The New Qantas

[cabinboy]

02JAN not only marked the 1st day of the new scheduled airbus A330 operations for Qantas, but also the launch of a new inflight service onboard Cityflyer flights from BNE/SYD/MEL to PER.

Economy Passengers now get the following -:

* Printed menus
* New meal trays with stainless steel cutlery
* Choice of two main meals
* Icecreams
* Complimentary beer/wine after 12 Noon
* Complimentary newspapers before 9am
* Mints prior to landing.

J class pax also get the above (however, a choice of 3 main meals) and also a wider choice of wines.

At this stage, it is only available on the BNE/SYD/MEL-PER flights. Tasman flights are next to have the upgraded meal service.

[Alpha Charlie Bravo]

I wonder how many staff from Ansett Inflight Product Design QF took on board. This product, in Y/C at least, is virtually a carbon copy of AN's extended service prior to collapse.

Is this simply a case of product differentiation for the Q or is there something that they know that the rest of us don't vis a vis a new premium carrier in the marketplace.

:cool:

[cloud nine]

This new service sounds really great, I'm sure our pax will enjoy it as much as the FA's enjoy delivering it. But, I'm just curious, I thought that all cutlery was banned except for plastic cutlery.

Can anyone clear that up for me.....thanks ;)

[qfmike737]

I'm currenty working in Qantas flight catering and i can tell you that many carriers use all stainless steel cutlery. Qantas certainly do on some flights.

Some airlines still use stainless steel knives and slowly some airlines are bringing them back in. Qantas ones are amongst the sharpest!

If you refer to my post on Catering in the cabin crew forum I've been asking about the Qantas meal boxes....i'm not sure if the pax like them....I often receive unopened boxes with messages scribbled on top that say..."I would not feed this to my dog etc"

[peanut pusher]

With every major airline in the world restructuring to minimise costs, so did Qantas.
We had this service ready to launch the very first city flyer and had to put on hold while the rest of the aviation world fell apart. Now we have the profit levels and market share we are happy with, we have rewarded the customers and listened to there complaints.
The meals are even 30% larger. I operated a 737-800 last night from PER to SYD and the business class service took 2 hrs for the 5 courses. Every pax left the a/c very happy with the new product. Crew have never worked so hard !!!.:eek: :)

And no ABC we didn't rip it off AN, it wasn't that hard, it's the same as our old Tasman service.

[jupiter2]

Alpha Bravo Charlie...
Yes, you are correct.
The current QF product is a copy of the Ansett service prior to collapse, minus a few items.
This service was originally implemented to provide "sameness" of product between the Air NZ and Ansett services on extended services.
You will find that several key ex-Air NZ people are now employed with QF.
The clear trays, white cups and glass bowls are identical to the items that were ordered for Ansett.
The "Box Meals" were a product developed jointly by Ansett and Visy, that were to be introduced on all "leisure" services that were outside the high yield business market hours.
The concepy of the box was not to reduce the cost of the meal item, but to reduce the crew complements on these services. Thats where the real cost savings always were to be found.
The box concept was ceased during the Air NZ takeover of Ansett. Their reasoning being that they believed the Australian public was not ready for such a change in product standard.
Visy wore most of the development costs and subsequently sought to recover the money from Air NZ.
The product and all specs for the box contents, including the small bottled mineral waters, ended up on some key desks at QF Service Development, within moments of the Air NZ rejection.

[flyer55]

Great to see the Cityflyer name still being used by a fellow member of The Oneworld Alliance. As classed in the Uk Cityflyer was "Unique" by BA bosses & by the newspapers.

[Alpha Charlie Bravo]

Jupiter 2, interesting background info, some of which I didn't know. Peanutpusher, I can see where your defensiveness is coming from, however, I'm not having a go at you or QF. I was just as passionate about AN and hopefully, over time, that passion will be transferred to QF, now I am working for them.

But don't allow pride in your company to override objectivity. QF have many strengths, but there are dangers in that also. Upgrading inflight product, both hard and soft, is relatively easy. Changing corporate culture, is where the real challenge lies and what QF so desperately needs. The frquency with which QF frontline staff say 'no' to their customers I find, quite frankly, staggering.

Remember, a company's dominance is NEVER assured:rolleyes: