Skywest - F100 for Argyle?

[detached observer]

West Australian today reports that Skywest have been awarded Argyle contract with F100 aircraft in some kind of partnership with Flightwest.
Sounds as though there is speculation about their ability to get it off the ground - anyone have the inside story?

[Stick Pusher]

I believe that the use of flightwest is merely just to get the ball rolling, whilst skywest sets up, trains, etc and jump all the CASA hoops. I don't think there is any problems, it's just because the start date is in about 10 weeks. It's a commercial arrangement and as far as I know it is Skywests contract. That story in the West is just Geoff Thomas going on as usual because he reported that Skywest had blown there chances with Argyle and he, again, has got it wrong and is trying to cover his mistaken, bad reporting again. He never seems to give skywest a go, and as for the analyst... well why doesn't he just use his name?

Good on Skywest! I hope they go well and recover bigger and better after last year and keep QF honest in the west! We need more companies to survive not to die...

:D

[topend3]

well, if that is true and they have that argyle contract that is good news for them,they are a good little company, have suffered lots since ansett's collapse as they relied heavily on the feeder traffic that ansett generated for them. would be good to see them expand into jets as at the mo qf have the monopoly on lots of routes (karratha, broome, hedland etc) they need some competition on these routes, if virgin can start into coffs why wont or cant they start into some regional wa centres, i think they would get the support, anyone have any views on this

[Wirraway]

Thurs "West Australian"

Skywest changes course for Argyle
By Geoffrey Thomas
http://www.thewest.com.au/20020815/business/tw-business-home-sto68029.html

SKYWEST Airline has stunned the local aviation industry by edging out National Jet Systems as the preferred bidder in the battle to win the fly-in, fly out contract for Rio Tinto's Argyle diamond mine.

The Skywest coup comes after Qantas picked up the Argyle contract last year in the wake of Ansett's collapse. It has used Boeing 737s but its schedules apparently do not suit Argyle.

Analysts pointed out last night the deal was not binding and questions remained over the commercial nature of the transaction, which involved only limited flying for the 91-seat Fokker 100 twin-jet, which is to be leased from Alliance Airlines in Brisbane.

NJS, the most experienced mining contract charter operator in the State, had bid for the contract with a four-engine BAe146 aircraft.

Skywest Airlines chairman and chief executive Patrick Ryan confirmed a 91-seat Fokker 100 aircraft would be wet-leased for one year for the required 20 hours of flying per week for the Argyle contract.

The wet-lease means Alliance Airlines will provide the crews and support for the aircraft because Skywest is waiting on Civil Aviation Safety Authority approval to operate Fokker 100s.

Details of the deal are sketchy with neither Mr Ryan nor Alliance Airlines prepared to discuss the precise nature of the transaction which apparently sees the Fokker 100 being under-utilised.

Analysts said that under normal circumstances a jet aircraft would need at least 45 hours of flying a week to break even.

Mr Ryan said the Alliance aircraft would be based in Perth and leased for more hours as Skywest secured additional work.

This has led some analysts to speculate that Alliance Airlines is taking a commercial risk on Skywest securing more business. Alliance denied this and said the deal was on commercial terms.

One Melbourne-based analyst suggested Skywest might be on a timetable to increase the hours over the next 12 months, but Mr Ryan denied this.

"We are under no pressure whatsoever to take the aircraft for more hours," he said.

Mr Ryan said the airline would look at other opportunities, which analysts have taken to mean it would target Woodside and Western Mining. But that move could bring them into conflict with the State Government which has given the airline protection on what is termed turbo-prop routes such as Geraldton, Albany and Esperance for its 46-seat Fokker 50 operations.

Alliance Airlines, owned by Queensland Airline Holdings, is the new airline to emerge from Flight West which collapsed in June last year.

It is owned by a consortium of aviation identities including Stephen Bond, the owner of Lloyd Helicopters, Hugh Jones, chief executive of New Zealand's Airwork and Steve Padgett, chairman of the Aeromil Group of Companies.

