March 2010 Archives

The first five of 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Royal Australian Air Force have arrived in Australia at its largest air force base, Amberley in Queensland. The F/A-18Fs are Canberra's first new combat aircraft in 25 years.

More here, including an update on Boeing's efforts to sell the Super Hornet to other countries.

Here's my video of the Super Hornets' fly over at Amberley yesterday. Short but sweet (and loud).

On the ground at Auckland

How would you like to have that as your business class eye mask? Air NZ is inviting the public to design cocktails, snacks, and eye masks.

Last year when V Australia unveiled its first B777-300ER, it boasted of a women-only loo, wall paper with hidden Australian icons, and salt and pepper shakers modeled after the Sydney Opera House.

But when Air New Zealand takes delivery this November of its first B777-300ER (it's a -300ER showdown!) it wants to boast of cabin elements created by you.

In one of the most advanced uses of social media and reaching out to customers, Air NZ is asking the public to create a "signature cocktail", mid-flight snack, eye mask, and video promoting one of those items. The video submissions will undoubtedly generate more buzz for the airline.

While the public doesn't get to vote on the submissions, perhaps that's a wise choice given Duan the engineer's eye mask idea (see top photo). Those who have their submission chosen can win a trip on Air NZ's inaugural B777-300ER Auckland-London flight next April. The competition is open to people across the world, but submissions close 26 April. See the Aviation Design Academy website for more details and, of course, quirky videos.

It will be interesting to see how customers react. Do they respond better to a dish created by some five-star chef, or to a dish created by their friend or a total stranger?

This is not the first time the public has been invoked to aviation. Back to the -300ER showdown, V Australia was named in a public competition, and its first aircraft (Didgeree Blue) was named after one of the submissions. But after that the excitement died down. Can Air NZ keep the beat going?

In about 14 hours the first 5 of 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Royal Australian Air Force will touch down for the first time on Australian soil at Amberley Air Force Base, southwest of Brisbane in Queensland.

Wings Down Under will be at the base for the event. You can follow me on Twitter for updates during the event. And of course there will be photos and videos afterwards.

But first, let's review what it's taken to have the Super Hornets arrive.

THE ORDER
May 2007--Dept of Defence signs a contract to acquire 24 F/A-18Fs. Australia becomes the first export customer. Cost will be A$2.9b while total investment is $6b over 10 years. The Super Hornets will replace the RAAF's ageing General Dynamics F-111 fleet, and provide a stopgap ahead of the delivery of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The order is immediately controversial. Critics argue the F-111s could stay in the fleet until F-35s arrive, making the Super Hornets unnecessary.

CANCEL THE ORDER?
January 2008--The contract, signed under the John Howard government, is thrown up in the air when the newly elected Labor government under Kevin Rudd comes to power. The government announces it will launch a "thorough review".

NO, STILL GOOD
March 2008--The government announces it will proceed with the Super Hornet purchase unchanged. At this point, Boeing has cut metal for the first jet.

MORE SUPER HORNETS?
February 2009--Canberra announces it will have 12 of its 24 F/A-18Fs re-wired to enable Australia to upgrade the aircraft to be E/A-18G Growlers. The re-wiring adds A$35m to the contract. Converting all 12 aircraft will add A$300m. This leads some to think Australia will order more Super Hornets.

ROLL OUT, 24 MEANS 24
8 July 2009--Boeing unveils the first F/A-18F for the RAAF.
Photos here and video below:


At the event, as we reported:

Air Marshal Mark Binskin welcomed the first of 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets ordered by the Royal Australian Air Force in an 8 July unveiling. However, he also made it clear that no additional orders for the type should ever be necessary.

There will be no "Plan B" if Lockheed encounters further problems with the F-35, he said. "Sorry, Bob, but no," Binskin said, half-jokingly, as he addressed Bob Gower, Boeing's vice-president for F/A-18.

FIRST FLIGHT
22 July 2009--The first Australian Super Hornet makes its maiden sortie, taking off from Lambert International Airport in St Louis, Missouri for a flight that lasts just over 1 hour.

LONGER LIFE, GROWLER UPDATE DELAYED
February 2010--The RAAF says its Super Hornets could remain in its fleet until 2030, longer than originally thought. At the same time, the RAAF says it is not in a rush to convert its 12 F/A-18Fs that are being wired for the E/A-18G Growler electronic-attack configuration.

DELIVERY FLIGHT
March 2010--Accompanied by a DC-10 tanker, the first 5 Super Hornets make their way from Naval Air Station Lemoore in California to Amberley. The aircraft make multiple stops, including in Hawaii and New Zealand.

Boeing releases this promotional video:


HOME SWEET HOME
26 March 2010--The five Super Hornets are planned to depart Auckland this morning and fly over the Gold Coast and Brisbane before touching down in the early afternoon at Amberley, their home base. They will be accompanied by F-111s, which they replace.


It's been a long journey, so if you're looking for something fast, here's a video of how to build a RAAF-bound Super Hornet in 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

In this edition of quirky news, when Singapore Airlines introduced its first class suite on its A380, it had to make clear "appropriate" and "inappropriate" behaviour, which roughly translated as no sex, although squeaky clean Singapore never used the S word.

Air New Zealand, however, to promote its quasi-bed economy seat is actively using a different, but still playful, S word: spooning.

Let the kiwis explain:
Did that not clear things up? Then head over to Air NZ's Facebook page, where they have posted an 85 second video of a man (who must now be infamous in New Zealand) doing nothing but spooning. That's right--no flashy image of the new Skycouch or any direct advertising about it.

The Virgin Blue executive team's Thursday was bad enough, given their, um, recuperation from the previous night's party celebrating V Australia's JNB flights.

