Mac Air in Voluntary Administration

[Grogbog]

200 jobs lost as receivers close MacAir - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/06/2484487.htm)

[Sue Ridgepipe]

A sad day for all involved. I hope you can all find new jobs soon.

[tail wheel]

Due to the nature of recent posts on this thread, it became necessary to remove the thread from view in favour of a new thread, same title.

Please refrain from personal and derogatory comments (which may be libellous) about individuals, unless you wish to also add your full name and address to your post.

[Stationair8]

Sad day for all those concerned, hopefully the staff will get all their entitlements etc and more importantly another job.

Perhaps the QLD government will provide a few more dollars to the next operator that tries to run the far western Qld routes and hopefully survive!

The poor old ATR hasn't a good track record in QLD, Air Queensland and now Maccair.

[glasswater]

I think you might find the ATR was the only assest MAir had. I think it was one of the only a/c that really made money....

[Stationair8]

Especially when you train up all those pilots and then they don't get to fly it!

Wonder how much me ****** cap is worth, all will the administrator want me to hand it back?

[IAW]

Well now that the company has been wound up can we please have the ****** word filter removed? ****s me, it does :)

[PropDuster]

just got back from the Centen

the best wake i've eva been 2

to all my former work mates at macair
you are the best bunch of people i've ever worked with bar none.
the humour was there until the end but, a good night.
i wish you all the best and hope to work/party with you again soon. :D

All the best

Prop :ok:

ps anyone got a job??

[The Wife]

Just curious. What company is in a position to take over the runs? Hopefully they will employ some of the Maccair guys. :ok:

[cnic]

Lets hope Qld govt. see the light and give at least some of the work to skytrans so at least some jobs stay in the north. I would hate to see more of qld govt money go out of the state and not create qld jobs.

[tail wheel]

This should work: Macair

[teresa green]

Hate to see something like this, hope all pilots, c/c and engineers find employment and so sorry for the country people who have been let down once again. Govts owe it to the people of the bush to keep services going even if they have to run it themselves, in this day and age all people in this country are entitled to air transport, be it viable or not, that is one reason we pay taxes or so I thought.

[dash 27]

Tailwheel, you were right, bit harsh. Bit emotional. Appologies. :}

But to the Mac Crews, well done. You deserve much much more than this, and like the others have said, may you swiftly find another operator to run the same routes, and retain your domocile without too much fuss.

As an ex, it is as much a sad day as Ansett or Flight West. An icon is gone, much to Katter's delight. But with a door closing surely another must open, and i know no better people to deserve a break than the Mac Crusties who have been through it all. :D:D:D

I only wish more could have been done. Best Wishes, and to all the guys moved on, prior to this, please do your best to help these fallen soldiers.....:ok: :}

[linedriva]

As an ex employee, I feel for all the staff that remained until the end. I had a fantastic time there, and thanks to BD who hired me in the first place. I hope the wake was a fitting one to the staff who kept the airline going.

Well written DASH, couldn't have said it better myself. Some of the stayers saw out the troubles just prior to the Flight West demise.

Linedriva

[KRUSTY 34]

Fingers crossed guys.

LKH (REX Chairman) is in town next week, and it appears a delegation of the right people are already in QLD as we speak. Many of us have been in this position before, and it aint' pretty.

Keep your ears to the ground. Hopefully something positive may turn up soon. :ok:

[Boney]

As an ex driver there, I can say the training was excellent.

The training program originally set up by JL and the dedication of NP and BD developed it to a point many others could only dream of. Pity the same dedication to business principals further up the chain over the years was not applied.

Good luck to all the highly skilled, under valued senior Captains I had the pleasure to work with while there.

[Stationair8]

Hopefully the staff will get their full entitlements and in a reasonable time frame.

Likewise Mr Katter will no doubt be overjoyed to see the airline closed and 200 more staff unemployed in his electorate.

[Van Gough]

Out of interest...just wondering where Bob Katter fits into all of this? I'm out of the loop with QLD politics.

[tail wheel]

Because, Van Gough, Bob Katter is alleged to have made the following media comment:

Independent federal MP Bob Katter said he was glad to see the end of Macair, which had monopolised the industry in remote Queensland for years.

