Jetconnect ZK aircraft to now be VH registered
 

A recent email today being sent to all employees at the QF subsidiary Jetconnect regarding the change over of all ZK registered aircraft to QF mainline Australian VH registered. This also includes the JC Long Haul cabin crew who will cease operating on B737 fleet. Where will this go from here, I'm not sure, however will Jetconnect slowly reduce in size to then be picked up by QF mainline but with an Auckland and Wellington Base? Jetconnect pilots operating Australian domestic sectors??

If there is any insight as to how Jetconnect can exist when the crew are operating VH tails under Australian QF AOC yet on different contracts with a different company? It happens with Cobham and Network here in Australia however they are different AOC's. I'm unsure how the Australian Pilots union will allow this to happen?

Extract from John Gissing's email:

Last month we announced that Emirates was withdrawing a large part of its Trans-Tasman flying and that Qantas would respond with additional A330 services. We’ve been working with Jetconnect, to manage the subsequent capacity and schedule changes. Today Qantas has advised Jetconnect of our preferred option to transition the seven New Zealand registered 737s onto the Qantas Air Operators Certificate (AOC). The proposal would see Jetconnect Flight and Cabin Crew continue to operate on the Tasman as they do today, however, flying the VH tail. This would allow us to improve the overall 737 fleet’s utilisation and efficiency. Consultation with Jetconnect’s affected employees has begun today and we will continue to keep you updated.

The 737s freed up by the above would enable more flying to new and existing destinations. Details are being confirmed but we’ll keep you informed over the coming weeks.

Perhaps they will adopt the Jetstar model of having aircraft all VH registered on the same AOC but with different contracts in Australia and New Zealand.

That’s a slippery slope if they’re allowed to fly VH tails.

Qantas planes, Qantas pilots.

My thoughts are that the JC guys and gals have just had a huge win. The email this morning says that AIPA are involved, and I believe they will have to be put onto the SH award if the aircraft are flown under he QF AOC.

That would be the ideal outcome for the JC pilots, and they can only keep their fingers crossed. But if it's going to cost QF money it's probably wishful thinking. If that were to happen, how would they fit into the QF seniority list or would they?
Is this just the thin edge of the wedge along with talk of A320's going to NW as the SH eba expires next year?

So Jitconnect now becomes Jetconnect.

One thing for sure in the airline business for the past 90 years is that change is always inevitable..

What, like the 717?

Yeah.... Qantas planes, Contract pilots...

Just another step closer to foreign pilots being able to fly domestic RPT. That's how it should be viewed.
It's possible this is another sign Jetconnect might be wound up...but hey...with Network flying a bunch of 320's around QF will have their low cost labour sorted. The Network announcement is the biggie and one which may have large ramifications for all. Jetconnect is now the side show, the new Jetstar has arrived. As they have done in the past, the company will do what it likes. This management and the next. Being an ar*ehole is no longer an EBA negotiating tool...because ar*eholes are ar*eholes. I'm starting to feel so stressed it must be time for long term sick leave. Wait.....where are all the pilots going to come from?

Like any magician, the key is to not watch where he says, watch elsewhere. Network was the distraction. Jetconnect is the issue and foreign pilots in VH registered the key.

They never finished the war on the pilots, only the pilots surrendered. it is a never ending game to lower unit cost.

Qantas has big execution risk in this strategy against declining supply.

The pilot union will be rendered impotent again. They play checkers and management play chess... Jetconnect is an expired concept, its worth nothing as the 'tax and arbitrage benefits' of its existence are long expired.

A short term fix to self induced pilot shortage on fleet problems is the wedge they want, circumventing the Fair Work Act under the pretext of manufactured impending crisis.

Wash rinse and repeat

Virgin have been doing it for a couple of years now, trans tasman and flights to the pacific islands are all operated VANZ crew on VH registered 737s.

Get on the slippery dip!

The average Joe Traveller doesn't know (nor care) what the rego is. It's the logo on the tail that they are interested in....

Fascinating times ahead.

“AIPA has long been concerned about the operation of Jetconnect. In 2010 we took action in the Fair Work Commission alleging that the Jetconnect pilots were not New Zealand employees, but rather Australian employees and entitled to the protections of the Fair Work Act.”

Surely they’d be considered Australian employees flying VH planes on an Aussie AOC. Would expect to see all JC pilots brought in at the bottom of the mainline seniority list.

I would say jetconnect is finished, and they will be using the crew to fly until mainline have enough to crew it themselves.

if you had any clue as to the jetconnect pilot make up you'd realise they were far more Australian than your deputy prime minister.....

I would presume dear sir that a New Zealand registered aircraft is required to have a New Zealand licensed pilot fly it. I assume you are familiar with ICAO license rules?:

So the issue is more to do with license issue than nationality. Qantas are pushing in trade circles for free movement of labour rather like the Schengen area we have in Europe, perhaps this is exactly what they use a crew shortage of their own making to lever.

There is or was an inter country licensing agreement between NZ and Aus which allowed either licensed pilot to fly the others aircraft. Certainly that was the case about 8 years ago from memory. Every month there are between 10-20 sim sessions for Jetconnect in MEL plus Tiger yet not enough Sim time for mainline. Go figure. There is no way that we AIPA should entertain some sort of amalgamation. Let Air New Zealand take them all or go and join ME 3, China or some other contract mob. If you want a job with QF mainline jump through the hoops and join at the bottom of the seniority like everyone else. Don’t forget the Integration Agreement. I can’t see any scope for this to be considered as some sort of Tasman LOA. And what’s it to do with Gissing?

My thoughts are that the JC guys and gals have just had a huge win.

My thoughts are ... they most definitely haven't. Just my thoughts though.

So the issue is more to do with license issue than nationality. Qantas are pushing in trade circles for free movement of labour rather like the Schengen area we have in Europe, perhaps this is exactly what they use a crew shortage of their own making to lever.[/QUOTE]


You couldn't be more correct. The last flight I got between Auckland and Christchurch was conducted by a VH airplane with a captain from Melbourne and an FO from bumf@ck NSW. And yet I still didn't fear my job was under threat or that Kim Jong was about to invade....

If I get this idea right - they will only need to push for activation of Civil Aviation Convention article 83bis protocol. Same way as it is done in other parts of the world, it will allow CASA to rubberstamp NZ (or any other country) licenses as valid for a certain NZ operator using VH registered aircraft.

The good example of where it is all going is an abundance of VQ/VP (Bermuda) registered aircraft in Europe. Unties the hands of employers in terms of sourcing the workforce.