Qantas may have taken 787 Dreamliners back off Jetstar | Plane Talking
Unless the plan falls over at the last minute Qantas will take the first Boeing 787 Dreamliners off its low cost subsidiary Jetstar which had been slated to get delivery priority to allow instead for some highly desirable if not urgent retirements in its aged 767 Cityflyer fleet.
The plan needs but doesn’t necessarily depend on long haul pilot union agreement, and given the toxic relationship between Qantas management and its ‘help’ in general the change of direction may not quite work out.
The current official plan is for the 787s to be operated from a Singapore base to save money, although as Singapore began to look increasingly expensive, there was some chatter about the Philippines.
Whatever the locational plan, the first eight or so of the 787-8s in the 50 Dreamliner order were to be delivered to Jetstar to replace its ex-Qantas and newer A330-200s, which would be bumped back into the Qantas fleet to replace 767-300s and which have in the main retained their more comfortable original Qantas configuration.
However it has become increasingly apparent in recent months that Jetstar was showing no signs of preparing itself to take the 787s by sometime in the second half of 2013, and it is also apparent that the pilot body is talking to management about something that could be important.
Which is why this post is really an exercise in connecting the dots and paying attention to a few of the stories that are in circulation, as well as this week’s demo flights visit by a Dreamliner, the third one built, equipped with passenger seating which is being hosted by Qantas.
A prior overseas commitment means I can’t make the flight offered by Boeing during the tour. Another time.
While Qantas has altered its 787 strategy a number of times to fit changed circumstances, as it should have, the essential plan seems to involve the use of the larger and more capable but yet-to-fly 787-9 version of the Dreamliner branded as Qantas on a range of routes, including some now flown by Qantas A330-300s such as to Shanghai, and even in one interview given by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, as a replacement for the 747-400ER that operates the Dallas Forth Worth service.
Just what that service will be in 2015 or 2016 also depends on what American Airlines is by then, with US speculation about mergers with USAirways, Delta (Virgin Australia’s alliance partner) and United all getting prolonged workouts in the US financial press in recent weeks.
However the future of American Airlines and what it means for oneworld as well as Qantas, is another story, one even harder to nail than the Qantas/Jetstar 787 epic which had as its original curtain raiser an introduction into service of the ‘early’ -8s with Jetstar from August 2008.
The Qantas 787 order comprises, at this stage, 15 of the shorter, earlier, smaller -8s, like those that have ‘trickled’ into service so far, and 35 of the -9s