Originally Posted by
dreamer84
Are these aircraft not a case of build it and they will come? A320s are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for big miners in the West, particularly following narrow runway provision. Most (not all) Pilbara runways are 30m wide and +1500ft elevation, and the A320 on a closed charter basis makes much commercial sense for miners, over the B737. Network clearly want in and will make good ROI on these machines if they're successful in tapping into to this market. (IMO)
Hey Dreamer (quite apt)...
When the 320s turned up in the West, it was all about “our customers are demanding it”. Well I’m yet to see a single 320 in Ginbata/Roy Hill - Gina apparently said “thanks, but no thanks...I’ll take the reliability of the 737 instead”.
Twiggy seems to only want the 320 to Solomon for the reasons you outlined above. Fair enough, but the new FMG airstrip down the road will be 2500m so makes the 320 hot/short argument redundant.
The fact they’ve shoved the 320 onto Newman, Karratha and Broome RPT instead of contract work tends to suggest the customers weren’t demanding it all.
More lies from QF Group management