Just out of curiosity, would you ever completely fill an A320 on a FIFO run to the mines and back? I know some operators still use turbo-props for this type of work. I would think the A320 would be a bit of an overkill for such ops.

Really it depends on the mine. FMG's Christmas Creek, Solomon and Cloudbreak mines regularly received A320s/737s, but most others were built to take an F100 or 146 at the most. The bigger aircraft come into their own when there is a cyclone evacuation. Most of the mines have strips that will take Fokkers, with even The Granites now being served by F100s. Quite an upgrade for the blokes who used to fly in an F50 from Perth.

A320 Family in most parts of the world are bulk-loaded rather than ULDs, and the only reason JQ have ULDs is because OSH meant they would have to have an extra person on each turn to act as a spotter for the blokes in the hold.

Cobham E-Jets? Maybe. The one they had they sent back a while ago, and they are adamant that the 146/Avro RJ is irreplaceable due to rough field/STOL capability. But they will need to be replaced eventually.

Evening-

Anybody, thinking HP Disks & Blades- and perchance, Honeywell..........?????

Happy New Year to you all
Rgds
S28- BE

Maybe Alliance are the smartest guys in the room. Why fix what ain't broke? Why upgrade to a more expensive fleet, and then have to compete with all the other contenders? He with the lowest costs wins.
But is that Network's plan, or their owners? If Network can't compete with Alliance in FIFO now with the same equipment, how will they compete with a more expensive type?
QF bought more F100's for Network (must have thought they were the right aircraft for the job). Now it is Network struggling to absorb the A320s that Qantas needs to move out of Jetstar. Alliance meanwhile sails along.

IF Alliance have bought up sufficient spares (and additional airframes to cannibalise bit by bit) to last them the next 10-15-20 years...whatever...AND they can maintain reliability to a degree no less than their competitors AND the F100 doesn't become unpopular with the punters then indeed Alliance should be on a solid footing for a long time to come.
One does hear stories of F100 engines being run around de-rated all the time to extend life due lack of spares etc - is Alliance immune to such considerations?

Of course if the owners decide Network etc don't have to make a profit (or even break even) and offer A320's for the price of F100's...

Just throwing in my 2 cents re: the F100 vs. eJet in regards to cost.

I can think of one route that is operated by both eJet's and F100's under two different mining contracts (Groote), with McArthur River Mine recently awarding a 5 year contract for eJet's to operate their FIFO contract. eJet's also operated The Granites run on behalf of Alliance until they re-opened their Darwin base.

So other than acquisition cost, one could hazard a guess that the operating costs are not significantly more between the two types.

As stated, the prices for first generation eJets is coming down, so that *should* make it a viable replacement.

It's not a route, it's a destination. Airnorth fly to/from Darwin, Alliance flies to/from Cairns. Airnorth has work for the aircraft once back in DRW, Alliance has work for the aircraft once back in CNS. Different economics.
I don't know if that indicates the operating costs are similar. What it means to me is that Alliance needed someone/anyone to operate their route until they could put their own aircraft on it. It seems it was cheaper to set up a base with all it's associated costs and use Fokkers for one FIFO contract, than pay someone else who was already there to do it for you using something else.

Lucky for them VA charter them and not Airnorth then. Must be something to do with costs.

Too much capacity? Over serviced? Too many players? The F100 will reduce Virgin capacity 43% (from 5 x 176, to 5 x 100 each way) although they may lose the premium end of the market. At least their load factor should rise from 36% on the B737-800 to around 63% on the F100.

Virgin should just give up and outsource everything from the Board down.

Should have had BNE based Ejets.:ok:

So again VA have picked someone operating Fokkers over someone (anyone) operating Ejets.

VH-DSJ, to answer your question yes the 320s are regularly taking 140 plus pax out of those mines, which is 2 x F100 loads, so probably a lot cheaper to run 1 A320 than 2 F100. Also the 320 doesn't have to stop anywhere for fuel due to RTOW restrictions (as a rule) like the Dutch oven sometimes does

When I was at Alliance, we mostly flew with less than 20 pax between ISA and TEF (Back when the duty was BNE-ISA-TEF-ISA-BNE). Not sure those mining companies really care? That was over 10 years ago mind you. They did fill them up with RPT pax in and out of ISA though.