Qantas To Reconfigure International Aircraft
 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aUFE3wsx12hU

So any ideas?

Wonder if the B744 will have a single config for all the aircraft instead of the current 3 separate configs?

I assume the A333 config will remain the same 30J/267Y? I see the current Intl A332 config changing from the current 36J/199Y to something like 30J/215Y to better match the A333 fleet??

Wonder if they will take this opportunity to add premium Y to the 2 class B744s? and maybe add the A380 economy style seats to the rest of the Intl fleet?
And what about the A380? Less J seats and more Y+ on the upper deck?

Interesting....

This was in the media back in August! Bloomberg are a bit slow off the mark?

Qantas also announced plans to cut costs by $1.5 billion over the next three years, starting with a target of $500 million this financial year.

Key components of the cost cutting plan include reconfiguring aircraft, including the superjumbo A380, technology advancements and fuel conservation.

I think the plan is to just leave the config the same but sell the first seats as business.

It is the front page story in the Fin Review today. Actual changes in config will occur.

Yep, they should finish the re-configuration program just in time for the recovery.
Pants down yet again. :ugh:

Havent we all been here before..........when some things change they stay pretty much the same!..........just the players this time are different.

woftam is exactly what it is!

They should have been doing this 12-18 months ago when the writing was on the wall...pro-active rather than re-active, but this is a perfect example why Qantas is not a market leader.

So you would have like to have been sacked earlier TL or are you just a wind up merchant?

Who said anything about being sacked? I was referring to the decision to remove premium seats just in time for demand to pick up again...as Singapore and Cathay are starting to see:

Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines see pick-up in premium...

Latest rumour is QF is about to announce that all B744s and A330s are going to be completely refit with new configs, as well as the A380 style seats, and updated A380 style IFE.

The B744s will also apparently receive new toilets and galleys as well....

Stay tuned I guess!

Will that include orange leather seats?:}

The QF Dugongs need an increase in seats (yes SQ got it right and QF got it wrong) to improve its figures, but an informed source said that it was impossible to change the configuration until after the 8th aircraft. Specifications are locked in on the production line up to that aircraft. Retrofitting configuration changes on any Airbus type is very expensive as all bulkheads are structural.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the existing "Pacific" configured B744's (that are planned to be retained for a number of years) are converted to a "Kangaroo" style configuration with the newer Dugong style seats and Panasonic IFE. They certainly need a fresh facelift.

No End in Sight to Airline Crisis As Latest Figures Show No Signs of Recovery
 

AEA calls for stakeholder summit to create conditions necessary for recovery

(November 17, 2009) -- The Association of European Airlines, representing Europe's most important network carriers, is calling on European policy-makers to convene a 'stakeholder summit' to address the challenges facing the European airline sector during the longest and deepest business downturn in its history.

The call comes as latest traffic figures emerging from AEA show no sign of improvement. Even compared to a depressed baseline in late 2008, this year's figures remain locked-in to a trend line about 2% below last year's already dismal figures. The traffic decline pales into insignificance, however, compared to the price effects of the seriously depressed market; latest yield figures show that the average ticket price per kilometre of travel has fallen by more than 15%.

Said AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus: "The foundations for a sustainable European air transport sector are crumbling. Portions of our industry are close to collapse - indeed, we have seen failures among premium carriers, leisure carriers, no-frills and cargo airlines. Some network airlines are ceasing to exist as independent entities. Others are exiting markets that they will not re-enter. Secondary markets are losing service. Tens of thousands of people employed by or sustained by the airlines are losing their jobs".

The policy-makers had a choice, said Mr Schulte-Strathaus: watch a weakened and traumatised industry struggle to rebuild within existing constraints, or take proactive steps to construct a regulatory framework within which a return to prosperity could be expedited, and European air transport re-establish itself as a powerful global force. "The US are a step ahead of us in grasping the severity of the crisis", he said. "Their government has already hosted a stakeholder forum and is setting up a Federal Advisory Committee to discuss the future of the industry".

Turning to the latest traffic figures, Mr Schulte-Strathaus said: "The AEA airlines, collectively, have failed to make a profit in the summer, leaving them ill-prepared to face what will be a heavily unprofitable winter. Decision-makers must realise that a key European resource is under threat and steps must be taken - now - to act positively and decisively to create the conditions under which prosperity can be restored as quickly as possible. I invite the European Commission to follow the example of their US counterparts and put in place a structured dialogue with stakeholders, to create the policy which will safeguard the benefits that aviation brings to Europe's citizens and businesses".

Source : Association of European Airlines

wonder if they will use avalon again for this maybe re-configuration they just let go some people with a lot of experince this week.:ugh:

Hi,

Page 31 of the investor presentation lists some info about reconfigs/upgrades:

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/2009112...9drs40tf76.pdf

Says B744 product will be upgraded. Nothing about the A330 though?

Some interesting reading.

Thanks

Anyone heard anymore on this?

Apparently an announcement is due very soon.

Work on the first upgraded B744 is due to begin in FEB....

the reconfigiration program cannot commence until A380 number 6 arrives from footlouse.

the problem with the Airbus delivery schedule has delayed announcements as the board will not announce the full details until the first aircraft is ready for the hanger program most likely

Or hangAr...

merci :)

HANGAR :)