Comings and goings #2

Here is a quick look at some of the notable comings and goings for airlines in the Australia/New Zealand region between the last update in March and now.

Air New Zealand have reduced their Boeing 737 fleet to just two frames, with two more leaving the fleet.
ZK-NGG Boeing 737-33A deregistered 17-June-2015 and noted recently in CHC wearing N303KH
ZK-NGR Boeing 737-33A deregistered 01-May-2015
ZK-EAK Beech 1900D deregistered 17-June-2015
During the period they gained the following A320
ZK-OXI Airbus A320 registered 13-April-2015

To enable Sounds Air's expansion and its replacement of Air new Zealand on some services Sounds Air have taken delivery of the following aircraft
ZK-PLS Pilatus PC12/45 registered 16-March-2015 ex VH-KWO
ZK-PLZ Pilatus PC12/45 registered 28-May-2015 ex VH-JMU
ZK-PLT Pilatus PC12/45 not yet registered still registered as VH-MWO arrived in NZ on 04-June-2015

The departure of the former Vincent Aviation fleet continues
ZK-VAI J31 deregistered 28-May-2015 to A3-SKY with Real Tonga Airlines delivered 04-June-2015
ZK-ECO BAe 146-200 deregistered 20-April-2015 to VH-SUF with Skyforce (Pionair Australia)registered 24-April-2015
VH-VNU Saab SF340B deregistered 7-April-2015 Exported to Guam with Skydive Guam

Cobham (National Jet Express) have taken delivery of another aircraft
VH-NJU Avro RJ85 registered 10-June-2015

Jetstar continued to receive Boeing 787-8s
VH-VKJ Boeing 787-8 registered 30-April-2015
VH-VKK Boeing 787-8 registered 19-May-2015

There have been several changes to the Qantas fleets
VH-NHY EMB120R deregistered 02-March-2015 exported to South Africa
VH-OGI Boeing 767-300 deregistered 06-May-2015 exported to USA
VH-OGL Boeing 767-300 deregistered 07-Aptil-2015 exported to USA
VH-OGO Boeing 767-300 deregistered 19-June-2015 exported to USA
VH-OGT Boeing 767-300 deregistered 16-June-2015 exported to USA
VH-TJI Boeing 737-476 deregistered 27-May-2015 exported to USA
VH-TJK Boeing 737-476 deregistered 30-April-2015 exported to USA
VH-OJA Boeing 747-400 deregistered 31-March-2015 to HAARS Aviation Museum Wooloongong

The next wave of Virgin Australia deliveries have been registered but are yet to be delivered, interestingly they have returned to the YF* rego block after receiving deliveries in the YI* block, suggesting these will be domestic aircraft. 
VH-YFS Boeing 737-8FE registered 12-May-2015 not yet delivered
VH-YFT Boeing 737-8FE registered 12-May-2015 not yet delivered
VH-YFU Boeing 737-8FE registered 12-May-2015 not yet delivered
VH-YFV Boeing 737-8FE registered 12-May-2015 not yet delivered

Farewell QF 767s

Today is the end of an era with the final revenue flights of the remaining 5 Qantas Boeing 767 frames.

The final flight of the type will be this afternoon (27/12/14) at 17:00AEDT/04:00UST from MEL to SYD with the flight renumbered to QF0767 in honour of the end of an era.

The 767 entered into service with Qantas in 1985 with the -238ER version.  Qantas then ordered the -338ER version in 1987.

To honour the fleet retirement here is a collection of some of my Qantas 767 shots

VH-OGF: MSN 24853 in QF service from new 1990-2012

VH-OGP: MSN 28153 in QF service from new 1996-2014

VH-OGT: MSN 29117 in QF service since new 1998-2014

VH-ZXC: MSN24339 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXD: MSN 24342 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXF: MSN 25203 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VH-ZXG: MSN 25443 ex British Airways, with QF 2000-2013

VCV finally makes it to air

The item on 60 Minutes Australia on the retirement flight of Qantas Boeing 767 VH-OGG to VCV and the aircraft graveyard finally aired last night in Australia, after several weeks of delay.

