April 2010 Archives

Air Austral's B777-300ER will operate on the Reunion-Sydney-Noumea route from next February. Photo by AirSpace user dream.

Following an anti-terrorism training exercise in which an Air Austral B777-300ER was accidentally shot at, the carrier's two-strong -300ER fleet is going to receive some Pacific rejuvenation.

Reunion-based Air Austral will from next February upgauge its twice-weekly Reunion-Sydney-Noumea service from a B777-200ER to a B777-300ER,

A spokeswoman says the flights will also be aligned so they leave at the same time on each day. She adds the upgauge will add 78 seats per flight, or 156 per week. The B777-300ER has a total capacity of 442 in a 3-class business, premium economy, and economy configuration. The business and premium seats and configuration are similar to that of V Australia. While Air Austral's -300ER economy has a tight 3-4-3 configuration it also has PTVs, which economy on its -200ER lacks.

Vice president sales and marketing Jean-Marc Grazzini made the announcement last night at an event commemorating Air Austral's one year anniversary operating the route. According to sister RBI publication Travel Weekly (PDF) Grazzini said the route "was developed to play a key role in our strategy of multi-segmented routes".

A spokeswoman says load factors are currently at approximately 60%. (Statistics supplied by Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Economics are incomplete as the only passengers it records as Air Austral are those traveling from Reunion to Sydney, and not to Noumea.)

Grazzini conceded, "As with all businesses there is always room for improvement and high targets to achieve." But he noted the carrier was committed to the region and more staff would be added to the commercial team in Sydney.

Melanie and Andreas Stuetz are on an around-the-world adventure in their gyroplane and recently passed through New Zealand. They've released the above photo of their gyroplane.

Their website says:

The flight went from the Skyranch in Manilla, through the Dividing Range, over Tiger Country to the East Coast and headed further North. After that Melanie & Andreas flew during the "New Zealand Air Safari 2010" with a MTOSport through New Zealand. The Worldflight adventure has been constantly filmed and will be published in 2010/2011. Worldflight.tv is supporting terre des hommes, to make childhood dreams come true.

Here they have a collection of photos from their Asia and New Zealand travels.

Most of the information on them and their trip is in German, which I don't speak. If you know more please share.

In this installment of quirky aviation news, the Royal Australian Air Force has issued a statement that a RAAF PC9 conducting a training mission over Heyfield in eastern Victoria  today "had two landing gear doors separate from the aircraft during flight".

For the uninitiated, the RAAF is kind enough to explain that "the loss of parts from aircraft during flight is unusual".

The aircraft safely landed at  RAAF Base East Sale. More fortunate, the PC9, a small single engine turboprop, has correspondingly small landing gear doors unlikely to cause major damage. Should you find them (on the street or in the middle of your now-smashed kitchen table), please contact the RAAF. They'd like to know why the doors fell off. "Finders keepers" need not apply here.

[Updated with commentary at end]
V Australia, Virgin Blue's long-haul subsidiary, has converted its last two B777-300ER on firm order to options, according to a company spokeswoman.

This was done in conjunction with Virgin Blue's recent firm order for 50 Boeing 737s, which came with options for another 55 B737s.

Boeing was about to commence work on the two B777s due for delivery to the carrier next year, the spokeswoman explains. The carrier was originally due to take delivery of the aircraft in 2010 but last April delayed them until 2011 due to the global financial crisis.

Changing the orders to options "allow us better commercial terms, in particular more desirable delivery slots in mid-2012 to suit anticipated growth plans", she says.

With Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey handing over the reins to former Qantas executive John Borghetti on 8 May, the move also "gives the incoming executive management adequate time to consider potential aircraft capabilities and to assess options," she explains.

She reiterates the carrier has not ruled out the possibility of not taking delivery of the aircraft. "Brett wants all options available to the next team."

The spokeswoman adds the move "allow us better commercial terms, in particular more desirable delivery slots in mid-2012 to suit anticipated growth plans and to give our incoming executive management adequate time to consider potential aircraft capabilities and to assess options."

"We're slightly delaying delivery as an investment in time. It makes sense to allow the new leadership to engage in the long-haul program and to assess opportunities," the spokeswoman says. Virgin Blue has also delayed any decisions about its future short-haul strategy, which it calls the "airline of the future", until Borghetti arrives.

