I flew out of Cloudbreak yesterday arvo and was talking to one of the Morris employees, who handle the ground handling at Cloudbreak and who i used to work with in the Air Force.

The groundies are heading down to do a course for the different jets this Sunday, and are expecting the new jets to start operating on the 18th of May, three times a week.

This person did mention DJ but in what capacity im not sure because i was walking away to board when it was mentioned. Are they doing the run until XR get their A320 up and running?

With FMG's new minesite Christmas Creek firing up and from what i understand having a camp size of 2000 people on a 2/1 roster by March next year, i imagine the need for the larger jets will be high.

Cloudbreak will be a busy little bugga next year wont it?!

Hmm. I might ring up Q Link and suggest they offer a REAL jet to Mr Forrest. :E

so evilc I suppose strategic have never had to do a cross hire to cover for an aircraft that hasn't appeared yet.....I do recall Alliance F100's operating into Derby for quite some time under a Strategic flight number while they got their A320 ops in order, but that point would be completely ignored in your incessant XR bashing wouldnt it. :rolleyes:

Absolutely not Chad.

Seemed you missed my point.... again. You just gotta stop reading my posts with such emotion. Take a few breaths before you read them and respond, then you might understand them a little better.

My point is not that DJ will be covering for XR while the 320 is processed. This is normal business practice, as you have rightly pointed out - something all airlines do, so not lost on me at all. The point of my post is that it seems very unusual that DJ would be investing so much time/money/effort (ground equipment in Cloudbreak, ground ops training etc etc) to operate on behalf of XR when the entry into service of the A320 (according to you guys) is just weeks away.

Hence my premise that the reluctance to put money where your mouth is (and I'm not actually asking for money - unlike some in this forum) must surely be based upon the fact that you guys might now also doubt the assertions of the early poster's on this thread.

Go back and read my initial posts... I have only ever taken you guys to task on the EIS schedule you believe is happening. My belief has always been that you are dreamin.... that's it, no sinister hidden agendas. I have never said it won't happen, eventually, just not in the time you guys were touting.

All I have seen so far are indicators that only confirm rather than dispel my assertions. Has the "G" registered A320 sitting on the fence at JHAS in MEL (as pictured earlier) actually entered the hanger yet for final EIS processes - final maintenance, CofA, CASA checks, partial evac demo etc?

Chad - I'll say it again so you aren't confused. I hope like crazy that the long suffering XR crew finally get their hands on the ship promised to them over 4 years ago. But if management are assuring you that it will happen by June (as they have bashed me with) then I guess you can only judge them, once again, on their performance.

I agreed to your bet Chad, I'll disappear if I'm wrong, yet you guys seem unwilling to back your assertions that the aircraft will be operational in June. :ugh:

What, do you mean one that CAN DO RNAV/GNSS approaches and DOES have IFE?

Surely you don't mean the DC9 - MD80?

Yawn.:rolleyes:

Evilc

Just curious where you get the EIS in June from? The information I have read indicates July, but what's a month between PPruners :ok:. At the end of the the day, Skywest have an A320 in the country and it will enter into service at some stage. More aircraft = more jobs, it's all good :ok:

Happy to put my hand up when I'm wrong... you are quite correct Wotwazthat. I just re-read the previous posts and you're spot on. The Skywest newsletter quoted by Topend on page 4 of this thread indeed indicates "early July" - my apologies.

Also, more than happy to agree with you - more aircraft, more jobs. Definately a good thing for the industry and, again, for the long suffering XR crew once it finally comes off. Not such good news for WAC, they seemed to be bursting at the seams last time I was through PER.

I guess the extra few weeks before the promised launch makes it a bit better for DJ, but still a big commitment for just a month or two. Especially if the tender is opened to all (and probably decided upon) during that time. My mail indicates DJ's internal processes to assess a new port runs for around 30 days with quite a significant resource allocation across the business to tick all the boxes. Guess they could do it faster if push comes to shove. I assume DJ have done their sums.

The extra couple of weeks that I am in error hasn't changed my mind, however. I still reckon its gunna be well after "early July". In fact I'm in print as saying it won't be till year's end. Yet still deathly silence from the XR boys in this forum when it comes to backing their published timeline. Just derision of my suggestion that it will be well afterwards. I just call it as I see it. :cool:

Oops. Forgot about that! :oh: :(

Well actually logically the opposite is true surely? 160-180 on board ONE A320 would replace THREE F50 loads or TWO F100 loads.

So ONE aircraft does the work of up to THREE others meaning LESS CREW required.

:hmm:

Yes, but when one of the oldest A320's in the world breaks down on a regular basis you will need lots of aircraft to rescue the punters.

XR's A320 is still parked in front of John Hollands hanger in Melbourne.

Did you notice if it's still "G" registered GAFA?

Couldn't see the rego, but it appears it hasn't moved at all in the last week.

Keep in mind Strategic's is 3 years older. But I guess they broke down in Christmas a few weeks back so what you say may be true.

VH-FNP will be undergoing it's Aust cert of airworthiness over the next three weeks starting mon.

For the record:

YQA cn 190
YQB cn 279
YQC cn 395 ( not delivered yet)
FNP cn 429

The derby run was recently done by a dash 8 one day and a F100 another so it's hardly creating more jobs when they break down.

So what do these 15yr old A320's end up selling for? 10million....?

Ahhh, me old mate XRlent..... conspicuous by his absence.

Pontificating on everything except a commitment to the timeline he so strongly defends. Best refer to MSN 429 as G-BYTH old boy as nothing can be assumed when it comes to CofA's. Hope you can do it in 3 weeks or your timeline is looking shaky. Watching with interest. :}

EvilC, I'm not partaking in your silly bets. Please provide a quote where I've defended the timeline. The only argument I've had was with you when you stated that Skywest's A320 was put on hold indefinately. An argument you lost as soon as the A320 arrived in Australia.

Bloggsy,

When you compare the size of your appendage to that of a RAT then anything looks good:E

The G rego will remain until CASA grants the AOC, something to watch for if that AOC is getting close is a large piece of masking paper covering the new aust rego. When the AOC is issued the paper will be removed and the G rego will be quickly painted out. The aust rego needs to be on the aircraft prior to the AOC being issued because casa like to measure it up, make sure i's the right size, right font etc.
I have heard that the aircraft has been put into a storage program due to the time they expect this to take.