And then Air NZ announced it was re-structuring its product and prices on Trans-Tasman (flights to Australia) and Pacific Island flights*, which it hinted at during its half-year results last month. Business class will be eliminated on its A320 aircraft, which make up the bulk of its 280 Trans-Tasman and 72 Pacific Islands weekly flights. The A320s will go from 152 Biz+Y to 171 economy-only seats. Business class on Trans-Tasman B747, B767, and B777 flights is unchanged.

To calm investors giddy about premium travel returning, Air NZ justifies its move by saying only one in eight business seats gets sold on flights out of Wellington and Christchurch. That means one seat was sold in the entire business cabin.

Economy on all Trans-Tasman/Pacific Islands flights (A320, B747, B767, B777) will be split into four different service levels with the hard product staying the same. Price differences have not yet been released.

The airline will trial the structure out of Christchurch with fares going on sale from 29 April for travel from late August. The structure goes Trans-Tasman system-wide in early September with service being rolled out from late November.

See Air NZ's diagram of the four services:
Splitting economy into different categories was first floated in the region by Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey last September, although his thoughts on Virgin Blue's "Airline of the Future" also included changing seat pitch. Air NZ's announcement is by no means an exact replication, but they are on Godfrey's heels.

And Air NZ has also made a mistake.

As Air NZ's diagram shows, the further down you go on the list the more amenities you have. If you want to choose your seat you also have to pay for luggage and a meal. If you want lounge access, you also have to pay for the seat next to you to be empty.

But what if you want a meal and no bag? Or lounge access but couldn't care about the seat next to you because you'll sleep?

That's the argument LCCs hold dearly. AirAsia X now offers lie-flat business-class-like beds (post on that coming in the next few days), but if you want a meal you'll still need to pay for it separately.

Therein lies the crux: Air NZ needs to compete better with Virgin Blue and Jetstar, whom it is losing passengers to, without being branded a low-cost carrier and damaging its reputation for more lucrative long-haul bookings. LCCs have nothing to lose and passengers to gain.

Sunday update: Air NZ General Manager Shorthaul Airlines Bruce Parton wrote on an online forum: "The key for this is that the leisure end of the market is the largest (72%) and is fast growing both in NZ and Aust[.] We have to be able to compete there and its all about price - this product lets us do that without becoming a budget airline".

Air NZ rightfully gets credit as being innovative for its past initiatives like the Skycouch and selling of empty seats, but in this case if the carrier really wanted to be innovative it would have completely unbundled its product and given passengers complete choice.

Unbundling has been a hot topic these past few years, but will Air NZ's response catch on in the short/medium-haul market, or will other full-service carriers (particularly in the US) go for a true a-la-carte model?


*Airline Route reports service from Auckland to Papeete, Niue, Perth and Sydney to Rarotonga will go unchanged, but Air NZ could not be contacted to confirm this.

Last October Virgin Blue converted B737 VH-VUA to host an in-flight Black Eyed Peas concert. Here's a slideshow chronicling the very unique modifications. (I'm trying out some new software, so please leave feedback about how it works.)

Virgin Blue has just issued an alert for a conference at 11am this morning in Sydney for a "a significant announcement for the Virgin Blue Airlines Group".

Neil Chatfield, Chairman, Virgin Blue Holdings Limited, will hold the conference. Most past conferences are billed as being held with CEO Brett Godfrey (left).

Looks like Godfrey's replacement will be announced this morning.

Fairfax papers and the Australian expect former Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti to get the post. Borghetti was the third highest person in charge of Qantas when he left last April after losing out to Alan Joyce the position of Qantas CEO.

Stay tuned.

Tiger Airways group CEO Tony Davis (right) is at it again, dismissing the AirAsia-Jetstar JV. Last month when he proclaimed the JV was "doomed", his action was almost excusable given some cheap shots Qantas CEO Alan Joyce made.

As my colleague Ghim-Lay Yeo reports, Davis has branded the JV as "nothing more than a publicity stunt". He again points to the facts 1. AirAsia is going to start--albeit with a minority share--a subsidiary in Vietnam, and 2. Jetstar has ordered IAE-powered A320s despite Pratt & Whitney supplying power plants for AirAsia's A320s.

I'll break it down briefly this time (here's the full explanation):
1. The AirAsia-Jetstar JV is a non-equity alliance. It's primarily concerned with reducing cost. Thus it's perfectly fine for AirAsia to start an airline in Vietnam, home to Jetstar's Vietnamese subsidiary, Jetstar Pacific.

2. At list prices, Jetstar would spend US $3.5 billion to purchase engines for 50 A320s. You can bet Jetstar did the math and found IAE's offer is better, even with long-term maintenance factored in.

It seems the real publicity stunt is coming from Tiger.


Photo: Tiger Airways

The second Qantas A330-200 in a new domestic configuration started service today between Melbourne and Sydney, Qantas says in a statement. Readers of this blog will know the aircraft's extolled product has a back story Qantas is shying away from.

The statement even goes on to say: "Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the aircraft represents a new era of flying for the Qantas domestic customer." New era? More like the era before the B747-300.

In a statement LAN has provided an update to its Australasia operations, which are in flux following Saturday's earthquake in Chile.

Yesterday's LA800 operating Sydney-Auckland-Santiago got held in Auckland upon its arrival and it is expected to continue to Santiago this afternoon.

LA801 routing Santiago-Auckland-Sydney will not operate today or tomorrow. It should be expected return Sydney-Auckland-Santiago services will be affected.

Santiago Airport remains closed and LAN says it does not know when the airport will re-open, although it has limited access to other airports around Santiago.