The "RAT ROUTE"
 

If AIG (The holding company for British Airways & Iberia) were to take the 18 percent of QF that would take it up to the 49% percent foreign ownership cap, could they start a "RAT ROUTE" to London via the Seychelles?

A two hour connection would be competitive to Emirates and Etihad through the sandpit and for those who wanted to stopover, would make a nice "sea change" from the Asian and Middle East gateways.

[Need a boffin to work out if the Runway is long enough and over what countries a great circle would take you over??????]

Frograt route would be a good description. Even though it is a far more desirable place than the sandpit, it doesnt offer any real useful connections like Dubai does, after all you can pretty much fly to any city in Europe from the Pit.

Runway data here looks like 9800 feet TORA, 8800 feet LDA both ways fitted with ILS and a few obstacles.

"London via the Seychelles" , have you been to Seychelles? one diversion and the whole plan goes for S..T.

What was the alternate carried for Harare?

What could you carry as an alternate TOPD seychelles in the 400ER?

If old things became new, what about a hub strategy through Bahrain?

Just throwing a few idea's around.

Could Virgin try the seychelles route to London with the VA 777-300ER carrying Nairobi as an alternate? Nairobi is already serviced by the mothership.

Extend MALE!:ok:

Gulf Air
 

With Emirates ruling out a stake in Qantas, almost nothing has been mentioned regarding Gulf Air. It seems to flying under the radar.

It is a one world partner and would give Qantas a worldwide network through the middle east.

British Airways, Iberia, Gulf Air, Qantas - Now we're talking.

They could muster up the cash for the 18 percent stake.

Point of interest: IAG have stated words to the effect that regulatory ownership issues makes consolidations difficult at the present time.

Why would you bother when its almost 1000NM more than the Great Circle route through Asia?

Do you know anything about Gulf Air ?:confused::confused::confused:

Safety, fun, the road less travelled.

The PRC have been known to shoot down aircraft.

Refer to the Cathay Pacific DH4 in 1954.

Times have changed, but its always nice to know you have options.

Last time I checked 1000NM in the cruise doesn't burn that much extra juice - esp if you have 2 engines not 4 and would add only 2 hours time wise. Maintenance, crew would add to this I guess.

Crystal, a hub works because you can fly one jet load in and the pax then scatter onto all your connections to points various. If all going to LHR then what's the point, it's still just one stop... In fact if you are looking to compete against EK why not fly via Dubai...it's open skies....AJ should start JetStar ME....

happy to learn...

Note they have had two crashes.

No, really its a great idea to fly long range to a grubby single runway island in the middle of the ocean. Mombasa as an alternate...what could go wrong? Luckily the lack of pax appeal would allow you to carry the fuel required. I am sure AJ will be all over this one.

The Don

They should have setup QF Dubai in 2000. Wouldn't have needed local sponsorship to run it from a free zone. Two things would have worked against it; Dixon believed EK was a flash in the pan and the pilots would have lobbied against the basing of crews O/S.
That horse has run I reckon, though strange things might happen in a QF/EK tie up.

Suspect Nairobi would be preferable to Mombassa and the Alternate would be predicated on that. Understand that it would be really tight on fuel.

In the other direction - What is carried for Santiago, Buenous Aires?

Quote from crystalballwannabe from another thread:
My, oh my... and then you come up with something like this! Those MBA's are gold, pure gold :D

I know, maybe the Seychelles would be a good place to start a full service low cost carrier. We could call it Red-S...

Go via Colombo. Sri Lankan just joined Oneworld. Sydney, Melbourne, Brsbane via CMB to London, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome.
Exact midpoint between Aus and London. Good airport, not much weather, close alternates. No brainer really.

This question was posed in response to the announcement this week of the "Canton Route". Daily connections to London through Ganzhou.

If BA where to fly down from London and QF where to fly in from Sydney they could both refuel, swap pax, and head back to London and Sydney. For those that wanted to stay, would be a nice stopover. Nice place for a crew layover as well. Also provides a "hedge" against flying over the middle east.

Once upon a time QF pilots could land a 747 in Wellington (Short, x-winds, windshear) maybe they are losing their edge, thought the Seychelles would be a sinch. And remember you don't have to ditch in the ocean with the auto land button feature - Might have to brush up on that one again:-P

Okay, good luck with your slow descent into madness. Hope it works out for you ;)