Qantas mainline brings 717’s in house

[WillieTheWimp]

Qantas brings regional fleet back in-house

Qantas will take the operation of 20 Boeing 717 aircraft running regional routes back in-house with the purchase of Cobham Australia's National Jet Systems.

The acquisition, which the airline announced on Wednesday afternoon, ends 15 years where National Jet Systems had operated the fleet on behalf of regional subsidiary QantasLink.

QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said the acquisition provided it more certainty for the future.

"The B717s provide us with [the] flexibility to service many segments of the domestic market, including regional routes, fly in fly out operations or more frequencies to capital cities. These are the kind of routes where travel demand is likely to recover first [from the COVID-19 pandemic]," he said.

"Importantly, this is a back-office change which our customers won't notice."

It comes after Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce laid out the airline's plans to ramp up its operations after the pandemic, which forced it to fly just 5 per cent of operational capacity on Tuesday.

At a media briefing on Tuesday, he said masks and sanitising wipes would be provided to passengers, who will also be encouraged to limit movement around the cabin.

But the middle seat will still be in use as customers begin booking flights again.

"All of these procedures, all of these changes will be in place from the 12th of June, with expectations that we could see domestic travel with border restrictions significantly resuming from July onwards," Mr Joyce said.

The acquisition also follows an internal strategic review of the operations at Cobham, which commenced in the middle of last year.

Cobham Aviation Services chairman Kim Gillis said the company was proud of its partnership with Qantas.

“This outcome is testament to the exceptional levels of service and safety the B717 pilots, cabin crew and support staff have provided to Qantas over the years – I am sure many of them will see this as being brought 'home'," she said.

Neither party disclosed the terms of the agreement. But Qantas said the deal was not material and replaced a 10-year contract for National Jet System's services signed in 2016.

Qantas will also take on National Jet System's employee liabilities, though most have been temporarily stood down like many Qantas employees during the pandemic.

Cobham will continue to operate four freighter jets on behalf of Qantas freight.