Although the item is yet to appear on their youtube channel, it does feature on their app and extras can be seen on youtube including the below birdseye view of the graveyard.

I apologise if this or the app is geo-locked outside of Australia

VCV boneyard story delayed

As mentioned in this POST, 60 minutes Australia were scheduled to show a story tonight on the retirement of the Qantas 767 fleet and the "aircraft graveyard" at Victorville.

However due to a dodgy political 'special investigation' the story did not air tonight.  Hopefully the story will air next Sunday night instead.

VCV aviation boneyard to feature on Australian 60 minutes

This Sunday night 60 Minutes Australia which screens on the Nine Network has an item on the retirement of the Qantas Boeing 767 fleet and the boneyard they are being stored in at Victorville in California.

Reporter Charles Wooley reports from aboard Qantas Boeing 767 VH-OGG (former wearer of the Disney Planes livery) as it departs the Qantas fleet to the boneyard.

The story will air during this Sunday's broadcast 20:00 AEST 7-September-2014 and will be available on the 9 Jumpin website afterwards.

For those of you outside Australia who may experience geo-blocking the story will feature on the 60 minutes youtube channel HERE from Monday AEST, or you can download the 60 minutes Australia APP and watch it that way

QF group lose big

Day two of Australasian Aviation financial announcements saw Qantas announce a record $2.843 billion ($AUD) full year loss.

Qantas has reported a lower than expected full-year underlying loss before tax of $646 million, but booked a statutory loss of $2.8 billion as a result of hefty restructuring charges and writedowns to its fleet.

One of the most notable hits was the historic write down of the international fleet at $2.6b most notably due to an exchange rate of around $0.68 AUD-USD at time of purchase.

Qantas domestic had an underlying profit of just $30m for FY14 down from $365m in FY13, however Qantas International saw the biggest hit with an underlying loss of $497m compared with $246m in FY13

Jetstar had an underlying loss but I will focus on this in a separate post.

Qantas Freight made an underlying profit of $24m down from $36m in FY13, however Qantas Loyalty had the best result with an underlying profit of $286m up from $260m in FY13.

The Qantas Group expects to return to an underlying profit before tax in the first half of FY15 based on the following expectations:

• A target of $300m of Qantas Transformation benefits to be realised in the first half

• A stabilising operating environment, as market capacity growth subsides

• First half fuel costs in line with the first half of FY14

• The repeal of the carbon tax

• Reduced depreciation costs compared with the first half of FY14 

Fleet Changes

There are some interesting changes to the QF fleet coming out of this announcement.

QFi
- Gradual replacement of B747s with A330s on Australia to Asia routes including all SYD/BNE-SIN by Sept 2014
- Early retirement of 4x B747 with the remainder of the non-reconfigured B747s to leave by early 2016
- Push back the options on 50x B787 from 2016 into 2017
- Defer the delivery of the final 8x A380(previously announced)
- Defer the final 3 B787-8 deliveries for JQ (previously announced)

QFd - including QantasLink, Network Aviation, Jetstar and Jetconnect
- reduce turn time for domestic aircraft to improve utilisation
- refurbishment of B737-800 fleet to be completed by mid 2015, provides a total 3% capacity increase
- Early retirement of B767 fleet, to be gone by end of 2014!
- Retirement of Network Aviations fleet of Embraer Brasillia EMB120 effective immediately
- Retire 2x B738 due to increased utilisation, 1 to come from domestic 1 to come from Jetconnect
- Not renew lease on 2x A330-200s which will leave the fleet in early 2016
- 5x A320s ordered for Jetstar have been sold
- 2x QantasLink Q300 will be sold during FY15
- defer order for 21x A320 for Jetstar by 4 years and convert into order for 21x A320neo


Read all of the announcements to the ASX, including the media release, the CEO's address, the Investor presentation and the Fleet Update HERE

Half Year Interim Results The Winners and the Losers

The Winner

Air New Zealand are the big winners today announcing a half year interim normalised earnings of $180M NZD and an increase in passenger revenue, as well as a pre tax Statutory earnings of $197M NZD

The Loser

Qantas have today announced their underlying half year loss of $252M AUD before tax, with an action plan that will see job losses, fleet changes, and sale of terminal leases.