Argyle requires Skywest to start services on November 3.

[Gunnadothat]

Schedule should be three return flights per week, with two of them being overnights.....

The departure and return times are purported to be much better than QF were prepared to budge on.....
QF is a 3:30am arrival - - YUK!

Ah well, it was nice to have movies and QF club whilst it lasted:D :(

[Capn Bloggs]

"The question you have to ask yourself, Bloggs, is WHY NJS [as opposed to QF] 'got edged out'.

Will LER, TEF be next?"

[3 Holer]

No mystery there Bloggs. Like most things these days, it probably got down to money!:D

[geoffrey thomas]

Dear Stick Pusher:
There is far more to this deal than can be published and as this is a piublic forum and I post under my name unlike most I cannot advise you the full story. Suffice to say the old saying applies:
"Only one airline makes money out of an aircraft"
And in today's environment that is also rare. How two can make money out of this deal is impossible to see. My money is on Alliance making money.
With regard to Qantas, its 737 op was back of the clock which did not suit Argyle.
With regard to Skywest: If you check back over my reports you will see that I have long supported Skywest as they are a great operation BUT what I have reported, as with Ansett, have been the facts.

Best GT

[fruitloop]

I always thought the Fokker 50 had 50 seats !!!Duh !!!

[detached observer]

GT,

Nice article, raises some very interesting questions which must be asked by someone, not least of all Rio Tinto.
One must wonder if in the fallout from BM's untimely demise, there still remains adequate aviation business smarts within the Skywest camp. It is easy to perceive that things have happened very quickly and Skywest are shooting from the hip in regard to what they can do.

[geoffrey thomas]

For a detached observer you are remarkably on the mark. Look at tomorrow's West (business section) and more of the story will unfold. Best GT

[I'm with stupid]

What's the story with the WA govt. and Skywest ??
I thought we lived in an era of deregulation, and most contributors on this forum calling for QF to have competition on KA, BRM, PD etc, what about competition on Geraldton, Albany, Esperance etc ??!!
How does a company with a dubious at best operating profit jag a major mining contract, with no prior jet experience and using one jet for 20 hours a week ?
Surely Dr. Gallop has had no influence on this ?? no, that would'nt be fair on the other operators would it ?

Topend3, all that introducing another operator into KA, PD, (maybe not BRM) will do, is the same as when Airlink started in WA, it will make sure one operator makes less money and the other makes no money.

and no, I do not wan't to see skywest go under, just a level playing field for all.

[EMB Bras]

Well said 'I'm with Stupid'
Why the hell should the government protect Skywest?!? How long will this mess go on?
There has to be more to this... gotta be a very friendly link between Gallop/Mactiernan/Skywest somewhere doesn't there. :eek:

[dodgybrothers]

yeah lets open up all those marginal ports like Exmouth, Carnarvon and Geraldton and let two bob operators in there and hey, while we're at it, lets lengthen the dole queues. Are Skywest no doing the right thing in those towns? Are they offering discount airfares? Yes they are so why open it up and have all operators walk away after 12 months and another carrier or two hit the canvas.

[skyways]

But what about somewhere like Kalbarri that wants a regular service and isn't getting it, yet no other operators are allowed in because the 'turboprop routes' can't sustain competition?

[Wirraway]

Sat "The West Australian" 17/8/02

Skywest charts a difficult flight plan

By Geoffrey Thomas

THERE is a saying in aviation that only one operator makes money out of an aircraft and in the post-September 11 environment, even that is debatable, with airlines around the world haemorrhaging red ink and filing for bankruptcy.

On Wednesday, Skywest won the three-year Argyle contract valued around $7 million and, while it appears to be a lifeline, the airline has been forced into a six month wet-lease from Alliance Airlines in Brisbane to meet the early November start-up date.

The wet-lease on a 91-seat Fokker-100 jet includes pilots and engineering support and includes a six-month option as Skywest considers acquiring its own jets.

