Any truth that Pixie are using a chartered king air to carry the bags that the SAW 145 can't.

If true makes for an expensive way to run an airline

Couldn't really see how (or why) they would run a E145 on what was a then a F100 route.


Ringbinder


Has OA got themselves the 2nd 73 yet? Heard that they got pipped on one they initally wanted.

I believe that their current one is comming up for a C check very shortly as well, so a second one would come in handy.

Perhaps they could use Ozjet if the timing is not right and they end up having no aircraft available. :O

Assuming, of course that OJ will still be around in 3 months.

Werent they just purchased?

(and arent they working with Norfolk?)

solomonstarnews.com - Pacific Blue puts pressure on for tourism action

Same Days for All 3 of them....:bored:

Well minimum one of them is a goner.....

Sthaussie

gotta agree with you there.

BTW, how long term is the Solomon/OA contract, seem to remember reading that it was only a short term one, ie finishes sometime prior to Chrismas. Maybe something to do with a C check comming due.

Just may give a bit of breathing space to SAW.

Pac Blu is certainly tying up the pacific region.

Let's get back on track, shall we? The thread is about Skyairworld cancelling Honiara flights.:rolleyes:

TID

SAW is pushing sh*t up hill with its BNE- Solomons Operation from what I hear on the streets of HIR. It may never happen for the simple fact that many Solomon nationals see SAW as one of the many blames for the failure of SOLAIR international services.
Air Van that’s a Maybe too:confused:?? There’s quite a lot of conflicting interest amongst people here with the current CEO and his spanner monkey, both ex air van connections which doesn’t appeal to locals either.
PB some possibilities there but I don’t see politicians liking the idea of travelling cattle class. Air Pac well they couldn’t care less.
Air Niugini, well culture proves that black guys aren’t the best of friends especially when they’re neighbours & are doing a bit better than you ....trust me I’m BLACK!. :)
OA well despite the predictions of many is still in the background. I remember a Quote by someone made in HIR “ With the embraer we’ll bury OA, we’ll take over air Niugini then we’ll work on Air Van! Yeah right grow up u Turkey.

Competition is meant to be healthy, so bring it on. Solomon’s has the potential but lacks the infrastructure, political stability and most importantly the $Dollars$. Interesting times.

IE loves NF. Plain and simple. They are IE's first choice for anything. Unfortunately for IE, NF is just to busy doing their own thing. OA is IEs last choice for everything and anything.

OA out of the air over christmas, NF going with a short term 737-700 to cover the gap. If it works and IE is happy, this will be a permanent arrangement.

Just a simple driver myself, but then this is a "pilots" network. (Omitted the "proffesional" as its' suitability is unclear)!
To those contemplating joining SAW, you could do far worse. Here at least is a company that makes a competent effort to look after their staff (including pilots) and although I have little experience of the other operators mentioned, (and therefore cannot comment on their employment conditions), That is a rare commodity in an aviation employer.
Yes, they are a young company, and as such not as secure as some of the more established operators, but every company has to start somewhere. If you are going to take a risk, when is the best time to do it? My opinion only, but there do seem to be alot more jobs and alot less pilots floating around these days...
Remember the good old days? when a company would pay for your endorsement and your wages whilst training?
Few and far between these days....

(apologies to the spelling police; no spell checker available)

Sky was paying for endorsments on the 190 and 170, dont know if they still are, I'd asume they still are...

Upon what is this statement based? I'm a regular traveller to Honiara and prefer Our Airline, especially now with it's recent code share arrangement with Solomon Airlines. I'm to understand that the arrangement will be going to three services a week soon so how upon earth do you develop the belief they will be out of the air over Christmas?

solomonstarnews.com - New airline plans amphibian flights

Seems the new A/C are set to go:ok:

and already flames about PB being a "budget airline" solomonstarnews.com - Our airline wars reach the USA

Ringbinder

I think that the statement about Our Airline being out of the air over XMAS may have something to do with their 737 having to complete a "C" check sometime soon.