Boeing's order and deliveries website reflects the carrier has cancelled two aircraft from its 2007 order for six B777-300ERs. The carrier currently operates four B777s, including three it owns and one on lease from ILFC, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database. The carrier expects its fifth B777 to join the fleet at the end of the year.

Update: So what does this mean for V? Given that its fifth aircraft, due for delivery later this year, will be used for additional frequencies (and possibly one new route with limited frequency) it's unlikely we will see additional V destinations until the sixth and seventh aircraft join the fleet, now looking to be in mid-2012.

The caveat is the JV with Delta, which is still pending approval. Delta could take over one of V's routes or open a new trans-Pac route V would have access to.

Another factor is if Virgin Blue will order medium-haul widebodies like the A330 or B787, which would be suitable for serving many Asian destinations, which the carrier has indicated it is interested in. (Note: there have been rumours of starting a service to Hong Kong.)

While the 787-8 and -9 would have a lower capacity than the 777s, their fuel savings could make them worthwhile as the future expansion aircraft of choice, especially if Boeing proceeded with the -10 variant. But that's all down the line, and V would have to defect to Airbus or work hard to secure early 787 delivery slots. Only Sydney-LA will be a daily route by the end of the year, and South America screams for another player--perfect Virgin territory. They'll need the 777s.

Remember the Qantas A380 that burst its tyres upon landing at Sydney on 30 March?

Well here are some photos sent to me of the damage of the QF32 flight. Not only were the tyres shredded, there was substantial damage to the undercarriage with the bottom portions of some wheels entirely chipped off.

It is rumored the incident occurred due to break failure, but Qantas has not confirmed this. If you know more about the photos' origin, please let me know.

Perhaps fitting since Sunday was Easter, this week saw two resurrected airline rumours.

TIGER TO AVALON?
First was that Tiger Airways would start flights out of Melbourne's Avalon airport, which the carrier refused to confirm or deny. Presently only Jetstar serves Avalon, 55 km from Melbourne's CBD, where transport options from the CBD are to drive or to take the one bus that departs for each flight. All other carriers use Tullamarine airport, which is 17 km from the CBD and well-linked by a bus shuttle that runs as frequently as every 10 minutes. (Jetstar also has flights from Tullamarine.)

Reportedly, Tiger would move 5-7 leisure flights a day to Avalon to presumably take advantage of lower landing fees, believed to be about $5 cheaper per passenger. Business flights, such as MEL-SYD, would remain at Tullamarine so Tiger could continue to compete head-on with Virgin Blue and Qantas. (This is much more credible than an earlier report indicating Tiger would move all of its Melbourne operations to Avalon.) There are also questions if Tiger is getting too big for Tullamarine. During its launch in early 2008, a spokesman told me it preferred each of its bases to have no more than five aircraft. According to Flightglobal's ACAS database, Tiger has 9 A320s in Australia. The majority are at Tullamarine.

Likelihood? Likely.

V AUSTRALIA TO HONG KONG?
Second was a report (PDF) V Australia might start flights to Hong Kong in October. Virgin Blue denied it. This rumour started last June when V Australia filed for the following slots at Hong Kong:

VAU17 YBBN VHHH 0400Z-1250Z 1234567 361B77W
VAU16 VHHH YBBN 1530Z-0000Z 1234567 361B77W

The daily Brisbane-Hong Kong flight was well-timed to connect with Virgin's HKG-LHR-HKG flight (200/201). The reckoning on this move is that the route would help V further expand beyond the competitive US trans-Pacific market. The BNE-HKG flight could beef up the Virgin Group's Europe-Australia presence; Virgin Atlantic has a daily LHR-HKG-SYD return, but passengers in the Brisbane area wouldn't want to fly south to Sydney in order to fly north to Hong Kong. Only Qantas and Cathay fly BNE-HKG, but neither has a daily non-stop.

"We've applied for slots to a lot of places but we won't fly to all of them," a source at Virgin Blue (V's parent company) said to me shortly after the filing for slot. "We don't have planes to fly imminently to Hong Kong," the source said at the time, but the statement still holds some truth.

