Qantas~The Loss Of Invincibility

[breakfastburrito]

Engine fault adds to airline's woes
Matt O'Sullivan
December 9, 2010

QANTAS'S headaches over its fleet of A380 aircraft have been further compounded after a defect was found in a newer engine on one of its superjumbos, which is still on the factory floor in France.

The discovery of what is believed be a faulty oil tube in one of the new plane's Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines has forced the manufacturer to change it, delaying slightly the transfer of ownership of the next superjumbo to Qantas at Airbus's plant in Toulouse.

Qantas is also due to take delivery of another new A380 - its eighth since 2008 - this month but its fleet manager has conceded in an email to pilots that ''we will be lucky to see it in service by Christmas''.

The airline is desperate to take delivery of the new A380s so that it can fill gaps left in its network by the grounding of most of its existing superjumbo fleet. Only two of its six existing A380s have returned to service since a mid-air engine explosion on a Qantas superjumbo on November 4.

''One step forward and two back! We can't take a trick in getting more aircraft into the air and back into service,'' Qantas's fleet manager said in the email to pilots on Tuesday.

The latest revelation comes as Rolls-Royce's lawyers failed to turn up at the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday to hear Qantas's compensation case against the British company.

However, Qantas's lawyers submitted to the court a letter from Rolls-Royce calling for parts of an affidavit detailing arrangements between the two companies to be kept confidential after The Age made a request for access to the document on Tuesday.

Merrill Lynch also estimated yesterday that the grounding could cost Qantas as much as $207 million, which comprises $70 million in repair costs and $137 million in lost revenue.

The Qantas fleet manager's email reveals the extent of the troubles Qantas is having to manage its worldwide network, as he highlighted ''why it has been so difficult to come up with a long-term plan''.

Qantas declined to respond to questions yesterday.

Insiders believe it could be months before Qantas can return the A380s to service between Australia and Los Angeles, one of its two key international routes.

The latest headaches are also said to highlight Qantas's decision early this decade to bet on the A380 and Boeing's long-delayed 787 Dreamliners as the core of its replacement aircraft.

Qantas has said in court documents that it will be ''uncommercial'' to fly its A380s between Australia and the US while engine-thrust restrictions imposed by Rolls-Royce remain in place. It means the superjumbos will be able to carry only 80 passengers instead of the usual 450.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau also said yesterday that three out of 45 Rolls-Royce engines checked since an order was made on December 2 had failed inspections.

source:The Age

[LondonSloop]

According Bloomberg's 14 Dec 2010 Note to Investors-

• 'Qantas Airways Ltd may post a 40 percent decline in combined profits next year on slower economic growth, higher fuel costs and austerity measures in Europe, International Air Transport Association Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani told reporters in Geneva yesterday.'

[struggling]

Somebody's got it Wrong.

Today's MacBank Memo says:

12-month price target: A$3.13. QAN remains attractively priced, and we maintain our Outperform recommendation.

[MR WOBBLES]

Very Interesting


http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2010/12/08/overt-and-covert-singapore-airlines-bashing-over-a380-rr-engines/

[TIMA9X]

Sorry MR WOBBLES, I had trouble with your link.... so I re-posted here.
Overt and covert Singapore Airlines bashing over A380 RR engines – Plane Talking

Whilst Alan Joyce has distinguished Qantas from Singapore by grounding the Qantas A380 fleet he still faces the same engineering quality problem of having no real control over the quality of the engines used on its A380s and some B747s. In fact Singapore Airlines (through its engineering subsidiary SIAEC, SAESL, HAESL and IECO) and its higher risk philosophy has more control over the Qantas brand than Qantas itself. Joyce and the Qantas Board continue to put the Qantas brand at risk, and this is no longer just a possibility it is definite.The Qantas Board should be intelligent enough to recognise that putting the Qantas brand in the hands of overseas engineering is an unacceptable risk, both from commercial and a passenger safety considerations.
The Qantas Board needs to commit to and spend the capital (approximately $100 million) to have its A380 and new B787 fleets overhaul and maintenance done in Australia. Its a cheap price to pay to protect the only market advantage Qantas has, its brand and safety record.

Great piece, yes, a very interesting read for those who may have missed it. For me it sums up exactly what many on here have been on about for some time now! I thought LH was taking care of the Trent 900s on behalf of RR, is this still the case?

Thanks for the link, cheers.

[Sunfish]

I told you all that this would happen. This is a Schadenfreud moment.

[TIMA9X]

I told you all that this would happen.

Indeed, Sunfish.... It occurred to me that AJ's career spans over the "cut and slash mentality" as far back as Aer Lingus, EI had lurched through one crisis after another (some say, "still does") before he joined AN in 1998. Look what happened to AN before he joined the QF group! To AJs credit he did a good job at J* in the early stages but now seems to be caught in a rut! To my mind, the "cut & slash mentality" is out dated, hence the fusion of the J* & QF brands that we see evident in 2010.

This corporate culture was well established by GD and it appears that AJ has continued way too long with this strategy unable to change course as "cut & slash" seems to be all he knows..

May be I am old school, but staff pride at QF played a big part in why "brand Qantas" became an international airline icon. Diminish the "pride factor" (staff morale) you end up with a big hole in the brand.