The Qantas changes
Qantas have announced that they have entered an agreement which will see the Brisbane Airport Corporation regain the lease of the Qantas Domestic terminal at Brisbane and related assets for $112M AUD.

Over the next three years Qantas will reduce their workforce by 5000 full-time positions which will include a reduction of 1500 management and non-operational roles, a restructure of line maintenance, as well as the already announced closure of the Avalon maintenance base and Adelaide catering base.  There will also be a reduction of operational roles relating to fleet and network changes, and the CNS flight crew base will close.

Qantas will make a change in timing to their MEL-DXB-LHR services from November 2014 to reduce on ground timing of the A380 in LHR.

Qantas will also end their PER-SIN services in first quarter FY15, while making all BNE-SIN and SYD-SIN services A330 replacing current B744 services.

Fleet Changes

Qantas will look to make savings up selling and differing up to 50 jets, this is broken up as follows;

• Boeing 767-300s - these will all be retired by Q3 FY15, following on from the retirement of the Boeing 737-400 fleet (see previous post)
• This will help Qantas standardise their domestic fleet to mostly 737-800 aircraft with Airbus A330 aircraft flying the East-West flights (SYD/MEL/BNE-PER) as well as peak services on the golden triangle (BNE/MEL/SYD) allowing the A332 fleet to operate International routes replacing B744s
• The 6 non-reconfigured Boeing 747-400 aircraft will be retired by the 2nd half of FY16 leaving just the 9 B744s with the A380 interior product.
• Deferral of the 8 remaining A380 orders (again)
• Deferral of the last 3 JQ B787-8 orders
• Restructring of the JQ A320 order book

Air New Zealand however will be adding aircraft;

• The A320 fleet will grow by 4 in FY14, 3 in FY15 and 2 in FY16 with the B733 retirements continuting with only 7 remaining in FY14, 2 in FY15 and all gone by FY16
• The B787-9s will arrive as follows FY15 3, FY16 3, FY17 2, FY18 2 this allows 3 of the B763 fleet to be retired by FY16 with the remaining 2 leaving in FY 17, while the last 2 744s will depart in FY15
• Two additional B773's will be delivered in FY15, 1 in 2014 and 1 in 2015
• 1 ATR76 will arrive in FY14, 3 in FY15 and the final one in FY16

The Releases

You can read the Qantas release to the ASX HERE and the Air New Zealand release to the NZX HERE, this story is also covered in almost every newspaper and website around.

QF fleet changes

Qantas have announced some changes in the layouts on their A330 fleet as well as the new B717s.

All 30 of Qantas’ A330s will be upgraded with Business Suites in a 1-2-1 layout with fully flat beds and direct aisle access from every seat. Ten A330-300s for Qantas International will feature new Economy seats and 20 A330-200s for Qantas Domestic will see their Economy seats refurbished.

The 5 "new" Boeing 717s being delivered to Qantas will operate as a dedicated sub-fleet on the Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane-Canberra routes and will feature a business class cabin and iPad entertainment in every seat.

“These dedicated B717 aircraft will offer excellent levels of comfort, entertainment, food and wine, delivering on our commitment to continually improve our service,” said Mr Joyce.
The five new QantasLink B717s, announced in January this year, will be introduced to the domestic fleet during FY14.  Qantas Domestic’s 13 other B717s are also being upgraded with new interiors in an all-economy configuration.

Other fleet announcements include the major announcement that as the Jetstar A330s return to Qantas Domestic coupled with further Boeing 737-800s the entire Qantas Boeing 767 fleet will be retired by mid 2015.

