircraft.


BA’s Baby Bus goes back n forth across the Pond

BA1 and BA2 have successfully come to life, forming the London City – New York service. Good luck for this service, and lets hope the numbers are good to support it over the coming year.

US Carriers shore up the cash

It seems if what AA can do with getting cash, everyone else can. United, Airtran, Delta and US Airways have been issuing stocks and shoring up cash to improve day to day liquidity.

Air China – Double Digit Growth 

August was a good month for Air China – with 29% growth in traffic which includes 11% international traffic growth with load factors at 81.6%.

Pretty good work in this climate – however what is the fiscal numbers mixing in with those growth numbers? They haven’t been released alas.

Emirates – the road to the higher density A380

November is going to be an interesting time to Emirates as they recivie the first of their High density 517 seater A380′s (for those who collect numbers MSN007 – one of the test units which had Rolls Royce Engines – now with Engine Alliance GP7200′s) – with some of the crew rest areas removed.  Of course this is for routes under the 12 hour marker.

Knowing Emirates alas, that assignment will accidental move around.

The 600 seater versions for Indian subcontinent hops has been put on hold for now.  One less packed sardine can to worry about in that case.

Jetstar respec’s A330-200′s – goes for High Gross Weight. 

Jetstar (Qantas) is specificing slightly different A330-200′s to everyone else and are going for the High Gross Weight (HGW).  Launched by Korean air, these aircraft have an extra payload space for cargo (3.4 tonnes) or more range (610Km).

Perhaps slightly worrying for Boeing is the lack of availability and delays to the 787 project lead JetStar towards Airbus..

Frontier exit Chapter 11 – Formally a Republic Airline.

Frontier – the airline with the animals on the tails – has successfully exited Chapter 11 protection and is formally part of the Republic Airlines Holdings.

It’s good to see some survivors out there. Republic seems to have a winner on it’s hands if they can manage it..

It’s Saturday, so it’s time to look at the commercial aviation world with raised eyebrows and see what’s going on this week. (Apologies for the delays – call it sleep)

Qantas – No Upturn just yet

Qantas report that don’t expect an upturn in traffic, with a 88% drop in profits for the first half of the year.

Seems that Kangaroo is going to have to do some more bouncing to get those numbers up.

BBC News

JAL Bail Out

See Thursday’s Entry entry. Still not good for JAL and its staff at all..

Flight, BBC News


United sends more SkyWest Capacity to new markets – More CRJ action ahead!

United has announced new regional routes. they are:

Chicago-Duluth,
Chicago-Minnesota
Chicago-Ashville, North Carolina.
Denver-Midland, Texas
Denver-Louisville, Kentucky.
Los Angeles-El Paso, Texas.

Expect a fight when the lo-co’s find out…

United, Flight

Emirates is reconsidering the A350 and A330-300. 

After dropping the last order for A350′s and A330′s, Emirates is reconsidering the market position and maybe re-igniting the order with Airbus.

With the planned new Dubai International, capacity is going to be key, and as many seats as can cram into a plane is really going to be important…

Meanwhile in the other side of the UAE…
(Flight)

An UAE A330-200 Tanker… that will be… an Eithad aircraft?

Well as the Multi Role Tanker is coming along, the UAE are fitting the aircraft with a standard Eithad aircraft two class layout, IFE and galleys.

Well it’s a way of prepping an aircraft for service…

Flight

BA to charge for seats

See the post below. Oh dear BA. What next? Charging for luggage?

Air Canada wants gets Jazzy in Toronto.

Seems that Air Canada Jazz has finally been rattled by the small upstart Porter Airlines, and is planning to restart services into Toronto City Centre Airport. As contracts and legal ramblings conclude – things may look up.


Boeing begins 787 wing mod work whilst 747-8F on targert. 

In reasonable news, Boeing has finally begun work on the wing on frame ZA001 as well as the static frame ZA997 to modify the wing structure. Estimated time to complete is 3 months with a target time of an end of year flight.

Meanwhile, the 747-8F is inching closer to the flightline as it’s build and testing is going on schedule, with a move estimated for mid-October – in other words, a strong chance it flying before the 787..

Oh well. At least it’s progress on the 787 project. It’s still going to annoy the airlines  for the delays to the aircraft…


Flight

As promised… the Youtube version of “I still call Australia my home”

The QF site has also been updated – http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/i-still-call-australia-home/global/en.

Happy surfing