Jetstar Safety Concerns
From News.com.au
Concern over Jetstar flights
From: By Steve Creedy
July 18, 2006
QANTAS pilots have raised safety concerns over the ability of low-cost carrier Jetstar to fly international routes.
The pilots want the launch of the new Jetstar international services delayed amid anxiety about proposed routes over remote stretches of ocean.
The pilots wrote last month to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority warning that any move to give Jetstar International immediate permission to fly routes that take them up to 180 minutes away from emergency airports would expose the public to "an unacceptable level of risk".
Jetstar is seeking the 180-minute approval, known as extended twin engine operations (ETOPS), so it can fly direct to Honolulu starting later this year.
Qantas, which owns Jetstar, already has the 180-minute approval on the Airbus A330 planes Jetstar International will operate, but the start-up must apply for permission in its own right.
The Australian and International Pilots Association says Jetstar lacks the experience to operate at the maximum ETOPS range and CASA should do a risk assessment and operational safety case before granting approval. It says Jetstar has "limited operational, engineering, maintenance and experience base" and an operational and safety culture that may differ significantly from its parent's.
It says grandfathering Qantas's experience into the new operations would be "highly reckless", noting it took Qantas 14 months to get 180-minute ETOPS for the A330s.
Instead, Jetstar should receive an incremental approval that goes from 90 minutes to 120 minutes and 180 minutes over an extended period. "This graduated approach has been required of operators around the world, including Qantas when they applied for ETOPS approval on their new A330, despite the fact they had a long history of widebody experience with the Boeing 767 type," the letter says.
But Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce yesterday dismissed the association's concerns and the motives behind its letter.
AIPA is taking legal action against Jetstar for refusing to let Qantas pilots continue flying its aircraft on their current pay and conditions.
The association also worries that an agreement between Jetstar and its pilots to fly the new international services on salaries up to $100,000 a year below their Qantas counterparts will be used to erode Qantas pay and conditions.
Mr Joyce said Jetstar already had 120-minute ETOPS on its trans-Tasman A320 services and was working closely with CASA on its new application.
He said Qantas would continue to maintain the aircraft and they would be flown by "some very experienced people".