• Bombardier Q400 - 3 more to arrive in 1st half of FY14
• Boeing 717 - sub-fleet to be delivered during FY14 with business class
• Boeing 737-400 - all to be retired in FY14
• Boeing 737-800 - four to be delivered in FY14, 5 to be delivered in FY15
• Boeing 767-300 - all to be retired by mid 2015
• Boeing 787-8 - 1st to be delivered in Sept & in service in Nov, 2 further to be delivered by December
• Boeing 747-400 - 2 to be retired in FY14 as underperforming Frankfurt route is cut
• Airbus A330 - all will be upgraded with new seats, JQ's A330s will transfer to QF domestic as 787-8s arrive

Read more on the fleet changes at the Qantas News Room HERE

- Download the Qantas B717 pdf fact sheet HERE

- Download the Qantas A330 pdf fact sheet HERE

NZ 789 routes

On their blog (theflyingsocailnetwork) Air New Zealand have announced the routes and seating for their new Boeing 787-9's

Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the 787-9, the first of which is due to roll off the production line at Boeing in Seattle next month. Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon says the 787-9 is a game changer for the airline.

As expected they will predominantly replace the Boeing 767-319s on Shanghai, Papeete and Honolulu, but they will also replace the Boeing 777-219 on Tokyo and Perth.

The interior will feature almost 4 tiers of seating with Business, Premium Economy which will be known as business-lite, 16 rows of skycouch then economy.

• In the Premium Economy cabin the airline has worked with US seat designer Zodiac on a customised seat best described as Business-lite. This comfortable ink coloured luxury leather seat will have a 41” pitch, a generous 5” wide armrest and a leg rest and extendable foot support which will allow passengers to really stretch out and relax.

Read more about the new seating arrangements on theflyingsocialnetwork HERE

Air New Zealand news

Air New Zealand held their annual Investor Day Presentation on Tuesday and the presentation is now online at the NZX website as can be seen HERE  I have scrolled through all 94 slides and here are some of the key points

The new strategy for this year seems to have been entitled go beyond and features heavily in the presentation

© Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand seem to have focused their route strategy onto the Pacific Rim and will focus on direct flights

© Air New Zealand (slide 10)

When looking for new markets within this region Air New Zealand will focus on

1. Market size to support 2-3 weekly services
2. Higher yielding traffic mix >Bus/VFR
3. Strong historical and projected growth
4. Strong point-to-point market
5. Focused markets (1-2 main cities)
6. Structural advantage, mostly outbound
7. Conduct advantage - network, cost or product

From this there are four main conclusions

1. Playing in the right markets
2. Working with the right partners
3. Australasian business portfolio
4. Pacific Rim network focus

From the following slide I get the impression that the new B787 fleet (or at least the first B787-9) will feature the All Black livery

© Air New Zealand (slide 46)

Further to the fleet news, in 2013 Air New Zealand will see 3 new A320s as well as 2 ATR 72-600s and over the next 3 years the fleet additions will look like this

© Air New Zealand (from slide 89)

During this time Air New Zealand expect the B747 fleet to have been fully retired by 2014, with the B737 & B767 fleet retired by 2015, although the B767 exit is under review.  So by 2016 the Air New Zealand long haul fleet will comprise B787 & B777 aircraft while the short haul jet fleet will be all A320 

Air New Zealand are also looking at focusing on the following

• B787 entry into service
• B777-200 upgrades
• Lounge upgrades (CHC, AKL, LAX)
• New ATR72-600s on regional + upgraded existing 72-500s
• Improved check-in experience
• Seamless journeys through our integrated network

YBBN spotting pt2

Some more of the pics I like from my spotting trip on tuesday

I'm kicking off today with an international flavour

Etihad Airways Airbus A330-243 A6-EYF departing YBBN for Abu Dhabi via Singapore

Air Niugini Boeing 767-336 P2-ANA as ANG4 departing YBBN for Port Moresby

Thai Airways Boeing 777-3D7ER HS-TKC departing YBBN as TK474 to Bangkok

Now moving back to an Australian focus

Tiger Airways (Australia) Airbus A320 VH-VNB departing YBBN as TT435 to Melbourne

 I'm not sure what it is about the TT birds, but I find them amazingly photogenic

Jetstar Airbus A321 looking gorgeously golden int he late afternoon sun, while also looking equally patchy is seen departing YBBN as JQ817 to Sydney

Alliance Airlines Fokker F100 VH-XWM is seen departing YBBN as UTY2366 to Rockhampton

And finally Qantas Boeing 767-336 VH-ZXF is seen departing YBBN as QF537 to Sydney

NZ/VA announce CHC-PER trial

To celebrate the official opening of the new terminal at Christchurch, Air New Zealand in conjunction with alliance partners Virgin Australia will launch a 21 week trial on the CHC-PER route with a twice weekly Boeing 767-319ER service.

