let me think
 

A332 is a long range aircraft flying between east/west coast??????:sad::confused::confused::confused:

JB stated on the last monthly conference call that all domestic flying, including widebody, will be conducted by VB pilots and short/medium international was the domain of Pac Bro. There are apparently several PB crew with upcoming Emirates interviews so this could be interesting. Plenty of VB crew with extensive experience on the A330 who, if the conditions are satisfactory, will be putting their hands up to move onto the widebody fleet. It could possibly create some movement on the 737 and E-jet fleets. That's me being positive :hmm:

JB told the pilots via telephone conference last week that any widebody jet that is operated domestically, will be crewed by VB domestic pilots.
As for the pay.. VB pilots operated under an EBA, therefore a wage will have to be negotiated.
Interesting times.

Ramjager.......Shame, Shame, Shame.

Your post speaks volumes for the newfound 'Solidarity" or lack there of, in the Australian pilot ranks.

For the past week there has been endless well-meant comment on the need for pilot solidarity in the face of JQ's and PB's push to move in and undercut our conditions, but as soon as a VB wide-body is mentioned cheers go up at the ill-informed, perception that disgruntled JQ pilots may have of the opportunity to stifle career progression at VB.

This is a prime example of the selfish, self-centred attitudes that undermine the future of pilot careers in Australia

I'd like to know who's going to maintain these A330's? Doesn't leave VB Engineering long to ramp up and train some of their LAME's on the 330.


Or is JHAS lurking behind the scenes?

How many short range aircraft seat 300 pax?

...Unless of course they're cheaper than VB pilots.

Why the A330?
 

The decision to buy the A330 is interesting. Anecdotally, the A330 is relatively cheap to purchase which makes them attractive and the aircraft is well suited to the East - West coast routes but if DJ requires widebody aircraft for short sector ops on the East coast Golden Triangle routes, it is not ideal. As QF has found out, the B767 is superior on the shorter sectors due to a number of reasons that have been previously detailed on this forum. Obviously, DJ wouldn't want to purchase another type so they may have to shoehorn the A332 onto routes that it doesn't perform as well.

The tie-up with Etihad is interesting as I understand that QF currently codeshares on some Etihad services.

Might be a cost and availability thing?
Or the elephant in the room, maybe a future A350 instead of 787 thing (now that is long term rumour).

Couple of points. A330's because price and availability. Boeing couldn't/wouldn't deliver 767. Strange, but there you go. As said above, domestic is the domain of the VB crews. Outside that, PB. Pilots being pilots, the foolish will crawl over each other to ride the widebody. Lowest bidder wins of course. Remind me again what we were fighting for? Standby for a ****fight people.

That must be why QF announced that as the 787 arrives into Jetstar the QF 767 will be phased out and replaced by the A330, this means all the east coast routes in QF will be served by the A330.

43", yes the JQ A332's are planned to replace B767's as they are returned from JQ but there are 26 B763's at present and some are relatively "young". The A332's will progressively take over all the longer sectors leaving the SYD-MEL-SYD & SYD-BNE-SYD sectors to be the last transferred to the "bus".

Porch Monkey, Yours Truly is one VB driver (already A330 endorsed, by the way) who won't be crawling, jumping over, or getting rogered by anyone to fly it - unless T&C's are better than what I enjoy right now. Whilst I'm certainly excited by the possibility of getting back on the 'Bus, I'm not that desperate. As for the rest of my colleagues, who knows...

The Bunglerat

Here is the problem in Australian Aviation
"unless T&C's are at least equal to"

You have just said you will fly a 330 on 737 conditions.
This is a very sad for the future of conditions within VB and if you succeed you will even undercut Jetstar 330 ops.
Please tell me this is not true:ugh:

Tangan said it a few posts back. I agree. Ramjager - Shame. Stick together, yeah right. You are forgiven for being enthusiastic. We showed up and supported you j* boys. Wasn't our party but as I see it, it is our fight as australian pilots to improve conditions. J* pilots hold fast, don't jump ship and sort your own sh*t out. We will do our best to hold the flood gates and accept a decent offer. I would expect at least 30 %+ more $$$ would be a starting point minimum. I don't hold my breath. Maybe that will give your management less leverage.

cmon guys chill out
 

pilot unity is a good thing at a meeting but it's important on this website too. You guys wouldn't talk to each other like this on the crew bus so let's try not to attack each other. Maybe if someone says something ridiculous then ignore it or give em the benefit of the doubt.

I would doubt ramjager is an actual jet* pilot but if so then he would be a very rare exception. (or maybe he just had a few lunch time beers)

Maybe the shorter sectors (SY-ML / SY - BN) will be taken up by the C series jets from Qantaslink... maybe......:}

Clipster, i did say i forgave him for being enthusiastic! And yes if we were on the crew bus and he was talking nonsense then I would talk to him like that. I do agree that unity is a good thing. That was my point.

I thought this was never going to happen Roxy???

Struck out again :ouch:

Nice one for VB, would have loved to see some boeings but a couple of A330s to play with is not something to sneeze at either.

I feel that only having 2 A330s in the fleet may cause significant issues in the future. For instance, if one goes tech or is due for maintenance. I also find the lack of fleet commonality may cause issues for the company;

E190
737
738
773
A332

That's quite a varied fleet for a relatively small carrier.

Additionally, customers may be losing faith in the company due to all the recent swapping and changing, especially V Aus corporate clients. The company can't really be relied on after cutting JNB, HKT and Fiji after such short periods of operation. Even if some of these routes where never meant to be long term, business customers may not appreciate it.

CabinCrew747