Skywest chairman and acting chief executive Pat Ryan said yesterday that part of the deal with Alliance was an up-front payment of several months of lease payments for the Fokker-100, which are estimated by analysts to be in the region of at least $400,000.

Balancing that, however, is an unspecified advance payment from Argyle Diamonds to assist Skywest launch the service.

The actual aircraft is yet to be acquired by Alliance but there is an abundance of Fokker-100s available, although many require expensive overhauls called "C" checks.

Analysts are perplexed by the deal and who is losing money because the aircraft will be flown for only 20 hours a week, whereas Qantas subsidiary National Jet Systems aircraft fly 60 hours a week and Qantas jets fly 84 hours a week.

"Alliance Airlines are street-wise and it's hard to see any downside for them," one analyst said.

According to sources at Perth Airport, NJS bid about $8 million, $1 million higher than Skywest, mainly because the airline was using a smaller RJ70 with 70 seats to meet the contract, which required four trips a week, whereas the 91-seat Fokker-100 requires only three flights. But the question being asked is why Skywest tendered so low, given NJS' limitations and reluctance to introduce a bigger jet to meet the requirement.

Insiders say that the bid was put together after Bill Meeke was dumped as chief executive and there are concerns that there is little upside for Skywest in the deal.

But Mr Ryan says there is plenty of upside and confirmed the airline would be looking for more opportunities with the Fokker-100, including part of the Woodside contract.

Approximately 70 per cent of the Woodside contract is allocated to Qantas, with 30 per cent which can be given to any new competitive bidder.

"We will be looking at the Woodside contract," Mr Ryan said.

But he conceded that is where the difficulties start for Skywest.

The State Government has just handed Skywest exclusivity for 18 months for what are called turbo-prop routes to destinations such as Albany using 46-seat F-50s, despite strong protests from Skippers Aviation.

"We will be talking to the Government about this issue," Mr Ryan said.

Insiders in the Government suggest Cabinet is going to have a serious problem on one hand giving Skywest protection and then allowing it to compete on the plum WA routes from Perth to Karratha.

To gain Woodside work, Skywest must operate the jet on a revenue passenger transport (RPT) basis, not a charter flight.

While the airline already operates F-50 RPT flights to Karratha these are not considered any competition to a Qantas Boeing 737.

A change of aircraft to a Fokker-100 is a very different proposition.

And taking on Qantas kills off any alliance deal, which had been under discussion for feeding passengers to each other's destinations.

But Skywest needs to get this work to make the Fokker-100 turn a profit, say insiders close to the deal, while Mr Ryan has confirmed the airline is still not yet in the black.

Asked if Skywest would be profitable next month as indicated earlier, Mr Ryan said he was still waiting for new budgets to be prepared but was optimistic.

"I would be disappointed if we were not profitable," he said.

And also disappointed and angry are Skywest's F-50 pilots, who like many in the industry are not clear what the wet-lease from Alliance means to their career paths.

"Management are going to have to give us some assurances real fast or there will be industrial strife," said one.

© 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited
All Rights Reserved.

[IFF]

Geoffrey Thomas seems to have a real talent for talking down Skywest. The only thing Skywest's F-50 pilots are disappointed and angry about is the way Geoffrey Thomas doesn’t seem capable of writing anything positive about their company. The majority, if not all are fiercely loyal and dedicated to ensuring the company is a success and grows into what they all know it will become. It would be nice if for a change you named your “insiders” & “industry analysts” as for “one pilot” said please!

[gaunty]

IFF

GT and I don't always agree on this 'n that but in this case he is 100% spot on.
I think GT is actually pulling his punches a little and not surprisingly if you understand how this little village perched on the West Coast, called Perth, works. As a little village and, if you don't want to get tarred and feathered and run out of town, you'd better tread carefully.

I you had, like I, and an increasingly diminishing number of persons who have been around West Dunnuda for the last 30 or so years, you would see a distressingly familiar scenario of too many trying to access too little, AND with Govt and Big Business (read Woodside et al) dancing together in a conspiracy that will bring them ALL undone.