The Air New Zealand flights will operate twice a week from December 3 to April 26, and if they prove popular, they will become permanent.
Christchurch Airport CEO Jim Boult says that's more than 19-thousand seats over 21 weeks and an outstanding boost for Christchurch and the South Island.

The official Christchurch International Airport press release also says CHC will benefit from B763 services on the SYD route which points to the 763 operating a AKL-SYD-CHC-PER-CHC-SYD-AKL routing.

Check out the offical CIAL press release HERE or the Christchurch Press article HERE

From the archives - P2-ANA

Here is a quick snap I took two years ago on my way home to Classic Fighters 2011.

Air Niugini Boeing 767-336ER P2-ANA seen taxiing in to the International terminal at Brisbane

P2-ANA at YBBN 22-04-11 © nzompilot 2011-2013

A few BNE movements from 23.02.13

Following on from my last post, aircraft pics are back baby!

My friend Tim was out at BNE on Saturday 23-February-2013 and captured some of the departures from runway 01.

You can find Tim on twitter @timstewartnz

Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-342 B-LAH operating CX146 BNE-CNS-HKG

Qantas Boeing 767-338ER VH-OGH operating QF525 BNE-SYD

 Qantas Boeing 747-438ER VH-OEJ operating QF15 BNE-LAX

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-319ER  ZK-OKN operating NZ136 BNE-AKL

 Etihad Airbus A330-243 A6-EYH operating EY473 BNE-SIN-AUH

QF upgrade some trans continental routes

As reported back in November (HERE) Qantas are moving all weekday MEL-PER & SYD-PER flights to A330.  They have now announced that they will fast track the all A330 introduction on their SYD-PER flights to April, while at the same time changing weekday flights on BNE-PER to all B763.

This is great news for travellers as it means the end to narrow body jets on these trans-continental flights, at least on weekdays when travelling on QF (unless your unlucky enough to get a QF code share on JQ metal)

"We will now have wide-body aircraft on all weekday flights between the eastern states and Western Australia," says Qantas Domestic CEO Lyall Strambi. That's a change from the mix of wide-bodies (with two aisles) and Boeing 737s (with one aisle) currently used.

I suspect flights from ADL-PER will still operate with B738s as will flights to DRW & CBR so the B738 fleet can still be rotated through WA.

Read more about the end to narrow body trans-con flights from Australian Business Traveller HERE

ZK-OKP model win

So as a lot of you will know I am heavily into social media, and so are Air New Zealand, so anyway Air New Zealand ran a competition last friday on twitter to win a model of their #AirNZHobbit liveried Boeing 777-319ER ZK-OKP.

So seizing the opportunity I shot back the following tweet, and actually won one of the models.

The model arrived here this morning and my picture of it prompted a lot of comment on both twitter and Facebook

As seen on twitter & Facebook

The model is 1/200 scale and made by PacMin who from what I can see on their website do display models for corporations (such as Air New Zealand)
Interestingly enough on a side note on their desktop model page PacMin use a Kuban 733 which could be ZK-TLB as seen on MRC Aviation HERE

Air New Zealand have got their own livery on the box and all

Top & side view of the box

End view of the box

The following 3 pics are up close details of the Hobbit livery as seen on the model & the real thing including the first showing of the Black tail and white koru soon to be rolled out fleet wide.
The model is solid resin, and sits on a molded base and is true to life with correct graphics including the registration under the wing.

 Here is a view of the completed model

ZK-OKP in Hobbit livery fits in quite nicely with my collection of Air New Zealand aircraft in Lord of the Rings livery B744s ZK-NBV & ZK-SUJ, B763 ZK-NCG, sadly A320 ZK-OJA is missing

Air New Zealand Hobbit/LoTR fleet

And finally ZK-OKP in its final position next to a couple of Qantas B744s

I cant thank Air New Zealand enough for running this competition and sending this amazing model to me - I am one very happy AvGeek.