Skywest - here for the long haul?

[detached observer]

Skywest appear to be hanging in there following the intro of the F100 on the Argyle route. Does this mean they are turning a profit, or making ends meet, even with the minimal amount of contract flying?
If so, do they still have plans to expand and bring in more F100 to WA market? I wish them luck, a serious WA competitior is a welcome move from red tail dominance.
Anyone know if they are likely to be employing soon?

[Mike Huntaches]

No
Yes
growing
yes
YES

[MU2]

Well yes, every time the F100 starts up it makes a big fat profit, on charters, going to all states i hear, and more to come down the track, so as i have said before just wait and watch............

[topend3]

what's skywest doing about their livery??? last time i saw they had just painted over the ansett logo and had an all-blue tail, and is the F100 still all-white??

[Azimuth]

I saw the F100 yesterday and it was still white. Don't know if they are going to paint it though...

[Stick Pusher]

Saw the 100 with Skywest painted on the side. The tail is still white. One would assume it will have a new logo sometime down the track.:)

[the wizard of auz]

They wont be around much longer if they dont stop blowing black sh!t over my airplanes. :mad:
come on guys, look behind your plane and remeber the parked aircraft behind you....... you managed to get my 172 airborne on the ropes the other day. It take several hours to wash these aircraft only to have them covered in hard to remove black snot next day, maybe I should start forwarding the washing costs to the ops department.

[Right Seat]

Wiz,
Chock the mighty 310 in "their" bay! ;) That'l learn em!

[EPIRB]

How much are they paying the crew's?

[topend3]

what? how much are they paying them to blow black snot over wiz's 172?

[MU2]

WIZ, Try parking your heap somewhere else, as RPT aircraft must park on marked yellow lines.
PS. Maybe the black snot you are talking about is comming from the 146's.........Dick.

[topend3]

MU2 - check your facts, i don't think 146's fly into Leonora...Dick.

[the wizard of auz]

Actually topend old mate, they do. But these fellas have been at it since before they came in. MU2 I have been parking my plane there for five years now........well before there was bitumen and yellow lines. where would you sugest I park my aircraft?? over near the bush on the south side of the field? then you mob will blow black snot all over it when you park in the other direction.......you know, when you have two parked up there over night. I leave the whole apron there for you guys and you still cant manage a little bit of common sense and idle off the mark or roll forward a little bit when you start the port engine....... admittedly one or two of you do, and thanx fellas, but the other blokes ........ well get stuffed.
as for my aircraft being heaps........ at least I own em fella, I dont have to work for **** money like you. Its good knowing I work half the hours and get twice the money you do :rolleyes:
I do hope you wernt calling me a dick..........if you were, why dont you wander over and introduce yourself when your here next..... we can discuss it in detail.

[blat]

dems fightin words.......

back off ten paces each fellas. no kicking eye gouging pulling hair or calling the other guy nasty words.

[clearone]

Do Skywest have F100s?.

I thought these Aircraft were Alliances`s frm Qld.

[Icarus2001]

RPT aircraft must park on marked yellow lines

...and I read it on PPRUNE so it must be true.

[MU2]

1 TOP END, SUGGEST YOU CHECK YOUR FACTS.
2 WIZ [LOSER], LOVE TO IF I EVER WENT THERE.
3 CLEARONE, SKYWEST OWNS F100 FNY.

[the wizard of auz]

MU2 [WALLY] why dont you send me a PM and let me know where you do go to then and I'll be happy to drop in on ya when I'm passing through and continue this little conversation. I visit perth alot and I'm very easy to contact, so if you reckon you would love to, let me know and I'll make an appointment.

[Ref + 10]

Wiz, where abouts on the airfield are you referring to? Is it when the 100 is departing from the terminal or is it at the north end where it sits out front of the Skywest hangar. I've only ever seen 172's parked across from the Flight Centre and that seems like a fair way away from their hangar. If it's before departure there is a taxiway behind it.....

Details I know but I'd like to make sure so I give your plane a wide berth in case you come and "discuss it in detail" :D

[MU2]

WIZ TOSSA, I SUGGEST WHEN YOU GET TO PERTH YOU SEE A SHRINK.

