QANTAS will for the first time use low-cost offshoot Jetstar to service a resources contract when it starts flying Airbus A320s to two Fortescue Metals Group mines in Western Australia later this year.
The A320s will allow Fortescue to use bigger aircraft to service its Solomon and Cloudbreak mines, reducing the number of flights to the Pilbara sites.
While the airline was responding to a specific customer request, it has not ruled out using its low-cost offshoot in other charters if needed. This allows it to get more workers to the mine in one shot as well as reduce aircraft availability issues and the dependence on slots at Perth Airport. It also allows Jetstar to boost aircraft utilisation at a quieter time of the week.
“The introduction of the A320s is another example of where Qantas has worked with us to capture further efficiencies for our Cloudbreak and Solomon operations,’’ said Fortescue Metal’s head of infrastructure services, Steve Fewster.
“By introducing the A320s we can move entire operations crews together and optimise the slot times we have at Perth Airport. Coming into the wet season, the ability to fly A320s into Cloudbreak and Solomon will also further improve our resilience.”
At 180 seats, the Jetstar A320 has better capacity than the 100-seater Fokker 100 and 125-seat QantasLink Boeing 717s currently being used to service the two mines. It is also bigger than the 168-seat Boeing 737-800s Qantas uses in conjunction with F100s to service another Fortescue site at Christmas Creek.
The Jetstar planes will fly Tuesday to Thursday from December to cater for peak shift swaps at the mines, something the airline says has low impact on its operations because there is generally more flying on weekends when leisure passengers travel.
Qantas head of sales, marketing and distribution Steve Limbrick said it was a case of Qantas working with customers to put the right aircraft on the right routes at the right time.
“It’s great that we’ve been able to look outside the square to meet the needs of our customer,’’ Mr Limbrick said. “They requested a larger aircraft in order to drive their own operational efficiencies, and we have the flexibility in our fleet to deliver what they require.
“We looked at the total Qantas Group fleet and how we could deliver a larger jet aircraft.’’
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have boosted their footprint in the resources industry.
Qantas acquired Network Aviation in 2010 and has expanded its presence and now has about 30 per cent of the West Australian charter market. Network employs 300 people and operates a fleet of 12 F100s equipped with the latest navigation systems to allow them to land at remote mine sites in bad weather or poor light.
Virgin Australia acquired Perth-based Skywest in 2013 with a similar objective of snaring a bigger share of the resources market.