Qantas to open a Q400 base in Perth

[Jarden S]

There is an interesting discussion on Airliners.net Australian forum 47 with posts from Qantas employees (reputable sources imo):

They will open a Q400 base in PER later this year operated by the Eastern Australian Division with 3 aircraft initially to operate short range flights e.g. KGI and to some of the 11 soon to be de-regulated destinations to take on Skywest F50's and F100's head-on and open up new markets.
The contract with Cobham will not be renewed in 2012 and the 717 fleet will be absorbed back into the mainline fleet. This could enable the return of QF mainline back to LST, OOL and HTI. With the threat of DJ's new J seat it will be coming more of a problem of JQ not being able to compete in these markets.
Also related to the topic:
Qantas will base the first 5 new 73H with new IFE in PER for intra-WA flying this year to be used in the ZNE, PBO, KTA, PHE, KGI and BME routes ex PER. In total 14 to be delivered in the next 12 months 11 to Qantas and 3 to Jetconnect. We could expect an official press release coming out from Qantas soon?

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5109739/

[Brock Little]

Would be great to see the flying kangaroo back here in OOL, as well as a 717.

The OOL-SYD route is quite saturated with capacity however; maybe JQ could cut back on 1 or 2 frequencies to allow for a couple QF 717 flights?

[Jarden S]

With a lot of new 73H going to WA, it will free up some 717s plus they are getting 2 more which could be added to eastern routes. They would be good for so many sectors SYD/BNE-ROK and SYD/BNE-MKY as well as SYD/MEL-LST also re-start HBA-ADL/BNE and a few MEL/SYD-OOL/HTI flights they may need new J seats to compete with DJ though.
Also with growth rates at OOL running so high, an excess in capacity now may not be excess in the near future.

[Rob R]

Don't forget QF also have access to the F100 via Network, that could also be used on the East Coast.

[Ryan K]

With a lot of new 73H going to WA, it will free up some 717s plus they are getting 2 more which could be added to eastern routes. They would be good for so many sectors SYD/BNE-ROK and SYD/BNE-MKY as well as SYD/MEL-LST also re-start HBA-ADL/BNE and a few MEL/SYD-OOL/HTI flights they may need new J seats to compete with DJ though.
Also with growth rates at OOL running so high, an excess in capacity now may not be excess in the near future.

I can't believe QF ever pulled out of OOL and replaced 737's with Q400's in LST. It would be great to see QF jets back in both cities.

[Jason Carruthers]

If the 717's were to return to the east coast i'd put my money on them having a small J cabin (4-8 seats) deployed on large Q400 markets competing against DJ's Embraers ie. SYD-CBR, BNE-ROK (currently mostly Alliance Fokker 100), BNE-MKY etc. allowing the Q400's to either go west or deployed on current Q300 flights. Also I wouldn't be surprised to see 717 going on new markets like DRW-TSV, TSV-CBR. But I don't think we'll see them in Jetstar strongholds ie. OOL HTI NTL. Although the growth of intra WA traffic in the last couple of years is nothing short of amazing I can't see why the Q400, 717 and 73H can't co-exist even with the extra 717 (2) and 73H (5) aircraft.

[Jarden S]

Qantas are getting 3 more 717s, just been announced on airliners.net this will take the total to 16 of the type.

[Shayne G]

Qantas are getting 3 more 717s

Would 2 of them be the 2 B717s being leased or is this an extra 3 on top of those 2 which would mean Qantaslink is getting 5 more B717s?

[Steve S... 2]

They currently have 11 x 717's... so yes five more to come then to make 16 in total.

[Shayne G]

Thanks for clearing that up, great to see more B717s for our skies :D

[Gareth U]

Qantas are getting 3 more 717s, just been announced on airliners.net this will take the total to 16 of the type.

Where has it been announced? Qantas have only announced the two to be leased for Cobham back in February.

Qantas Group to Boost Aircraft Fleet (http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2011/feb11/5081)

[Brad Myer]

Guys,

It's 2 extra 717s not 3.

Thanks

[Jarden S]

It was only on airliners.net today. No official announcement from QF

[Will H]

I think what you saw was someone thinking the 2x additional 717s were new when in fact they were announced in Feb.

Can anyone confirm further 717s, beyond the 2x announced in Feb, are heading to Qantas?

[Gareth U]

The mention of new frames to Cobham (erroneously stated as three) on airliners.net was used to back up a point that Qantas is unlikely to cease its relationship with Cobham, which was being discussed, given that new frames are coming their way.

Hence the danger in using posts on airliners.net out of context (or at least reading them out of context) and representing them as 'announcements'.