Unless the reported second aircraft arrives soon, of course.

Also heard that Our Airline charted Ozjet to do their Norfolk - Gold Coast - Norfolk run today due to the unavailability of their own aircraft for the schedule.

That must have caused a little bit of embarrassment since today was only the 2nd flight that OA was scheduled to do on that run....but I am told that the decision to axe the Gold Coast run was made after the first one anyway.

Reliability from an single aircraft airline will always an issue, as Norfolk Air experienced that some months ago when they chartered Our Airline for other work.

Issues like this may just give a few more seats to SAW on the HIR run.

AIR VAN single aircraft operator. Dont see them having reliability problems. Then again they are using a new aircraft.

Strategic and IE
 

Hope Strategic management check IE out properly and hope IE do better sums than they did with SAW. If Strategic were smart they'd buy IE....fire everyone and....start again.....captive market with fares higher than Hubble...can't lose!

Chichi
It's been tried but there is a requirement for grease money and it's not cheap!

Am informed by an ex Chief Pilot (twice) - once in Buchanan's era and again for a short stint recently over Christmas - that under its present ownership and administration waste is out of control, and supervision and discipline are almost non-existant. But Graft is up !

Frigatebird -well done, you say:

"Am informed by an ex Chief Pilot (twice) - once in Buchanan's era and again for a short stint recently over Christmas - that under its present ownership and administration waste is out of control, and supervision and discipline are almost non-existant."

Management (yes, that include Islanders) read these pages too. So now you have dobbed in your mate for having provided confidential company information in confidence to you. It is not very hard for an informed manager to figure out which CP you are referring to, and he may not appreciate you going public with the assessment he provided you with in respect of the current status within Solomon Airlines (I mean c'mon - he's obviously a sucker for punishment having been back twice, and you may just have precluded his possibility of coming back for a third time).

With mates like you - who needs enemies............

R.J.
Sounds like you are the Management that is trying to keep a lid on the "speculation" on a Rumour Network about waste, supervision and discipline. Anyway who said he would be invited back, even though its his "second home". On another post it was reported by Trex Wantok that they all hate him there now. He is the Aussie scapegoat they had to have. All from trying to improve things - mustnt have been the Island Way!

I can assure you I am not any longer associated with Solair in any way shape or form. I have however, been an "aussie scapegoat" myself in the past and just thought I'd point out to you that your posting could potentially have an adverse effect on your mate - that's all.:ok:

Point taken. It was only a general observation of periods 20 years apart under private and public ownership, the sort of thing that people do all the time with companies everywhere. Doubt Sumsum would have given him access to any specific company knowledge of known internal failings.

Article of Dealings of Director and Company from today's Courier Mail


Very interesting reading.....

I hope I have quoted this correctly...


"
Questionable deals linger over SkyAirWorld

THE wreckage of failed airline start-up ventures litter Australia's corporate landscape.
Brisbane-based SkyAirWorld joined the graveyard in late April when creditors who are owed up to $80 million voted unanimously to liquidate the regional carrier after less than two years of operation.

About 150 employees lost their jobs and many allege that superannuation and other entitlements went unpaid for up to a year. More than 420 unsecured creditors are unlikely to recover any money and it remains unclear how much can be salvaged from asset sales.

The airline, which had five leased jets servicing regional Queensland and the Solomon Islands, appears to have been a disaster from its take-off in May 2007. It never turned a profit and, instead, piled up trading losses of nearly $35 million.

The story might have ended there. But liquidator Peter Lucas hopes to publicly question sole owner and director David Charlton, as well as other key company figures, over a number of potentially questionable financial transactions.

"We're still investigating insolvent trading," Mr Lucas said last week.

In his report to creditors, Mr Lucas outlined concerns that Mr Charlton may have breached his director's duties if it is determined he used SkyAirWorld funds to pay the employees of a related company.

The report also notes Mr Charlton's wealthy father-in-law, Ken Allen, might have served as a "shadow director".

