"Hobart a no-fly zone"

[Ryan K]

It seems that nearly every flight to Hobart and many flights to Launceston are completely full for the rest of the week. Not good news for Tasmanians or those needing to get there on short-notice business.

Seriously, why would the airlines let this happen. If they can't increase flights, then why not upgrade to larger aircraft?

From today's Hobart Mercury website:

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/09/16/97581_travel.html

[Brent L]

Surely the airlines could add an extra flight or 2, however I dont think they could upgrade to anything larger than a 738. I dont know what the largest a/c that can be accommodated at HBT is

[Jarden S]

HBA has had wide bodies in the past. On the Hobart International Airport website there is a photo of a QF 747 and a SIA 777 they not normally get these only the odd charter flight.. So QF could upgrade a service to a 763 if the demand was there and one is available ofcourse.

[Lukas M]

No excuse for Tiger not adding another flight. The 7th A320 started on Monday and doesn't do anything for half the day except operate a 4th OOL and SYD flight....but nothing for HBA...

[Adam P.]

Aeroplane to fly the sectors... check.

Passengers to fill the aeroplane.... check.


Crew to drive the aeroplane.... um.... ??


Perhaps adding a new flight is a little tougher than it may seem?

[Ryan K]

Surely the airlines could add an extra flight or 2, however I dont think they could upgrade to anything larger than a 738. I dont know what the largest a/c that can be accommodated at HBT is

Both Hobart and Launceston can easily accommodate Boeing 767 aircraft. I remember being at Launceston Airport when the Spirit of Tasmania had a major breakdown and seeing Ansett 767's flying stranded passengers in. AN 767's were also flown into LST during the pilots dispute in 1989.

[Kain C]

Extra DJ capacity for today.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/09/17/97771_travel.html

Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger said 40 additional seats had been made available today with the use of a bigger plane for one Melbourne-Hobart flight.

So was this an upgrade from a 73G to 73H (36 seats) or E90 to 73G (40 seats)?

[Marty H]

Kain it would be from a B737-700 to a B737-800, E190 doesnt operate to HBA only LST.

[Scott Loveday]

I flew out of HBA once on a QF767 after one of the B717's that used to plow the skies went tech. Was good of QF to send down one of the ZX's. Pretty sure it was only 4 hour delay too.

[Ryan K]

Kain it would be from a B737-700 to a B737-800, E190 doesnt operate to HBA only LST.

However the E90 operates BNE-HBA. 737's do 3 MEL-LST flights per day with the late afternoon flight being a E190.

[Steve Jones]

And the E170 does CBR-HBA.

Interestingly when this story came out earlier this week, I checked the status of CBR-HBA and there were seats (at least then) available every day this week in both directions. Yes they were expensive into HBA, but there were seats available.

Sure, you prefer to fly direct to MEL etc, but saying there wasn't a single seat available wasn't correct.

[Kain C]

Several CBR-HBA are operated by E190 over September and October.