Qantas has only ever announced the two frames, as mentioned in the press release I posted above. There are no rumours, let alone announcements, of any more frames.

[Max C]

EOI have been put to Eastern Pilots about a PER base in the Q400, for 2-3 aircraft.

Aircraft would be rotated ADL-KGI-PER (Ferry most likely) for maintenance.

2-3 aircraft only really allows 1-2 routes max with an op spare.

Given that only 6 more Q400's are due to be delivered with at least 1 of those most likely heading to QLD, it seems like a bit of a gamble.

Mind you QLink still hold loads of options for the Q400.

[Max C]

By maintenance, I mean heavy work done on the East coast. Everything else I'm sure they'd just sub out.

There's no talk of $$$ at the moment. The sticking point will be moving allowances. There's a few pilots in QLD very unhappy that Sunstate weren't asked about the EOI. There's more than enough Bris-based who would move home in a flash!

[Gareth U]

Qantas is very happy with the relationship they have with COBHAM and it's very unique in the world.

Although I agree that Qantas will keep Cobham, how is their relationship unique?

[Gareth U]

Fair enough. I thought you were referring to long term wetleases in general. This are completely commonplace throughout the world. Even wetleases where the carrier taking out the wetlease actual leases the aircraft to the operating airline.

Cobham isn't going anywhere, IMHO. Qantas had the chance to keep 717 operations in house back in 2004. Jetstar and Cobham bid for the QantasLink 717 flying. I thought Jetstar was a shoe-in (Jetstar even put out EOI to crew for CNS and PER Link bases). There must have been a vested interest to switch the new type over to Cobham.

[Max C]

Confirmed as 2 x Q400's starting in OCT, possibility of more in the future.

Routes to be announced closer to the date.

[Max C]

Flights Start Nov 21st.

PER-GET
QF2432 0700-0805 MTWTFS.
QF2438 1635-1740 MTWTF.S

GET-PER
QF2433 0830-0930 MTWTFS.
QF2439 1805-1905 MTWTF.S

Also
PER-LEA
QF2428 1015-1235 M.W....

LEA-PER
QF2429 1305-1530 M.W....

PER-LEA-PER will really push the range of the Q400. Especially during Summer if the loads are high and there's 60min weather holding.

[Jarden S]

So GET is a new destination for the Qantas group? They could open up Albany and Esperance as well.

[Lee G]

I hope they open up both ESP and ALH ... great landscape photography in both places! Would be nice to fly rather than drive from Perth.

[Jarden S]

The Schedule provided by Anthony above leaves the Q400 at Perth from 0930 to 1635 on most days. So there is a 6 hour plus timeframe for QF to open a new route somewhere.
Where would they look at next Albany or Esperance is a possiblity and there is the likes of Carnavon to the north. I can rule out a return to Kununurra out of range they could return to that market with the 717.
If there is a second Q400 going west too that also may open up some new destinations on QF's routemap . We shall see..

[Max C]

Yep, one will be an op spare.
Q400 no 23 is marked for extra QLD flying from Mid Oct. (EMD,MOV,GLT,HVB)
Q400 no 24,25 are marked for Perth.

All of these aircraft have already been delivered and are in service around the place.

As always, no specific rego's are marked for Perth at this stage.

[Brad Myer]

Anyone know how the fleet will be rotated in and out of PER? Ferry ADL via KGI perhaps?

[Max C]

G'Day Brad,

Most likely direct out of ADL. It's only 1200nm which the Q400 could do on a ferry flight subject to winds. Line Maintenance will be done in PER. Not sure who but suspect Cobham/Network.

[Rowan McKeever]

Hi All

Well 21 Nov. snuck up pretty quickly this year! The GET services have started... is anyone in WA and knows the rego of the 1st unit over there? Also, does anyone know how it got across there?

Cheers
Rowan

[Shayne G]

I think the Dash 8 route was SYD - ADL - KGI - PER

[Brandon Giacomin]

2 Q400s are in PER

VH-LQD which routed SYD-ADL-KGI-PER on the 10th
and VH-LQG which routed CNS-AYQ-PER on the 19th

[Rowan McKeever]

Cheers guys, that's great :)

[Jarden S]

I thought one would leave their CNS base as recently we had a lot of spare Dash-8s around and some days 8 overnighting.

[Max C]

There's a lot more maintenance being conducted in CNS now due to closure of the BNE maintenance base so that's the reason behind the additional airframes.

[Rowan McKeever]

Anyone happen to know the timings for the ferry sectors LQD & LQG do you? Cheers...

[Jarden S]

Anyone know if they will start a Q400 flight to Albany?