"As far as I'm concerned Macair is no loss," Mr Katter said.
"The price they were charging people to get into the mines was outrageous. As far as I'm concerned it's good riddance."
Mr Katter called on the state government to find a solution to offer cheaper flights in and out of the northwest Queensland mining town of Mount Isa.

"You can get from Brisbane to New Zealand for a couple of hundred bucks, but you can't get from Mount Isa to Townsville for under $400," he said.

Now, can we leave it at that and move on?

[Stationair8]

How many flights did Macair operate since going into administration?

[Alice Kiwican]

It seems Skytrans is taking the Kowanyama and Edward River route as of Monday 9th. Not sure if this is permenant or a short term deal. Also Qlink is starting their TSV-ISA run on the 9th as well.

Hope all you guys and girls who kept Macair up and running find yourselves new positions soon.

[wotthe]

QLink actually starting TL-ISA 2nd March

[SuPeRcHaRgEd]

I too am an ex employee. I am sadened by the demise of this company but moreso I am sadened that great people like BD, and others will be left without a job after giving so much to the place.

My fingers are crossed that these good guys and girls will be given jobs by whoever ends up taking over the flying! Best of Luck!

[dizzylizzy]

Correction Monday 9th Feburary '09 will be the first flight from CNS->ISA via TSV. Flights will be then changed from March to two seperate flight numbers as opposed to the interim same flight number.


QANTASLINK TO OPERATE INTERIM SERVICES FROM CAIRNS AND
TOWNSVILLE TO MT ISA FROM 9 FEBRUARY
BRISBANE, 6 FEBRUARY 2009: QantasLink announced today it would commence services
between Townsville and Mt Isa from Monday 9 February to assist people affected by the cessation of
services operated by Macair.
Qantas Group General Manager Regional Airlines, Mr Narendra Kumar, said the airline would also
provide connections from Cairns to offer services to Mt Isa from the same day.
“The interim daily service will be operated by a 72-seat Q400 aircraft from Monday to Friday,
originating in Cairns, flying to Townsville and onto Mt Isa,” he said.
“These services will cater for the business and leisure communities in all three centres.”
Mr Kumar said the interim schedule would transition to a full schedule of new services between
Townsville and Mt Isa from Monday 2 March, providing 11 services per week with connections from
Cairns.
For details of the interim schedule, go to qantas.com, call 13 13 13 or contact your local travel agent.

[Double Wasp]

Sorry to hear folks and best of luck to all.
I know it says 200 employees but how many of those were pilots?
Once again good luck.
DW

[inandout]

Can any one fill us in on the latest please.

[KRUSTY 34]

It appears that REX have taken up the Osbourne (not sure of the spelling) mine contract. Initially, or so the rumour goes, the service will be crewed by Pelair pilots using surplus REX airline aircraft.

The problem is, Pelair aren't exactly flush with Captains (their T&C's being even worse than REX). Hopefully, REX will take things further to include some Macair RPT routes, and employ former Macair staff. Any expansion in this area would have to include Pilots and Cabin crew, as the current REX network is already stretched crewing wise!

Goodluck guys. Hope it turns around for you soon?

[j3pipercub]

KRUSTY.

That sir, is a very interesting rumour indeed. Not to mention using dirty ole freight dogs to fly pax. I guess it worked for Jetcraft...

j3

[KRUSTY 34]

j3pipercub.

If you are refering to the aircraft, they are in fact REX aeroplanes. The Pelair SAABs are not practically changeable back to pax config. Although it appears that Pelair pilots are flying them on a charter basis.

If the service is to be reliable however, we may see REX pilots rostered to fill the crewing gaps. That may come at a price because there are few gaps in the REX rosters, at least as far as Captains are concerned.:rolleyes:

[sthaussiepilot]

I still fail to see why REX/ Pelair (aside from being cheap) hasnt clawed and battled through to snag the MacAir S340 captians..... ?

If they're so desperate for qualified captians why not grab/ help out the ones looking....

[KRUSTY 34]

Good question. I'll make apoint to ask LKH when he arrives in town on Monday!

It should be remembered however that to legally fly REX RPT they must still jump through the hoops, and pass the checks. They will then have to sit in their place on the seniority list untill their number comes up. That could be as long as a year!

