Hi LeadSled, you can't be VH registered and be administered by CAAS. CAAS only regulate 9V aircraft. The Jetstar A330s in Sing are still administered by CASA.
Folks,
I suggest you all acquaint yourselves with the meaning and terms of an ICAO 83bis agreement, something I have pointed out before, but it obviously has not "registered". The provisions for an 83bis agreement are covered in Australian aviation legislation.
Such agreements are quite common.
To use 83bis agreements has been a long term aim of the QF senior management, it seems to be a tradeoff of legislative constraints and financial issues versus the obvious operational cost advantages of dealing with CAAS ---- and not having to deal with a very dysfunctional, very unpredictable and very expensive CASA AU.
I should imagine that the fact that it shafts Australian unions is the icing on the cake, as far as the current QF board is concerned.
But, it ain't all about labor costs.
Re: Ben Sandilands, I do indeed mean he is unusually well informed, compared to most commentators, many of whom are uninformed. To say he is "usually" well informed implies that he is sometimes not well informed, an occurrence so rare that I can't recall an example, and I have known the man for many, many years. He is a wonderful example the old fashioned traditional journalist, not you modern "Media Studies" graduate.
Tootle pip!!