Engineering "know how" at QF was a huge pride factor lost under the tenures of GD & AJ.

When I see Santa this week with my family Christmas wish list, one wish will be that Santa delivers the huge parcel "of pride" back to the QF group. (which was lost between Dublin & Sydney)

Sad that we have to rely on Santa to deliver.. even he knows the value of "well maintained reindeer's" to pull his sled along....

Jingle bells,

[Ngineer]

It wasn't that long ago that a very senior QE manager stood in-front of a large group of LAME's in Sydney and said that he did not consider SIA to be an unsafe airline. (playing down the importance of our reputation in safety as usual). In-fact it was right before the A380 engine failure. Funny that......

[Sunfish]

Struggling:

Today's MacBank Memo says:
Quote:
12-month price target: A$3.13. QAN remains attractively priced, and we maintain our Outperform recommendation

If you think any utterance made by Macquarie Bank at any time for any reason is anything more than self serving crap then God help you.

While I am not suggesting in any way that Macquarie would ever do this, it is not unknown for people who have a large amount of shares they wish to sell to arrange for the stock to be promoted forcefully to retail markets.

It is very difficult ever to prove its been done. There are ongoing investigations in the USA of the links between certain stock brokers, banks and journalists.

If you want to lose your faith in financial markets, and you have time on your hands, read the investigative articles here:

Deep Capture Blog

[gobbledock]

Sunfish, your last post was perfectly articulated. The link to the Deep Capture Blog is spot on. Only a fool believes everything an investment firm touts.

[unionist1974]

There are plenty of posters looking at life through rose colured glasses , when i started at QF ( 1974) , managemen was hated , we were on strike every week , then their was the cabin crew strike in the early 80s , every union on strike in support , cabin crew poisioning pilots , yes good old days . the company nearelly folde it had so much debt .Then bob Hawke came along and pumped some money in to prop it up and gave them the monaey to buy 747 -400 . Yes , it is easy to forget that Qantas is a great institution , has always provided good wages and conditions ,super long before it was mandated. The bosses have always been bastards , as long as i can rememeber , but please do not lose sight that it has been and continues to be a great Australian company . And i am a union man thru and thru

[teresa green]

It was not quite that pleasant Unionist. The unions had far to much say in all airlines at that time. Most managers were not bastards. For a start most came from the hangar floor or the flight deck, and had a fair idea what they were talking about.(not like the beancounters you have today). The strike in the early eighties was a dispute by cabin crew over the galleys in the SP 747 and yes they were supported by other unions on the base. Tthe poisoning of pilots was caused by a few pilots who took it upon themselves to make uncalled for remarks to gay cabin attendents about the spreading of AIDS, who in return "rimmed" their food. Yes, you are correct, QF came very close to going broke not because of bad management but because the country was going thru a downturn. The three major airllines were then TAA, Ansett and Qantas, they were all top heavy to a degree, but good to work for, well run, excellent engineering, and excellent standards in flight training, and most of all, a souce of pride to their employees. Sadly that has just about all gone. In the name of the dollar. But one thing remains, despite QF treating its staff badly, the staff in return still stick blindly to their loyality, always have, probably always will, and QF marches on and flys inspite of its self. It is truly an enigma, far better brains than myself have tried to work out, some of its crazy ideas, like about every four years, its shreds staff, normally the best it has and starts hiring people who have no idea, and it does this every four years, breaks up depts, fires good managers, and then goes back to sleep again.You can almost set your watch by it. A career company it is not, and has a reputation as not a good place to start in business for any post graduate with a business degree. We were lucky Unionist, we saw the best of that world, despite all the failings, it was a good place to be.

[biton]

Sunfish;

Blue horseshoe loves Qantas Airlines.

[Ngineer]

who in return "rimmed" their food.

For those of us who have had sheltered lives, what does it mean to have one's food "rimmed"?

[Cactusjack]

For those of us who have had sheltered lives, what does it mean to have one's food "rimmed"?

You might want to try typing it into google. Make sure you don't do it from a work computer or in front of your kids either !!
And if you are at a restaurant and the Chef asks if you want your steak rare, medium rare, well done or rimmed - it is time to leave !
Your sheltered life is about to be opened, enjoy !!

[gobbledock]

Blue horseshoe loves Qantas Airlines.

Now that wins the 'post of the day award'. Nice work Biton. And I concur !

[teresa green]

Ok, I know about "rimming" but what is a blue horseshoe?

[breakfastburrito]

Teresa
I'm channelling Bud Fox, dam, what was that classic "greed is good" Gordon Gecko, late 80's movie...

[Keg]

Having your meal 'rimmed' was to have it run around the 'rim' of the loo by the F/A.

[gobbledock]

I'm channelling Bud Fox, dam, what was that classic "greed is good" Gordon Gecko, late 80's movie...

Wake up, will ya pal? If you're not inside, you're outside, OK? And I'm not talking a $400,000 a year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable, I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars buddy. A player, or nothing. - Gordon Gekko


Aagh I see Teresa Green's apetite for information and quest for knowledge is strong, much like the hunger for riches and wealth that drove Gordon and Bud.
Keep seeking and ye shall find the answer......