Wait there is more. Spotters say the A380s due in May will push a later model 744 onto the Auckland-LA route after being no longer required on the Sydney flights.
If Jitconnict operate Trans Tasman with 737 NG's one would ask " where will these NG's come from?"
As QF shorthaul is being gradually replaced by Jetstar, and the mining industry in WA looking a little sick at present, QF may have some NG's surplus to requirements.
All those brand new QF Captains and F/O's trained up on the 737 in a burst of corporate enthusiasm may be surplus to requirements. Especially if they can be replaced by others across the Tasman on truck drivers wages.
It really surprised me that the Qantas pilot group sat back and let Jetconnect have the Tasman routes back in 2001/2. This is just a continuation of that...no-one is being "replaced by others across the Tasman on truck-driver's wages" Don't JC already do a lot of the trans-Tasman flights? Fleet replacement with NGs was known about months ago.
What concerns me is whether JC will now be overstaffed. No domestic flying, but a few more Tassies (mainly out of Auckland) could mean a pilot surplus. A lot of the guys there are former colleagues of mine. I'd hate to see them lose their jobs (again)
So now QF has 3 pilot groups in NZ...JC, Jetstar NZ and the Jetstar Aus CHC base. Gee, that makes sense!
I would have thought this will affect the QF mainline 737 pilots more than anyone else. It seems that they may lose all trans Tasman flying. I wonder just how close we are to see QF mainline announce a surplus of pilots, especially as JQ Australia is continually increasing it's domestic operations.
If JetConnect has a surplus of pilots as a result of this restructure, I'm sure they would have first crack at the increasing number of JQ NZ jobs that this announcement implies. They will be very happy when they have to fork out over $30,000 for the pleasure of flying an A320.
Qantas is cleverly manipulating its domestic and NZ operation into a much lower cost base with the introduction of JQ NZ domestic and increased JetConnect Tasman operations.
AIPA may have a real industrial issue on it's hands if a worst case scenario emerges with Qantas pilots facing redundancies. I guess the way out is to transfer redundant pilots into Jetstar along the lines of the MOU.
Pity about Rotorua losing the jet services, but otherwise, not a major thing really. Will be good for the places Jetstar is serving - more flights, more airlines, more competition, lower fares, etc.
Q300Pity about Rotorua losing the jet services, but otherwise, not a major thing really. Will be good for the places Jetstar is serving - more flights, more airlines, more competition, lower fares, etc.
More flights, more airlines,lower fares, etc!
Cobblers! Yes lower airfares better competition for awhile until the weakest succumb. Survival of the deepest pockets. Same thing happened with deregulation in the States. A flurry of new start ups, the incumbents slashed cost structures to match, a series of acquisitions and mergers, the weakest went to the wall and in the end you end up paying the same or more with less service to boot! Gotta luv deregulation!
dogstar or Air NZ, what kind of sick joke is this ?
I for one will be sorry to see Jetconnect cease domestic ops in NZ. Jetconnect are largely a lousy operator in my experience but I don't think the Jetstar brand local offering is going to be any different at all to what is currently offered by Jetconnect.
I don't particularly care for Air NZ either but at least their flights seem to depart to some sort of schedule.
I will make hasty use of the remaining frequent flyer points I currently have and return my card to Qantas and say that ' I have declined your latest offering with regret.'
Air NZ must just about have died from laughter after the announcement today. I certainly will never take Qantas seriously again.
Here we go again. A little country who any expert will tell is capable of supporting 1 to 1 1/2 airlines has another arrive - although probably to replace the crap service QF has supplied for some years. Any one local should be up in arms. Only fly the main trunk and not the regionals. not a matter of reducing fares but a case of forcing them up on the regional routes. It would indeed be a more level playing field if Deathstar were forced to fly some regional routes as part of getting approval but I guess there is no chance of that! But then QF has never played that game.
I think the travelling public are waking up to the downsides of booking with someone like Qantas NZ or Pac Blue and now Jetstar. They don't have the capacity or the network.
Nearly everyone knows of issues that they or friends have had when a flight gets delayed or cancelled due weather or aircraft unserviceabilities and then being able to be re booked at a reasonable time. Stories of days lost at work etc are not uncommon.
The other issue of missing your connecting flight with another airline because they made you late. Not their problem you have another flight to catch.
Then you have Pac Blue who won't even refund your money if they cancel the flight on you.
A lot of people are getting gun shy of these carriers, I'm sure Jetstar will suffer as a result.
So.. here is NZ, with the population about the same as the greater Sydney Area, with THREE domestic airlines...
Fair enough our country is separated by a little bit of water between the islands, but do we have the population base to have all three survive? Or are the Aussies just using their NZ operations to wipe away their profits and reduce the tax bill?
What are all the jitconnect crews going to do for work??? Surely they wont need all the current pilots to fly the new schedule??? And being 737 drivers ( ie, no scarebus rating) cant just slip across to the new mob either??? Interesting times ahead again in enzed......
It will certainly lead to lower prices in the short term... Air NZ is already responding with temporary $28 fares to certain JQ domestic destinations. Check Grab a Seat and see for yourself.
But, it will only last until the market settles. And then, until one of them dies. Fact of the matter is, even our main trunk route cannot realistically support more than 2 airlines indefinitely but have them all be profitable on the route, with reasonable fares. Something has to give, and it will probably be one of the airlines.
NZ cannot support so many airlines - QF Jetconnect has slowly killed off its network and this finishes it entirely. Jetstar replaces some but not all of that network. Origin Pacific is dead. That leaves Air NZ and Pac Blue - one of whom is a government supported monopoly carrier and the other who is new to the domestic game.
You cannot seriously only do trunk routes and expect to stay around long in an oversaturated market. You need regionals to survive - and even then, Koru will kill you eventually.
Media reaction has been plain ridiculous. Leading story on the radio and the 6 o clock bulletins, plus God only knows how much internet coverage.
Will be nice to see a change from Jitconnict and their "schedule", but JQ is just lipstick on a pig. Not expecting it to be much better to be honest.
Freedom was closed down because it was no longer cost competative with the main airline, and could not compete with the product that EK had on the Tasman at a lower price.
Zeal320 is freedom air, it was 'merged' with Air New Zealand on the A320's providing a valuable cost decrease in costs operating as a full yield airline under the Air New Zealand...
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