[topend3]

MU 2, ok i admit i may have been wrong, i take it national jet flys their 146's into Leonora, you are still a dick though, watch it the wiz is a BIG BOY

:D :cool:

[the wizard of auz]

ref + 10, mate, its up here in YLEO thats the problem, not in perth. most blokes are pretty good about it and do the righty and roll forward a little bit or turn the aircraft so they dont get my aircraft flying on the ropes, and then there are the other type...... that have an attitude like that d!ckhead MU2.
seems that the 146/RJ70s can park in front of the terminal but the F50s have to park right over near the fuel bowser. (must have different yellow lines). ;)
As for having a personal chat :D that was reserved for ol mate for being a mouthy fukc, not for blowing black snot around. If your ever up this way, feel free to come over for a FREINDLY yarn, and if your on stop over I'll show you around our illustrious lil town.
MU2, Mate, your a real loser. If your ever keen, I'm real easy to find, and always willing to have a quiet chat.........I doubt it'll ever happen though, it seems your a tad spineless.... I didnt get an appointment from you yet.

Anyway, as entertaining as it is, its hijacking the thread some what, so carry on discussing the original intent of the original post people. ;)

[topend3]

ok, enough fun and games - so getting back to the original thread, have heard that great western is set or has been approved to start geraldton-kalbarri services in competition with skywest. this was the only route deemed viable for competition in the report into wa's air services which was completed late last year.

apparently the wa gov'ts aviation ministerial council (headed by gg himself) is working on an aviation master plan which they will have completed by april apparently. this will set out recommendations for the future of the states air routes and is expected to deny anyone access to competing with skywest on their other routes where there is insufficient demand for 2 operators to compete profitably ie - all of them.

so, where does this leave skywest? I think they will survive long term though they have certainly struggled since the demise of ansett, they relied heavily on the oncariage that they provided, especially to tourist destinations that they serve.

one of skywest's problems is they lack flexibility with the aircraft type they use, the Fokker 50 is configured with 46 seats and they struggle to fill them during off peak times when loads are low, having a smaller 19 seat turboprop would solve this problem, like when they had the J31'S.

The F100 is a good choice and one would think they would love to source more charter work to utilise this aircraft more, Skywest's position seems to be that they would not like to compete directly with QF into places like broome, karratha and kalgoorlie which places them at a disadvantage with qf using 737's into these destinations and consequently being to be able to offer more cheaper fares with quicker sectors compared to the F50's.

Virgin Blue has made it clear it would be interested to fly out of Perth to Broome and Kalgoorlie which would throw another hat amongst the pigeons, though whether these two centres could support 2 RPT jet operators both serving them profitably remains to be seen.

all very interesting times and will be interesting to see where skywest is in 5 years time.

[the wizard of auz]

Um, that would be four RPT into Kalgoorlie then. already serving Kalgoorlie MAS, Skywest , Qantas. yup, virgin would make four by my count. :o

[topend3]

yes, but my point was only 2 RPT JET operators, if Virgin were to expand into Kalgoorlie...

[Pom Pax]

Kalgoorlie used to support 2 jet services as well Skywest. It was one of Ansett few profitable regional routes. When gold exploration was booming and before Airlink AN,s service at times was hourly.
Now with the recent surge in the gold price there seems a likelyhood that demand may again exceed supply. So perhaps there is room for the F100 here. As for Virgin going into Kalg. if they are to be allowed to pick the eyes out of W.A. regionals lets hope they will obliged to offer some Eastbound services in exchange for the tasty morsels.

[topend3]

i can't see virgin flying into kalgoorlie in the forseeable future, there has to be easier ways to make money, and international expansion would surely come first. adelaide is set to get an increase in services this year and virgin have publicly touted kal as a possible destination from ADL. as for virgin providing some more eastbound services they already have double dailies to sydney, melbourne, adelaide and a new direct brissie service...

kalgoorlie may well be able to support 2 jet services, but maybe not profitably, this is where the qantaslink are at an advantage over skywest as they can cross-subsidise off their more profitable intrastate WA jet routes and keep a kalgoorlie service going, conversely skywest does not have this luxury as most of their routes are marginal...