It seems that NOONE has learnt ANYTHING over the last 20 years or so and they keep ,making the SAME DUMB mistakes. :rolleyes:

GT got the fundamentals dead set, they have never and will not change for the foreseeable future or until our population doubles at the least, AND there is a rush to repoplulate the regions.

The scenario as correctly described is a dead set return to square one fundamentals.

It's a long story but Skywest were at the best staggering along, heading for oblivion before Rick Stowe bought them along with Transwest, then through his purchase and resale of East West to Ansett, they became part of the Ansett stable and the rest is history.
The point being the owners then needed to and did have BIG pockets, patience and a grand strategy of sorts.

The new Skywest does not appear to have any of these and their alliance with Alliance has a touch of desperation about it. If Skywest do have a strategy it is hard to see and on the evidence fatally flawed, I reckon I could write Alliances.
GT was too kind with his use of "street-wise"

I am reminded of the Uncle Remus folk tale of my childhood.
Brer Rabbit and the Tar baby. There's a lesson in there somewhere for the Directors of Skywest.

Guess with whom Skywest are going to be competing in the purchase of increasingly scarse F100 resourcs for a start.

The miners have a lot to answer for with their FIFO policies and with weak Government gunning for development at any cost we have managed to depopulate our regions, concentrate our popn in the City and in the process deny RPT services to remote areas that would otherwise be available..

Skippers must bear some responsbility for this as well.

There must be a fundamental rethink of thethe problem, but I digress.

The new owners of Skywest do not seem to have a grasp on the fundamental realities of this "peculiar" market.

Bill Meeke and I have been known to go head to head on the odd occasion, but he DOES know how this market really works and if we disagree on anything in regards to this market it is only around the edges and perhaps in the manner of tis execution.

I don't know the how and manner of his removal but his prsence may well have been the lesser of two evils.

I just know the Skywest investors will be getting REALLY excited about the China gas deal and what it will mean AND Mr Ryan is not without clout in the Government and Oil & Gas Halls of Power in securing a seat at the table for Skywest.

But first things first, because the revenue stream from that is a long way off, too far in anay event to save Skywest, and the investors pockets in any aren't deep enought to fund the wait, beyond the next 6 months anyway.

The Skywest Pilots??

The majority, if not all are fiercely loyal and dedicated to ensuring the company is a success and grows into what they all know it will become.

Quite so and no doubt of that, but it doesn't matter how professionally you operate and how much you wish, it is out of your persoanl control. Unless you have a seat on the Board and can influence the role of the Government meddlers, all of your laudable efforts are as the sound of empty drums and tinkling bells.

If there is any action required by your guys, it is to ask your Board to get some real advice about how this business really works and an understanding about why we are where we are today.
Then I am sure Mr Ryan is clever enough to work it out from there.

It's a loooooong way from hooking a marlin and the initial heat and excitement of the moment to getting it safely alongside. It requires a lot of patience, courage, understanding its wiles and experience, especially when they see the boat and make that unexpected dash.

There is no quicker way.

[longjohn]

Good luck to Skywest and I hope they do well.

My only concern is what contingency plan they have in place to meet aircraft unserviceabilities. If it is to use NJS or Qf then they can expect to be gouged, I hope for their sake they do not experience protracted unserviceabilities.

[alidad]

3 year $7m contract:
20hours/week x 50 x 3 = 3000hours

$7m/3000hours = $2333-33c per hour for a F100.

Me no think so........More utilisation from day one or else.

[Stick Pusher]

"And also disappointed and angry are Skywest's F-50 pilots, who like many in the industry are not clear what the wet-lease from Alliance means to their career paths. "

I've spoken to afew of the lads, and as far as they are concerned, they are excited and happy about the news. They are well aware of the work and effort involved in phasing in a new type, and at the same time looking after the client. If that means having to use Alliance for afew months while they get set up properly etc and Alliance are used during this transitional period, then I'm sure the guys would more than understand that. I don't see what the complication seems to be about the arrangement. One 6 month block out of six (i.e 16-17%) of the contract done buy Alliance? big deal...

