Qantas plans Airbus base
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Qantas plans Airbus base
Fri "The Australian"
Qantas plans Airbus base
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
February 11, 2005
QANTAS is to establish a maintenance base for its new Airbus A320 aircraft in Australia, quelling fears that the work might go offshore.
The group's low-cost unit, Jetstar, is expected to announce today that the maintenance work will go to Newcastle. The NSW regional centre was among a number of options being canvassed by Qantas that included sending the work to New Zealand or awarding it to the former Ansett maintenance facility in Melbourne.
Asia was also touted as an offshore possibility, but New Zealand was considered more likely because of its proximity and the fact Air New Zealand already operates an A320 heavy maintenance base.
The decision to keep the work in Australia comes despite recent warnings by Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon that Qantas could no longer afford to be an "all-Australian business".
Mr Dixon told The Australian last month the airline had no choice but to source more of its people, services and products overseas.
Jetstar already has a maintenance facility in Newcastle servicing the 14 Boeing 717s inherited when Qantas swallowed Impulse Airlines.
But Jetstar is progressively replacing the 717s with the bigger, 177-seat A320s and plans to operate an all-Airbus fleet of 23 A320s by the middle of next year. The A320 program is believed to be bedding down well with two more aircraft due to arrive from Jetstar Asia next month.
It was not clear yesterday how many additional maintenance jobs the bigger A320 fleet would ultimately bring to Newcastle, but sources estimated it would be in the order of 50 to 60 above current staffing levels.
They said the figure could be slightly more if Jetstar won a contract to maintain eight Boeing 717s due to be transferred to Qantas regional subsidiary Qantaslink for deployment in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. Jetstar has been vying with Adelaide-based National Jet Systems for a contract to maintain and operate the Qantaslink 717s. A decision on the competition could be announced as early as today.
Some expect a split decision, with NJS retaining the flying and Jetstar keeping the maintenance.
Qantaslink proposes to replace eight 65-76 seat BAe-146 aircraft now flown by NJS with 717s reconfigured to 115 seats and a 32-inch seat pitch.
It will deploy the bigger planes to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Routes include Perth to Broome, Kalgoorlie and the Pilbara, and Alice Springs to Uluru, Broome, Cairns, Darwin and Perth.
Qantaslink says the changes and a $200-million plan to buy seven Bombardier Q400 aircraft will lead to more discount fares for regional communities.
The faster, 72-seat Q400s will replace 50-seat Dash 8-Q300s on some routes. The displaced aircraft will in turn replace 36-seat Dash 8-100s and 200s on other routes.
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Qantas plans Airbus base
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
February 11, 2005
QANTAS is to establish a maintenance base for its new Airbus A320 aircraft in Australia, quelling fears that the work might go offshore.
The group's low-cost unit, Jetstar, is expected to announce today that the maintenance work will go to Newcastle. The NSW regional centre was among a number of options being canvassed by Qantas that included sending the work to New Zealand or awarding it to the former Ansett maintenance facility in Melbourne.
Asia was also touted as an offshore possibility, but New Zealand was considered more likely because of its proximity and the fact Air New Zealand already operates an A320 heavy maintenance base.
The decision to keep the work in Australia comes despite recent warnings by Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon that Qantas could no longer afford to be an "all-Australian business".
Mr Dixon told The Australian last month the airline had no choice but to source more of its people, services and products overseas.
Jetstar already has a maintenance facility in Newcastle servicing the 14 Boeing 717s inherited when Qantas swallowed Impulse Airlines.
But Jetstar is progressively replacing the 717s with the bigger, 177-seat A320s and plans to operate an all-Airbus fleet of 23 A320s by the middle of next year. The A320 program is believed to be bedding down well with two more aircraft due to arrive from Jetstar Asia next month.
It was not clear yesterday how many additional maintenance jobs the bigger A320 fleet would ultimately bring to Newcastle, but sources estimated it would be in the order of 50 to 60 above current staffing levels.
They said the figure could be slightly more if Jetstar won a contract to maintain eight Boeing 717s due to be transferred to Qantas regional subsidiary Qantaslink for deployment in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. Jetstar has been vying with Adelaide-based National Jet Systems for a contract to maintain and operate the Qantaslink 717s. A decision on the competition could be announced as early as today.
Some expect a split decision, with NJS retaining the flying and Jetstar keeping the maintenance.
