Cat fight accelerates between JQ and NZ over ash

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan has accelerated the 'cat fight' over Air New Zealand flying under and around the ash cloud, while Jetstar cancelled its services, with comments made while holidaying in Queenstown.

“I wouldn’t [fly Air NZ] because I sit there with the best experts in the world, telling me what the safety risks are,” Buchanan says. 

Air New Zealand through PR boss Mark Street have hit back at Mr Buchanan

“If the parent company of his organisation is saying it’s unsafe to fly, why are they rebooking their passengers onto other carriers?
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

 Read more of Mr Buchanan's comments and Air New Zealand's counter comments from scene.co.nz Queenstown reporter Philip Chandler HERE

Cat fight looms over Air NZ 'ash' rumours

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe has hit back at "malicious and damaging" rumours that Air New Zealand has endangered passengers and compromised safety for continuing to fly below the layer of ash. Mr Fyfe has firmly pointed the finger at Australia as the source of these rumours.

Fyfe said despite all those in the flight operations team working hard last week to maintain safe operations "behind the scenes however we were constantly battling a series of malicious rumours that emerged from the Australian market and fed to media, suggesting that Air New Zealand had six aircraft in the hangar with ash damage, an aircraft grounded in Australia with ash damage and an aircraft requiring a nose cone replacement as a result of ash damage''.

read the full story from stuff.co.nz HERE

Meanwhile Qantas have denied any part in the rumours

Asked if the Australian boss had referred to Air New Zealand and Virgin airlines having issues, Qantas said Joyce ''never said that''.
''No-one at Qantas, including Alan Joyce, has said or implied at any point that other airlines are operating unsafely.  We have simply stated our policy and noted that other airlines have their own processes,'' an Australian-based Qantas spokesperson said.

Read the story from stuff.co.nz HERE

Perth's turn for Ash

Perth is the latest Australasian city to fall foul of the ash clouds, with Virgin Australia, Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger announcing cancellation of services to and from the city, with Air New Zealand and Skywest expected to follow suit.

The ash cloud effecting Perth is at a lower altitude 15000ft causing the cancellation of services from Virgin Australia and potentially Air New Zealand.

The latest cancellations cap off a four-day long travel crisis, in which tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded.

 Read  more from theaustralian.com.au HERE

ASH CHAOS

Airport terminals have turned into scenes of utter chaos as passengers deal with the fall out of volcanic ash from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chille.  Trans-tasman and domestic flights in New Zealand have been cancelled as have domestic flights to Tasmania and now Melbourne.

Qantas and Jetstar began the cancellations, cancelling their flights across the tasman and to tasmania, with Tiger and Virgin following suit with flights into and out of Victoria.   HERE HERE

Read more about the cancellations and airport chaos:
theaustralian.com.au HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE
couriermail.com.au HERE
stuff.co.nz HERE
nzherald.co.nz HERE

Airline announcements
Qantas HERE
Virgin Australia HERE
Jetstar HERE
Tiger HERE