[aerosoul]

Gaunty, IFF was commenting on GTs seeming inability to get the facts straight not about whether pilots have management skills in addition to their flying skills. Perhaps GT should check his facts before making comments and statements that suppossedly come from the pilot group. GT you directly quoted "one pilot", did you think to ask this pilot if his view was that of the majority? I think not! In fact I know you didn't. It would pay in future Mr Thomas to check your facts with more than one person before making statements that supposedly represent an entire group. Your statements send incorrect signals to other staff, clients and the travelling public, they are damaging to morale and are untrue!

BTW - GT did manage to get the seating correct, Skywest fly the F50 with 46 seats but GT what does RPT stand for?

[Airspeed Ambassador]

RPT - Ridiculously Priced Transport??

[I'm with stupid]

Dodgy, your point is valid, but the same could be said for almost every port in WA. Everyone screamed for competition in WA after ANs total monopoly for decades, but there was no assistance for Airlink and to some point, no support from the public. Port Hedland was a good example, they whinged about no competition but when Airlink came along they did'nt support them so eventually airlink pulled out, they whinged about that too. What they wanted was someone to run an A/C in and out empty just to keep AN honest, yeh, that was going to happen.

The figures regarding the the RJ70 are incorrect, it is not a 70 seater and from memory NJS had it configured at around 80 odd.
Also NJS has 2 x 300 series A/C, which are 87 seaters including 8 J class, so I don't think that argument hold alot of water.

If Skywest has 30% of woodside, I don't think that will warrant 2 return trips a day to KA.

The contingency plan for the inevitable breakdown is an interesting one, for sure NJS and/or QF will be doing Skywest no favours in that department, but more importantly, unless something has changed drastically, NJS had enough trouble covering their own breakdowns ( not that there was that many ) yet alone the oppositions.

I sincerely hope this contract does'nt have a negative effect on Skywest, it's the last thing they need at the moment.

[Mike Huntaches]

And also disappointed and angry are Skywest's F-50 pilots, who like many in the industry are not clear what the wet-lease from Alliance means to their career paths.
"Management are going to have to give us some assurances real fast or there will be industrial strife," said one.
Yes Mr Thomas we can all use anonymity on this forum blah,blah,blah................but none of us can publish crap in the daily paper whenever it suits us. Slow news weekend was it. There I was thinking you'd be reporting the facts, not writing fiction. And this from an award winning journo? Pllllllleeeassssssssssssssssssssse. :mad:

[Capn Bloggs]

Gaunty,

You're off the mark old chap. It wasn't the mines that chose to go FIFO: it was the government of the day (can't remember which ones were in power at the time, the communists or the facists) that introduced FBT that stuffed the local communities, since subsidised housing and the rest was deemed a FB and so evrybody pulled the pin back to the big smoke (or so an old mate of mine says).

Likewise, Skippers shouldn't cop any blame for the RPT dilemma Skywets is in. Look at their flight line: 3Braz, 2D8, 5?death pencils and a whole squadron of turbo cesspits, none of which are RPT (as far as I know). Both companies deserve a go, but I don't think you can blame Skippers for the demise of remote communities: they have merely responded to the current market, just as Skywest have just done.

Just got my Flight mag with a colour pic of Alliances' F100: what a fantastic-looking jet! It'll really annoy the hell out of me to see them outside TCAS range above and going at .75! Mongrels!

[Woomera]

Whoops
Moved to wrong forum would one of you moderator chaps please move this to Dunnunda Reporting Points please:D :rolleyes:

[F111]

A work colleague and I were discussing this topic a few days ago and I think he may have it the "nail on the head" on how Alliance will get more than 20 hours per week out of the F100.
His suggestion was, Alliance could start a BNE-CNS route and then added CNS - ASP - PER. If they operated this return flight a few days a week it would give them better usage of the F100 plus it would allow the aircraft to return to BNE for maintenance/crew changes etc.

