Qantas 787

[Peter C]

Whatever the earlier speculation, VH-ZND is about to position Sydney-Melbourne as QF6101, having arrived earlier as the weekly QF513 from Brisbane. Leaving VH-ZNG, which arrived in the early hours with QF128 from Hong Kong, to operate QF540 back to Brisbane before operating QF55 to Los Angeles.

[Peter C]

Originally Posted by James Smith

I wonder if while having an extra 787-9 in the fleet ZNJ can assist QANTAS for the next week or so while OQB is still having its door repaired?

The repair to VH-ZNG after damage by a ramp vehicle back in January at Melbourne, took 23 days to fix (3+ weeks). So it's very much a matter of how much damage was done to OQB, as to how long its out of service (8 days so far).

[James Smith]

Are the QF513/540 Saturday 787-9 flights to rotate the aircraft around the fleet now that QF127/128 is no longer operated by an A330 on a Wednesday (ex SYD) when the NW schedules commenced?

[Greg Hyde]

Initial reports were that the OQB door would take 2 weeks to fix.

[Peter C]

Originally Posted by James Smith

Are the QF513/540 Saturday 787-9 flights to rotate the aircraft around the fleet now that QF127/128 is no longer operated by an A330 on a Wednesday (ex SYD) when the NW schedules commenced?

Those swaps for the Sydney 787-9 services seem to have stayed at Hong Kong - now between the daily MEL-HKG and the SYD-HKG 787-9 rotations. Only two of the Saturday BNE-SYD-BNE 787-9 domestic rotations have been used to swap aircraft since they began on 7th September. The first on the second week of the service, and the other today. The BNE-SYD leg started with the earlier QF505, then QF509, before settling on QF513, the return leg has always been QF540.

The MEL / BNE swaps in LAX between QF 95 arrivals and QF 96 departures continue. The last time there was no swap was on 4th/5th October rotation.

[James Smith]

Just looking at QANTAS source and ZNH did not operate QF30 on Thursday evening 14/11/19 or the return QF29 on Friday 15/11/19, which may explain the QF6101 flight from SYD - MEL this morning to get all 787-9 flights back on schedule.

[Dennis McLean]

Earlier Greg mentioned about QF groundings at the moment. This is the current situation, apart from OQB, OQH and J.

VXA (MEL), F and U (BNE) repairs. Also VXC (15/10)and M (18/10) under maintenance in BNE together with QPF (2/11).

[Peter C]

Originally Posted by James Smith

Just looking at QANTAS source and ZNH did not operate QF30 on Thursday evening 14/11/19 or the return QF29 on Friday 15/11/19, which may explain the QF6101 flight from SYD - MEL this morning to get all 787-9 flights back on schedule.

With VH-ZNJ going straight into service from Sydney, this positioning flight now places an extra 787-9 in Melbourne. I doubt that Qantas will leave it on the ground for long, it is still 18 days until the new 4th December flights start, by which time VH-ZNK should have arrived.

I suspect that VH-ZNJ with its 100 livery will follow the lead of VH-ZNI and be swapped around the International Routes in quick succession. The only international rotation that ZNI hasn't done since its arrival is QF55/QF56, and it has of course already visited both BNE & LAX via QF15 etc.

[C Patters]

Two quick questions for everyone.

1). Is ZND currently undergoing maintenance as its been in MEL since 16/11 after positioning from SYD?

2). Does anyone know when ZNK will have its first test flight?

Thanks in advance.

[Greg Hyde]

Qantas asks Airbus, Boeing to “sharpen their pencils” on Project Sunrise

Qantas international chief executive Tino La Spina says the airline has asked Airbus and Boeing “to sharpen their pencils” on their Project Sunrise proposals.

Airbus has put forward its A350-1000 as the candidate aircraft for Qantas to mount nonstop flights from Australia’s east coast to London, New York and other ultra long-haul destinations currently being evaluated under the Project Sunrise banner.

The airline has said previously it hoped to reach a decision on whether to proceed with the project before the end of calendar 2019, with flights slated to begin in 2023 should the business case stack up.

Meanwhile, Boeing has proposed its 777-8X platform alongside an “interim solution” with an undisclosed aircraft type. The interim solution was proposed after Boeing pushed back the development timetable for the 777-8X, meaning the aircraft would not be in service by the time Qantas wanted to launch these ultra long-haul services.

Qantas said in August that Airbus and Boeing had submitted their best and final offers, following a request for proposal (RFP) process, that covered pricing, performance guarantees and details of potential delivery streams, among other matters.

The technical evaluation showed Airbus and Boeing could offer an aircraft that would be able to operate a full payload between Sydney and New York, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said earlier in 2019.

For Sydney-London, Joyce said the aircraft would not be able to operate with a full payload. Instead, the manufacturers told Qantas they were able to achieve a payload that made the business case potentially work.

La Spina said the further discussions with the manufacturers were about looking to make sure the aircraft were future proof.

“We’ve got the Airbus A350ULR and we’ve got the 777-X. Both products can do the mission,” La Spina said during Qantas’s investor day presentations in Sydney on Tuesday.

“The economics and what we have been asking from the manufacturers, we went through a best-and-final offer phase.

“We’ve asked them to go back and re-look at that, to sharpen their pencils, because there still was a gap there. We are still eagerly awaiting to see what we get back from that.”

“That is just not around price. That covers things like guarantees, the what ifs, because this aircraft is going to be in the fleet for the next 20 years and we want to cover off eventualities.”

https://thewofa.com/2019/11/qantas-a...oject-sunrise/