Qantaslink proposes to replace eight 65-76 seat BAe-146 aircraft now flown by NJS with 717s reconfigured to 115 seats and a 32-inch seat pitch.
It will deploy the bigger planes to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Routes include Perth to Broome, Kalgoorlie and the Pilbara, and Alice Springs to Uluru, Broome, Cairns, Darwin and Perth.
Qantaslink says the changes and a $200-million plan to buy seven Bombardier Q400 aircraft will lead to more discount fares for regional communities.
The faster, 72-seat Q400s will replace 50-seat Dash 8-Q300s on some routes. The displaced aircraft will in turn replace 36-seat Dash 8-100s and 200s on other routes.
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It's not going to happen, Qantas are only making this known at this time so they can take it away and blame the industrial dispute for its removal. It was never going to happen, it will be like a blow to the guts of Australian aviation and a means to discredit those who are trying to plug the drain and stop our union selling us out once more.
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AAP
Jetstar to invest $29m in Newcastle
February 11, 2005 - 11:39AM
Budget airline Jetstar will invest $29 million over the next few years to build a state of the art maintenance facility in Australia to maintain its new fleet of Airbus A320s.
The decision was made after a tendering process that involved maintenance facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The contract will preserve 82 jobs in Newcastle and create 50 more, Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said.
"This facility in Australia, at Newcastle, won that tender despite very tough competition from Asia and New Zealand," Mr Joyce said.
"It very much reinforces that we are very happy with the performance with Jetstar and we have a very competitive workforce in Jetstar which allows us to be the leading budget airline, we believe, in terms of low fares."
The Jetstar workforce in Newcastle currently maintains the 14 717s Jetstar is progressively replacing with 23 new A320s.
Six have arrived, two more will arrive in March and the last will be delivered in mid-2006.
Jetstar's investment will be used to beef up the current maintenance facility, Mr Joyce said.
"It will be very much a state of the art facility which will allow us to fully maintain all 23 of the Airbus A320s," he said.
"The Airbus A320s in their own right were a billion dollars in aircraft capital that the Qantas group has invested in Jetstar, so it is a significant investment."
The low cost carrier began flying to Adelaide on February 1, operating 42 flights a week to and from the South Australian capital from the Gold Coast, Hobart and Melbourne Avalon airports using 125 seat Boeing 717s aircraft.
Mr Joyce said the service was performing very well.
"Our network continues to grow and we'll continue to grow market share."
Qantas shares are unchanged at $3.67.
© 2005 AAP
Brought to you by
===========================================
Jetstar to invest $29m in Newcastle
February 11, 2005 - 11:39AM
Budget airline Jetstar will invest $29 million over the next few years to build a state of the art maintenance facility in Australia to maintain its new fleet of Airbus A320s.
The decision was made after a tendering process that involved maintenance facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The contract will preserve 82 jobs in Newcastle and create 50 more, Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said.
"This facility in Australia, at Newcastle, won that tender despite very tough competition from Asia and New Zealand," Mr Joyce said.
"It very much reinforces that we are very happy with the performance with Jetstar and we have a very competitive workforce in Jetstar which allows us to be the leading budget airline, we believe, in terms of low fares."
The Jetstar workforce in Newcastle currently maintains the 14 717s Jetstar is progressively replacing with 23 new A320s.
Six have arrived, two more will arrive in March and the last will be delivered in mid-2006.
Jetstar's investment will be used to beef up the current maintenance facility, Mr Joyce said.
"It will be very much a state of the art facility which will allow us to fully maintain all 23 of the Airbus A320s," he said.
"The Airbus A320s in their own right were a billion dollars in aircraft capital that the Qantas group has invested in Jetstar, so it is a significant investment."
The low cost carrier began flying to Adelaide on February 1, operating 42 flights a week to and from the South Australian capital from the Gold Coast, Hobart and Melbourne Avalon airports using 125 seat Boeing 717s aircraft.
Mr Joyce said the service was performing very well.
"Our network continues to grow and we'll continue to grow market share."
Qantas shares are unchanged at $3.67.
© 2005 AAP
Brought to you by
===========================================
Evertonian
'Scuse me while I whip out the Ouiji board....ahh...hmmm...yes...of course....competitive tendering...grovelling management cutting each others throats for the job...the old "cut costs to keep jobs" routine....well, my Ouiji board never lies. It's Qantas alright!
. Ask him how many times he has rolled in his grave
and watch things go crazy
.