In last Thursdays Courier Mail (15th Aug), Alliance Airlines GM confirmed the Northern Territory "would be considered". So could flights via the NT be the way to go? Maybe Alliance could operate BNE-ASP-PER, BNE-DRW-BME-PER, BNE-TVL-CNS-DRW-BRM-PER, BNE-TVL-CNS-ASP-KGI-PER or BNE-ASP-KGI-PER.

[Max Crit]

What are the F100 driver pay-scales?
Heard a nasty rumour.
Max

[Qduck]

Max Crit,

Nasty yes, rumour no.

But better than cleaning bins for Lady San on a forty degree day!!!!

Thankful for the work and ready to put it up anything red in the sky.:D

[I'm with stupid]

f111, sounds good in theory, however I'm sure the white rat will have something to say and do about that.

[geoffrey thomas]

I am sorry that I have not been able to respond to the various comments about my story earlier.

However I spoke to several Skywest pilots who rang me. Naturally they are not going to admit to colleagues that they have rung me BUT they did. There are in fact by all the contrasting comments on this post very different views on this wet-lease and its effects.

And for those who think I am "Skywest bashing" the facts do not support the asertion.

1. I knew about the boardroom brawl in April.

2. Did not report it till BM was dumped and you may be interested to know that other directors/shareholders arranged for the Financial Review and ABC to actually attend the shareholder meeting when he was axed and I was barred....wonder why??

3. We could have painted Skywest management as idiots over the comments made by GM David Fletcher last week to our reporter which appeared in Friday's West relating to the F-50 problem out of Geraldton. (And yes we have it on tape)

"We blow hydraulic hoses quite regularly" and "We can't determine the life of a hydraulic hose".

I discussed the issue with the Skywest pilot's union rep and CASA and did nothing. (In fact Skywest have had three such failures in eight years...excellent record in fact).



Best Geoffrey T

[I'm with stupid]

That hydraulic hose comment was a bluddy classic !!
I hope that is not indicitive of the intelligence of management, god help you guys if it is

[detached observer]

Does anyone have any update on CEO posting at Skywest, as advertised vacant a few weeks ago?
Also interested to know if all is on track for the F100 to arrive in state to take up the Argyle contract?

[outback aviator]

word is that a "short" list has been drawn up but nobody has been appointed.
The F100 thing has developed a life of its own and appears to be on track for a nov. 3 start

[ifylofd]

Effective immediately Skywest are to fly 80-100 bums per week in and out of Exmouth(Learmonth) for Woodside. Offshore project and drilling has been brought forward 12-18 months. F-100 lurking, Geoff Thomas hiding, the fat lady hasn't even got the sheet music out yet. (she still in the car on the way to the concert!;) )La La Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

[geoffrey thomas]

Not in hiding just a little busy at the moment. QantasLink has just retained the WMC contract which they picked up from Skywest after Sept 14 last year. The contract is for three years. Skywest are now looking to sub lease one of its F-50s, possibly to Alliance BUT they didn't mention anything yestreday about the Woodside business....great news if its true.
Best GT

[detached observer]

From todays article re Skywest,
"we have a number of lease opportunities for one aircraft"..Translation : we have no work for at least one aircraft?
."...WMC business was not part of our business plan". Wht not -
does this mean that they are intentionally winding back the turboprop work? The WMC work must surely be highly coveted, particularly for Skywest.

[geoffrey thomas]

For those who missed the West article it is under.

With regard to Woodside/Exmouth/Skywest, the situation is as follows: Woodside are drilling one Appraisal Well Enfield no 5. It will last a month only and involve 70 seats a week. They have not brought forward any aspect of the operation in this region--it is still slated for 2006.
They will drill another Appraisal Well at Laverda No 2, which is in the same area, later in the year. Again one month and 70 seats a week.
GT



WMC contract further blow to Skywest hopes

By Geoffrey Thomas



QANTASLINK has retained the $21 million, three-year lucrative WMC contract for fly-in, fly-out to its mining operations at Mt Keith and Leinster.