Mr Allen provided nearly $22 million in seed loans for the airline and is the only secured creditor, although his valid charge could amount to just $105,000.

Mr Lucas concluded that a number of related party deals warranted further investigation and at least $850,704 in transactions could be voided if found to be uncommercial.

Among the companies under scrutiny is Joint Logistics, which Mr Charlton started on February 24, less than a month before he appointed Mr Lucas as administrator on March 13.

Even as the airline was fast losing altitude, Mr Charlton struck a deal with the Solomon Islands Government in late December for the lease and development of a 150-room luxury resort on Anuha Island. It is understood that contracts were still being signed eight days before SkyAirWorld fell into administration.

Questions also remain about what happened to the money SkyAirWorld collected from passengers and the Federal Government to service the Christmas and Cocos islands from Perth. Tickets were sold but no flights to those destinations ever eventuated.

The Government announced in January that SkyAirWorld had won the tender to service the islands but critics maintain insufficient due diligence was carried out on the company. Even after the airline grounded three of its jets and sacked 40 staff, the Government still insisted the contract would proceed.

The debacle has provided grist for the Opposition, with Nationals Deputy Leader Nigel Scullion blasting the Government for presiding over an "unmitigated disaster" and a "massive stuff up".

Although Mr Charlton had some aviation background, the failure of the airline suggests he lacked commercial experience.

The 35-year-old Sydney native previously worked as principal of Strategic Aviation, an air charter service used by the military.

Before that, he is believed to have served in the defence forces and been employed by American Express.

Mr Charlton, who could not be contacted last week, lost a substantial amount in the airline's collapse. He has submitted a proof of debt over a $10 million loan made to SkyAirWorld and has acknowledged providing numerous personal guarantees to creditors.

The family home in Brisbane is also on the market. The property, in the inner city suburb of Hawthorne, was bought for $1.43 million in mid-2007 and is registered in the name of his wife, Katherine.

Mr Lucas found that multiple factors contributed to the airline's demise, including inadequate pricing of tickets.

"Already with a high level of debt, challenging macro economic environment, unsuccessful attempts to secure new business, declining demand and some evidence of delinquent customers, it simply did not respond fast enough to its deteriorating financial performance and position," Mr Lucas wrote in his report.

"In my opinion, management should have taken a more aggressive and wider-ranging cost reduction strategy on the company's cost base and at an earlier point in time, reviewed its pricing, minimised business development expenditure and further reduced aircraft capacity."

A former SkyAirWorld employee said the company had deployed inappropriate aircraft, including several Embraer models, for its services to destinations such as Cairns and Honiara. He said the airline would be lucky to get more than 10 passengers on one of the 94-seat planes during the first six months of operation to Honiara and never carried more than 60.

Despite these setbacks, SkyAirWorld was still announcing expansion plans as late as January. That month it secured the right to fly between Darwin and Bali, pledging up to 14 flights a week.

Those ideas, along with an aborted plan last year to team up with Lion Air to fly to Indonesia and other regional destinations, now lie on the ash heap of Australian aviation."

http://www.news.com.au/common/imaged...6067957,00.jpg

Pic of Mr Charlton care of the Courier Mail, May 31 2008

Quiz time:

Which of the subjects in the photo produces 'hot air'?

:E

So, a 35 yr old ex airforce navigator, or some other airforce qualification equally useless, starts a domestic aviation company, without any experience, supported by a few million dollars from a stupid father in law, and hires stupid people who should know better...

and goes broke!

Why am I not surprised?

It's been happening for years and will happen again, because aviation is full of stupid people who do stupid things!

Ex Army Loggie actually...:hmm:

Having worked there Obie, I can testify to the intelligence of the majority of the staff who were well aware of the risks of a start up, but balanced these against the considerable rewards; free endorsements, opportunities for promotion in roles reflecting their previous experience etc.

Perhaps your quickfire assumptions regarding ex RAAF Navigators in your post show where the real stupidity within this thread is...:=