Mr Wooby - with all respect - that's a load of bollocks! The cause of the ceiling rupturing open on Aloha Airlines was found and has issue has been resolved, evidenced by it never reoccuring on a 737 - the biggest airline fleet in the world!
With regard to electrical wiring - you probably have not been near an airliner when it is undergoing a D-check, have you?
And you are saying that B732 is unreliable?? I don't think so mate -they operate with a dispatch reliablilty better than 99% in Europe and most crew having operated the 200 and the 300-500 with tell you that the straight forward and uncomplicated engineering and systems on the 200 makes for an aircraft that is ready to go when you are!
Old airliners fall out of the sky not BECAUSE they are old, but because dodgy outfits in the third world lack proper regulatory oversight and can get away without maintaining them properly.
Stoddart is only the second owner of his 732's, the first owner being the Belgian national airline SABENA. After being purchased by Stoddart, they have been operated in the UK under under what is most probably the most stringent airworthiness requirements anywhere in the world, and they arrive in Australia with a fresh D-check. Simply put - they are absolutely immaculate inside and out. Do you really believe CASA would grant a CofA if there was any doubt regarding these aircrafts airworthiness?
Further - I do not believe that you will ever hear QANTAS officially using the "old airliner" rhetoric, as they themselves operate and have operated 747's for nearly twice the number of flight hours as OzJet's fleet average.
SMH this morining:
OzJet close to selling first tickets
By Scott Rochfort
November 9, 2005
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OzJet could start selling tickets as soon as Friday after Australia's fourth domestic airline cleared its final major obstacle in gaining an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC).
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said OzJet's successful "proving flight" between Melbourne and Sydney last week meant the airline might gain permission to fly as early as Friday. After gaining its AOC, OzJet will be allowed to sell tickets.
"It all went well on Friday," said CASA spokesman Peter Gibson. "It's all hunky-dory, everything's fine," he said, noting that only several minor issues remained to be dealt with.
Mr Gibson conceded the timing of an announcement that OzJet had been awarded the certificate might now depend on the airline's publicity strategy.
"The other factor we need to consider is what OzJet may want to do," he said.
There are hints the announcement will be made late this week. OzJet declined to give any timing but conceded that it might have problems attracting publicity if it made an announcement at the weekend, given the world's biggest airliner - the A380 - is due to make its first visit to Australia on Sunday.
"That would be a pretty big thing to be running up against," said OzJet spokesman Geoff Harris.
In any event, it is expected the airline - which is already running five months behind from its initial timetable - will waste little time once it has its AOC.
OzJet had previously flagged it would give itself two to three weeks from when it started selling tickets to when it started its first flights between Sydney and Melbourne.