From Air Transport World:
Qantas to select A320/A321 for LCC in big win for Airbus
Dateline: Tuesday November 18, 2003
It appears that Airbus has won the order to supply Qantas's new low-cost carrier with its first aircraft and management will recommend that the board approve the selection of the 160/210-seat A320/A321.
However, the board is not scheduled to meet until next week, after which a formal announcement is expected to be made. The order for the A320 family first was flagged by this website two weeks ago (ATWOnline, Nov. 5).
Qantas currently operates 54 737s and has four more 737-800s on order. It holds options on additional 737s as well. However, its low-cost airline needs to be established on a greenfields basis and free of restrictive union contracts that have hampered Qantas's ability to compete with low-cost upstart Virgin Blue. Analysts suggest that selecting the A320--a new type to the Qantas fleet--will enable the LCC to start with fresh contracts separate from any established norms.
The two most difficult areas for the new airline are maintenance and pilots. Air New Zealand operates the A320 and, with its lower staff costs, is expected to win the contract for major overhauls of the Qantas A320s. There is former Ansett A320 engineering and pilot capability in Australia, but those staff will have to accept a very different employment structure to get jobs at the LCC, according to insiders. Former Impulse Airlines pilots now flying 717s under the QantasLink regional banner have stated that they will fly the A320s for the same pay scale.
The selection of the A320 gives Qantas a point of differentiation with Virgin Blue, which operates the 737, and the new LCC may try to emulate JetBlue with seatback videos for all passengers.--Geoffrey Thomas