Originally Posted by
1a sound asleep
It is not since 1989 that a foreign operator with a foreign crew and a foreign registered a/c has operated a scheduled domestic airline service in Australia. Issues are
Compliance with
1. Industrial relations (unions) whilst using foreigners as crew
2. CASA (CASA needs to be satisfied that Flair will operate to a standard at least equal to that of Au regs, including having a Canadian authorised maintenance organisation)
3. Federal Government and the Civil Aviation act 1988 (Opening up domestic flights to a foreign registered airline opens pandora's box and some are concerned that this could ultimately lead to "any" foreign country attempting operations in Au airspace via an Australian domestic carrier, without needing a domestic AOC in their own right. For example, if approved for Bonza/Flair it could mean "ABC" airlines could start up a domestic airline in Australia with an Aussie AOC as a fully foreign owned Chinese company and operate 2 Australian registered 737 aircraft and then subsequently fly in 50 China registered a/c with Chinese crew all operating their China registration.
Qantas wet leased VH-BZI for a while from Nov 2001-July 2002, the rego being the only thing Aussie