DPS looms large in Tigers eyes

As mentioned last year Tigerair will take over the MEL/ADL/PER - DPS services currently operated by parent Virgin Australia from next month.

Tiger recently held a media event to discuss the flights and show off the first of their Boeing 737-8FE's which they will borrow from VA for use on the route.

Boeing 737-8FE VH-VUB in Tigerair livery at YMML - photo via australianaviation.com.au ©

The first Boeing 737-8FE in service will be VH-VUB ex ZK-PBJ which was painted into Tigerair livery last year and has sat in MEL since awaiting Tigerair service.

The second Boeing in Tigerair livery will be VH-VOR ex ZK-PBF which completed its last VA revenue service yesterday Sunday 31-January-2016 when it arrived into Brisbane as VA1496 from Hamilton Island, it then positioned to Townsville as VA9901 where it entered the Flying Colours hangar for the repaint.

The third and final Boeing to enter Tigerair service is expected to be VH-VOO ex ZK-PBA (an aircraft I experienced twice in the last week)

For more details on the new service and to see photos of the new Tigerair can refit read the Australian Aviation article HERE

Qantas set for return on PER-SIN

Qantas will return to the PER-SIN route, this time with a 737-800 service.

Flights will resume on Friday 26-June-2015 which will be just over a year since they axed their former PER-SIN A330 service.

QF71 will depart PER at 12:00AWST arriving into SIN at 17:20SGT then QF72 departs SIN at 18:25SGT landing back in PER at 23:40AWST

Flights will operate 5x Weekly We,Fr, Sa-Mo

JQs week of 1sts

Jetstar launched a raft of inaugural flights this week.

On Sunday 29-March-2015 Cairns welcomed Jetstar's newest international route CNS-DPS-CNS with A320 VH-VFQ operating the inaugural JQ90/91 service.

Gold Coast also saw a new service on Sunday 29-March-2015 with JQ982/983 OOL-PER-OOL departing.  The inaugural service was operated by A320 VH-VFD

On Monday 30-March-2015 the new JQ164/165 MEL-WLG-MEL service departed Melbourne at the delightful red-eye hour of 00:45 with A320 VH-VQR the lucky aircraft.

On Tuesday 31-March-2015 the new JQ125/124 OOL-NAN-OOL service departed Gold Coast with A320 VH-VFJ operating the inaugural return service.

JQ launch new routes

The good folks at JQ have kicked off the holiday season by gifting the traveling public 3 new routes.

JQ will launch CNS-DPS and MEL-WLG and reinstate OOL-PER.

The CNS-DPS service will launch on 31-March-2015 as JQ90 departing CNS at 22:50 with an 01:30 arrival into DPS, the return JQ91 is set to depart DPS at 02:20 with an 08:30 arrival into CNS.  The flight will operate 3x weekly with A320 aircraft.

OOL-PER a returning service is set down as evening departures out of OOL and a BOC (Back of Clock or Red-eye) return flight.  This flight will commence on 29-March-2015 and depending on which source you read will operate 4-6x weekly also utilising the A320.

The MEL-WLG service which will launch on 30-March-2015 will begin with a BOC flight from MEL at 00:45 with an 06:05 arrival into WLG the return service will join the standard am bank of Australia bound flights out of WLG at 06:45.  This flight too will be 4x weekly with an A320.

(In case you were wondering its too damn hot in BNE tonight to record this as a video post!)

Sad & Beautiful

THE SAD

Air New Zealand has lost one of its first female captains to a suspected brain aneurism shortly after she landed NZ175 a Boeing 787-9 in Perth.

Captain Ann Barbarich a 27 year veteran with the airline, was well respected in the Air New Zealand and New Zealand Aviation communities.

She was part of a four man flight crew on board the flight, and made a textbook landing before becoming unwell.  She was initially treated by doctors on board before being rushed to Perth hospital.

The thoughts of this blog are with her family and colleagues after this terrible event.

Read about Captain Barbarich via The New Zealand Herald HERE or stuff.co.nz HERE

THE BEAUTIFUL

The New Zealand Herald have also run an article this week on the interior refits of the Air New Zealand Boeing 777-219 fleet.  The article and video mentions and shows the second of the aircraft to undergo the upgrade ZK-OKE.

Business Premier refit of ZK-OKE - photo © New Zealand Herald

Read the story and watch the video HERE

NZ announce first 789 route

Perth is the winner with Air New Zealand announcing its first route with the Boeing 787-9 will be AKL-PER in October next year.

Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon made the announcement at the official opening of the airline’s Customer Innovation and Collaboration Centre in Auckland today. A feature of the centre is the only Boeing 787-9 full cabin interior outside the factory in Seattle.

The cabin mock-up has outlined how Air New Zealand will outfit its interior with 302 seats in a 3 class layout.  18 lie flat Business Premier seats, 21 Premium Economy seats and 263 economy seats.  All seats feature a new entertainment system which is slimmer and has a higher resolution than that on the 773.

'We've taken advantage of new inflight entertainment hardware and that's allowed us to introduce new monitors and also allowed us to slim down the back of the seat considerably from those which have had inflight entertainment. (in the past) That allows much more personal space."

Air New Zealand program director Kerry Reeves with in flight service manager Priyanka Girish
Photo / Dean Purcell /nzherald

Read more on the new 789 cabin and the first flights to PER at Air New Zealand's Flying Social Network HERE or the nzherald HERE

QF trans-tasman changes

As part of their alliance with Emirates, Qantas have announced changes to their trans-tasman services opening up the international network to New Zealand travellers.

All changes will come into effect from 27-October-2013

The biggest announcement is the introduction of twice weekly Perth-Auckland flights for the December - January  period.

The new Auckland-Perth service will operate during the holiday season with a twice-weekly A330 service from early December this year through to 1 February 2014.

As stated these flights will operate with an international configured Airbus A330 which gives Business travelers the option of lie flat seats which will be useful on the overnight PER-AKL leg.
This service will operate as QF111 PER-AKL 20:30-07:50* and QF112 AKL-PER 11:40-14:05

The announcement will also see a lot of the existing QF4* codes replaces by new QF13*/14*/15* codes.

Christchurch currently sees QF45/46 operare SYD-CHC-SYD during the day, this will be changed to operate as QF139 SYD-CHC in the evening with a 23:55 arrival and the return will now operate as QF138 CHC-SYD with an 07:30 departure, opening up connecting international flights out of SYD.

The only QF service not to see a timetable change is QF38 MEL-WLG which will become QF172 all other services see a timetable change of around 30 minutes

A full list of the flight number changes is

Read more from the official Qantas Press Release HERE and the NZ Heralds article on the new Perth service HERE

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