717s in CBR too?
As I posted on airliners.net, a few thoughts on 717 routes. Anyone care to comment?
Looking at the routes announced, there is not enough for 6 a/c. SYD-Prosperpine, Mackay and rocky won;t be more than one a day and these three could possibly be done by 1, max two aircraft. MEL-MCY plus the added capacity for HBA-OOL (which will only be on weekends) may be one added aircraft worth. SYD-TSV exists already so no extra capacity needed there.
Hence there are at least 3 "spare" 717s for other routes. Also how does ADL-OOL fit into the rotations if HBA-OOL is only weekends (I believe ADL-OOL may be daily). The plane needs to get to either ADL or OOL some other way.
My guess is, being 2-class aircraft, that 2 or 3 will be CBR based (after all a hangar is going up in CBR for the 717s and fresh lines for 717 have been marked on the tarmac) and will fly CBR-MEL/BNE/ADL and maybe some SYD flights. mainly they will replace the 2 Southern 146s which are currently based there. Then the CBR-ADL rotation can swing up to OOL before operating the return ADL-CBR flight.
Anyway just a few thoughts...