Qantas to park jets in Mojave?

[Peter JB]

I've just read an article on CNN.com about the airline boneyards, it mentioned that, among other airlines, Qantas "have plans to park some of their fleet".

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/10/07/aircraft.graveyards/index.html

Is this new news or old news? And what aircraft would be candidates?

[NickN]

That was a great read. Good catch.

[D Chan]

most likely to be 743s and 734s, they were going to be retired soon anyway. Depending on the impact of the current financial crisis on the airline industry, I suspect more a/c will be parked.

[Will H]

I was a bit disappointed by the CNN article. The NY Times has run a number of articles on the subject over the years, including this one from 1992: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D7153CF933A05754C0A9649582 60

It's well worth a read.

[Nick W.]

Of course, airlines such as Qantas are looking to replace their retired aircraft and have made large orders to do so, such as the retirements of the 743's and 734's, whereas other carriers are being forced to 'downsize' due to economics. I think it's a fair call that Qantas is looking to park aircraft ar Mojave, but it's been planning to do so for years!

[Brenden S]

I am surprised that QF don't convert some 734's into Freighters.

[Marty H]

I am surprised that QF don't convert some 734's into Freighters.


Expand the AAE fleet???

[Brenden S]

yes marty.

[BradR]

Bit techhy for me typically but isn't the 734 a bit range restricted (apparently the reason UA went for the A320 rather than the 734 in the early 90's as 734 couldn't do JFK-LAX non-stop year round)? Given freighters tend to fly close to MTOW the 734 may not be ideal for AAE as it may struggle to do missions such as SYD-PER non-stop into the prevailing winds.

I wasn't even aware that there was a freighter conversion kit around for the 734 but I see from a search on A.net that it does exist.

Brad

[Nigel C]

Not sure where you live BradR, but Sydney hosts up to 2 B737F's on Monday-Thursday nights - one for Toll and one for AAE. I haven't looked to see if they're 300 or 400 series.

[NickN]

AAE recently retired a 727 as well didn't they? And DHL still runs one.

Check out this shot from Jetphotos, a South African 737-200F freighter and a 737-300F formation flying. Awesome shot.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6367360

[Stefan Perkas]

Not sure where you live BradR, but Sydney hosts up to 2 B737F's on Monday-Thursday nights - one for Toll and one for AAE. I haven't looked to see if they're 300 or 400 series.

Both Toll and AAE operate 733F's. The AAE ones are ex QF which then operated for Jetconnect. Toll has 3 733 freights ZK-TLA,C and D. AAE have 4 733F's XMB, L, O and XMR.

[Andrew P]

ABC TV midday news played a bit of the CNN report showing the planes in the desert

maybe they might re-show at 7.00pm tonight (Tuesday 14)

Banjo