If it were me doing the hireing, I wouldn't be wasting any time. But heh! Who knows what goes through the minds of people who still think you can walk out the back, shake the tree, and out will fall all the pilots you need!

[sthaussiepilot]

Wasnt suggesting that it would just "happen" but I would have thought REX would have been trying to pick up some qualified S340 captains...

[KRUSTY 34]

It doesn't look good I'm afraid.

Only rumour of course, but it seems that Macair pilots have been told by REX that there are no positions for them.

From what I understand there are 2 options for REX with regard to Macair. REX could attempt to "take over" the airline as a going concern. This would require a considerable commitment and investment in the operation as a whole. If this were to happen, it would probably be the best outcome for Macair staff. These people would be the backbone of a recomencement of ops, and be eventually incorporated into REX, on what would hopefully be a datal seniority system. REX would be in their rights to rationalise routes and aircraft mix, but the end result should be a significant QLD presence.

Sadly it appears that REX are unwilling to show a commitment in this regard, and may be content to simply pick at the carcass. IMHO this is a shortsighted approach that will only serve to exacerbate REX's already significant crewing problems, not to mention the continueing disruption to the people of QLD and the now suffering Macair staff.

I hope I'm wrong. Hopefully REX will see the value of stepping up and saving Macair in it's present form, at least untill it can be incorporated down the track?

[THE ORACLE]

K,

Whatever decisions are made by REX about Macair must include looking at their current liabilities. It their debt is too high (as was the case with another smaller airline takeover considered by REX in Qld.) then it makes more sense to buy assets from a 'receiver' rather than take over the business (and its debts) from an 'administrator'.

Considering Macair was firstly accorded a $4.5Mill. 'top up' on their contract from the Govt and then within weeks they asked for another $7 Mill. (ex gratia) the ongoing liabilities may be considerable.

Furthermore, after the Flight West collapse, Sunstate (now Q.Link) picked up ALL the profitable RPT ports in regional Qld and the Macair 'business' as we can now see ultimately comprised a collection of unprofitable (and undersubsidised) minor RPT routes, FIFO work and charter. None of which appears to have been too profitable.

[No1Dear]

I know what the FO's would say.
Go join the far que and wait your turn like everyone else

[...still single]

what would the Rex union say about 10-15 Direct Entry Capts?

"Thank you Sir. May I please have another?"

[No1Dear]

Don't get me wrong, I hope the lads get another job asap.

[pile-it]

DE Capts a possibility although T & C's are strictly GA Award. A job though in these uncertain times!

[j3pipercub]

reeealy? Heard pel-air laying off a few at tthe moment?

[Max Talk]

Now that he can't be a poser at the steps of Macair aircraft, he can be a poser on the QFLink aircraft, and pay the same "rediculous high prices" (or more) than Macair charged. :=

[PigsArse]

Good luck to all involved, and hope they get a good job soon.

[LUCKY-1]

JETa OK, What do you mean about Elvis being dead?!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stationair8]

Anymore developments on the staff getting their entitlements?

[aussie1234]

next meeting is 5th of march. I'd be happy with just one of the saabs lined up there. It's so sad to see them there.

[Alice Kiwican]

Me too aussie1234. Just curious where's the ATR being stored? Haven't seen it lined up with saab's during my recent visits to TL. And while I'm at it what routes do the Rex saab's operate? I was looking at the Queensland Transport website recently and saw that Westwing,Skytrans and Q\Link were operating most of the routes through Townsville,Isa etc.

[mootyman]

I did hear an atr was in cairns halfway though a fairly heavy check

[kam16]

I have been led to believe the ATR is in a certain Hanger in Cairns collecting cobwebs as The Administrator approved some extra spending on a check that was under way when things went bad. Now that was amount has been spent the work has ceased till a guarantee that bills will be paid.

[LM82]

what routes do the Rex saab's operate?

I believe they are going to osbourne/osborne/osborn (not sure of the spelling) mine as a charter for pelair.

I also heard that they are using pelair pilots but rex flighties to crew the flights.

at least thats what i heard. It is a rumour network after all:ok:

[RedwireBluewire]

No movement on the ATR "C" check other than one of the engines coming out to go back to its owner (rental). Afraid this cat's going nowhere.