Why is that? Why, Easterns and not Sunnies, or mainline?

As RENURPP said the entire thing was an evolvution from the old National Jet using thier own 146 fleet.
If you think think someone else 'should have' had the operation you must know something the powers that be dont, or it is nothing more than sentiment you speak with.

Many of the ex Sunstate/Eastern and MAINLINE guys are flying “these jets”. They applied for and were successful, good on them.
i struggle with the idea that you join a company that operates Dash 8’s then complain, whinge and moan when you don’t get to “fly jets”.
if you want to fly jets, apply to a company that operates them.
if you want to drive trucks apply to a trucking company.
NJS took ownership/lease of their first 146 on the 23rd June 1990.
Eastern Australia Airlines became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1991 moving up to Dash 8’s.

Cue the Qlink cadet bedwetters expecting to “get some jet time before joining Mainline” with this announcement.

From the ground in CBR yes it does happen on the CBR BNE route in summer with some regularity. There are still a number of frames whose engines are not setup for hot summers on the east. Bulk out is rare but having weight issues and freight and staff off is a regular thing.

And when they break they often break for quite some time line a day or two

You will have to take that grievance up with Qantas as they pay/save on the derate decisions. Im sure Boeing/Rolls have designed the thing with more than enough power, but whether that is utlised is upto QF.

Ditto the breakdowns, if you want to sit and wait days for parts instead of carrying spares inventory then it is a QF commercial decision and not a failure of mr Boeing.

Perhaps a history lesson on how the initial flying was ‘awarded’ all those years ago when link/sunnies were in line would be relevant to brakeriders comment. Skullduggery at its absolute worst.

note this is not meant to be an attack on current 717 pilots.

Feel free to provide said lesson cloud.

definitely interesting to wake up to, dare i say, good news, amidst the covid turmoil. fwiw, hopefully this acquisition gives some degree of certainty to the staff it impacts and the mainline operation. I do agree, from operational perspective, business as usual. setup will be like the many other subsidiaries of qantas group ie. network, jetconnect, jq qantas group owned but self managed etc
the rationale behind the purchase would make interesting discussion. whether its been in the pipeline for a while, or whether joyce has decided to act aggressively in an attempt to deter virgin 2.0, or whether he just needed the cobham fleet capability in his response plan to covid. I think obviously all of the factors at least have played their part rather than one specific reason.
Personally, i think is good news. Hopefully, no redundancies, and if there are, hopefully they are forecasted out a year or two from now.

They already had the fleet capability, they owned and still own the fleet, now they own the AOC and company as well. It may have more to do with what Advent want than what QF want.

Couldnt agree me with this comment, there is nothing to suggest it was something Qantas wanted, it is just as likely Advent forced Qantas hand.

NJS had already been sold to Cobham, who was then sold to Advent, and now it's been 'sold' to QF.
I cant see how anybody thinks this will lead to any radical operational changes that wouldnt have been possible before.

I imagine the worst case scenario here would be that things only get better. The EBA will be honoured in its entirety devoid of the rubbery interpretations and thus the pilfering will stop. QF will also see the operation in its unfiltered state instead of the rosy, sanitised version of the Titanic like mass that it is/was.


Good luck all!

Hope the 717 troops get new management & new management pilots. A long overdue culture change required.

I pax regularly in the 71, as with most other offerings.
71 is quiet up the front, IFE is via your own device, doesn’t have WIFI, it’s more roomy, better seating and I’d be very surprised to hear that you preferred the cabin service from the QF 73s.