:D :D

[tightcannon]

Hi all,
Heard that XFZ the ex flightwest braz headed for WA the other day. the big rumour on the east coast is that skippers is going to buy skywest then get rid of the 50's and run the Braz plus Metro's on other routes, Have and resident sandgropers heard anything.
It probably makes sense having a faster a/c with an apu for summer but how would the pilot intergration go, imagine the fights for the F100

[topend3]

can't see skywest selling out to anyone, they have just notched up a year under their new owners AIL - Airline Investments Ltd, they bought the airline post Ansett, am sure Skippers would love to buy them but whether Skywest want to be sold is a completely different story, problem for Skippers is that it is probably the only option as they aint going to get access to any of Skywest's present routes...

[Stick Pusher]

tight cannon.

That is definitly not going to happen. :yuk: The F-50, although a large aircraft, well and truely makes up for the lack of an APU with many many other benifits to it's passengers, and they enjoy the aircraft. I've been in a Metro and A Brasliia and the F-50 has alot more passenger appeal. As for speed. Over these distances the time difference is nothing.

So you can put the rumour in the bin.:D Never going to happen... Good try... but no, no, no ,no no.:O

[topend3]

there are many other reasons apart from the appeal of the F50 to pax why skywest will never sell out to skippers, it just won't happen, do feel though that skywest would do well to acquire another smaller a/c type in the metro size range that would allow them to substitute for the F50 as loads dictate...

[Icarus2001]

The sales people always say that the punters do not like anything with props. Obviously if that is all that is on offer though.
Big step down in passenger comfort from F50 to Metro, especially on same ticket price!

What is the story with all this talk of "protected routes"? I thought in this day and age all that stuff was anti-competetive and illegal? Bit like CASA deciding how many "independent" FOI's there should be. Knew someone who applied, who had all the right experience etc but was told that there was only enough work for the present handful. Not really CASA's decision surely? I understand there role is to approve or not approve an application on it's merits. So if POVEY airlines want to have a go, let market forces decide.

[topend3]

yes, you are exactly right, it isn't casa's decision, they have nothing at all to do with it.

the wa gov't makes the decision and, rightly or wrongly, they have decided to not open any of skywest's routes up to competition (APART FROM GEL-KALBARRI) as there is simply not enough demand, also skippers has an advantage in that they can subsidise loss making rpt serivces with their profit-making charter services...

if you want the facts, read the report at www.dpi.wa.gov.au, it hasn't got anything to do with CASA
:O :O

[topend3]

hey wiz,

have you arranged a meeting with skywest's board yet re the serious situation at Leonora and your aeroplanes getting dirty??:O :O

[Sgt Schultz]

Forget the Bras, scrap the 146 and roll the F50 onto the grass and light a fire.What WA needs now is the 717. ;)

[outback aviator]

Lovely aeroplane Shultzy, but for W.A. the tyre pressures are too high and it just does not have the legs to service the North West.
The 717 was given serious consideration before the F-100 was chosen.
BTW in another galaxy far,far away I used to fly the DC-9 /30 and it was great, for the East coast.

[the wizard of auz]

Nah, to hard mate. I'm just gunna install aircon and paint em black. if they are any thing like that other attitude, they wont give a fat rats crack anyway.:rolleyes:

[Towering Q]

Daisy...black? I don't think so.

Is this black sh!t the same as the black sh!t that runs along the outboard side of the engine nacelles on the F50? or are they simply blasting you with fresh hot mix? Good thing you tie them down.

Interesting that you include NG air as a Kalgoorlie RPT service, must check out their prices next time I'm off to....Warbo!! :eek:

Anyway, back to the topic..

[the wizard of auz]

its the fresh hot ****e when they start up thats the problem ....... lots of fuel and not much fire, as well as al that ****e they have down the nacelles. thats the reason I tie em down mate, case of having to or they'll end up over the flat somewhere.
NG are listed as being a RPT operater into kal, hence the availability of freight carting from alice and all them other top spots :D . thinking of a holiday in warbo mate?. would be to close to being in your old job for comfort I would have though. :}