Before Ansett's collapse, its regional subsidiary, Skywest Airlines, had the contract but lost it when it was also grounded in September last year.

QantasLink was given the contract in the interim and Skywest has been lobbying to regain the business.

While no official announcement has been made by WMC, Skywest chairman Pat Ryan confirmed yesterday the contract had gone to QantasLink.

"QantasLink has retained it and while we would have liked to regain it, the WMC business was not part of our business plan," he said.

The WMC contract was held by Skywest Airlines for a number of years and the airline carried at least 1100 passengers a week, which underpinned the fleet of five 46-seat Fokker F-50s turbo-prop aircraft.

QantasLink has used 75-seat BAe 146 jets to fly to Leinster and National Jet Systems (NJS) 36-seat Dash 8 turbo-props to service Mt Keith, which does not have a sealed runway.

In an effort to sway WMC to return the contract, Skywest has continued to operate to these two destinations, although triangulated with Kalgoorlie.

However, WMC has been impressed with the BAe 146 and will now seal Mt Keith's runway to allow jet operations.

The contract calls for up to two flights a day to both centres in an expansion of the operation.

Skywest, which is leasing a Fokker 100 jet for the Rio Tinto Argyle operation to start in November, was not able to offer that aircraft for the WMC contract because of timetable commitments to Argyle. The service was essentially a daylight operation.

The Argyle contract was held by Ansett using a 120-seat 737 jet and Qantas has been providing a 737 since Ansett's collapse but the service has been a "red-eye" because of schedule commitments for the aircraft.

The awarding of the WMC contract to QantasLink comes on top of the recent win by Qantas of the $70 million Woodside contract for the next three years.

The loss of the WMC contract leaves Skywest with excess capacity with its Fokker 50 fleet.

While the airline is serving Karratha, which it did not do before the Ansett collapse, the traffic is mainly low yield VFR (visiting friends and relatives), not mining company related.

In another development late last week, executives from Brisbane-based Alliance Airlines, which is leasing Skywest the Fokker 100 jet, were in Perth inspecting some of Skywest's Fokker 50s for a possible lease.

Mr Ryan confirmed that the airline was looking at leasing out one aircraft on a short-term basis to Alliance but other longer term leases were also possible to other operators.

"We have a number of lease opportunities for one aircraft," he said.

According to analysts, it is possible that a win-win arrangement may be forged with Alliance Airlines for a series of cross leases to satisfy varying requirements for both revenue passenger transport services and charter contracts.

Talks also continue with Qantas over a marketing alliance to feed passengers on to each others flights and provide a seamless service with baggage and ticketing.

Before its collapse, Ansett would feed Eastern States passengers on to Skywest flights.

[bentandtwisted]

Flight West wet-leased 1 F50 from Ansett about 7 years ago to cover a short fall in capacity. Flight West were very pleased with the F50 and wanted to lease/purchase at least 2 from Ansett, but Ansett wouldn't come to the party. So now 7 years on the F50 may become a regular sight in QLD skies.

In other Alliance news the first Bras, VH-XFZ is now flying in full Alliance colours.

[puff]

They leased VH-FNJ when it came back from a dry lease with Tyrolean bentandtwisted and I think they were unwilling to lease longterm because a large swag of the F50s were involved in a swap with Skyways in Sweden for Saab 340Bs for Kendell.

I find it interesting they actually thought it was a good machine, during the lease I think it blew 2 engines...this was in the same era YC had the 2 Dash 8s too.

[fruitloop]

Puff,
Not quite sure on the rego's but I know that it was swapped during the time it was here !!:D

[bentandtwisted]

Puff,
True there were a few problems with the F50 during the lease period, but in the end Flight West were pleased with the aircraft. I think it operated on the all stops coastal run from BNE-CNS. Yes it was at the time when YC had the 2 Dash-lates but one was on lease in NZ. This was the time before the F28's arrived and YC were looking at larger aircraft types hence the F50.
If Alliance do lease the F50 it could provide them with a Dash8-300 size aircraft at a fraction of the cost.