V's fifth B777-300ER joins the fleet later this year, but will so far be used for the following frequency increases:

• 1x weekly MEL-HKT for 2x weekly
• 1x weekly MEL-JNB for 3x weekly
• 1x weekly MEL-LAX for 3x weekly
• 1x weekly SYD-LAX for 7x weekly

Those increases equate to 106 hours block time out of 168 hours in a week. If V was able to achieve some efficiencies and really wanted to push its fleet, it might be possible to squeeze in a twice-weekly BNE-HKG flight, but certainly not a daily operation with the current schedule.

According to Australia's International Air Services Commission, there are currently 39 frequencies per week available from BNE, MEL, PER, and SYD to HKG but V has not applied for capacity.

Likelihood? Possible.

Stay tuned.

Next February Namibia Commercial Aviation's DC-6B (above) will arrive in Australia for a two-month long tour to commemorate Australia's centenary of powered flight. (Historically speaking, I presume they mean the centenary of Australia's powered passenger flight--which occurred in 1911--as Australia's first powered flight was in 1909.)

The DC-6B, V5-NCG serial no. 45564, was the last DC-6B built and is one of only approximately 50 DC-6s that remain in flying condition worldwide. More than 700 DC-6s were built. Namibia Commercial Aviation recovered V5-NCG in 1998 and flew it again in 2001. It primarily operates charters out of Namibia in southern Africa.

The tour will comprise joy flights in every Australian state and territory as well as a number of intercity flights, ranging from a 45 minute Canberra to Sydney ($250) to a six hour Perth-Darwin ($1650). It's expensive but possibly the last time such an aircraft can be experienced.

Namibia Commercial Aviation is taking expressions of interests but cannot sell tickets until they receive approval. Go here for more details.

View more photos of V5-NCG here and below:

A 737-800 takes off from Melbourne Tullamarine. (Photo: Will Horton)

Whatever April Fool's pranks punters come up with--787 in-flight restaurant, hologram IFE--Boeing can relax knowing it has today signed an agreement with Virgin Blue for 50 B737-800s with 25 options and 30 purchase rights for delivery from next year until 2017.

The order is the largest in Virgin Blue's history and the largest for Boeing in the past 18 months, a statement from the carrier says. While Virgin Blue declined to put a value on the order, at Boeing's list prices the 50 firm orders are worth approximately US $3.8 billion. Heavy discounts are expected, of course.

This purchase will more than double Boeing's year-to-date orders, but Boeing would certainly be happier if Virgin ordered the comparatively lacklustre -900ER variant of the 737 family. While today's deal leaves the -900ER out of firm orders, Virgin says its agreement with Boeing allows it to convert its firmed -800s to -700s or -900[ER]s.

Over the past few months Virgin had strongly hinted it would order the -900ER. Last December CEO Brett Godfrey said, "The -900 holds some appeal, at the right price obviously."

In February at the carrier's half-year results, when an in-principle agreement had been reached, Godfrey said Virgin was interested in the -900ER variant as it would provide more capacity out of slot-restricted Sydney and has a 2-3% lower operating cost per seat.

The -900ER can seat 25 more passengers in a single-class configuration than the Boeing 737-800, the next largest aircraft in the 737 family. Low-cost competitor Jetstar, owned by Qantas Airways, operates Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft domestically. The A321 has a similar capacity and range as the -900ER. Qantas operates widebody aircraft on some domestic routes, including out of Sydney. In late 2014 Qantas is due to introduce 787s on domestic routes, further pushing Virgin to have a larger aircraft on popular routes affected by slot control.

The aircraft purchased under today's deal will be feature fuel saving improvements and will be delivered with Boeing's Sky Interior, which includes newly designed seats and IFE that will coincide with Virgin's "Airline of the Future" concept to be rolled out next year, the carrier says. But there's no indication if the first of these new aircraft will be the first aircraft to take part in Virgin's Airline of the Future.

The carrier says a "significant percentage" of the new aircraft are to replace existing aircraft. Many of the carrier's -700s and -800s (the only type of 737s it operates) are coming off their leases and will soon require increased maintenance. Older aircraft, starting at approximately ten years, are more likely to develop costly structural and other issues where fixing the problem is more expensive in the long run than replacing the aircraft with a new one.

Virgin first revealed last September it was looking to order more 737s.