Qantas mainline brings 717’s in house
 

Just heard QF have bought National Jet Systems entire 717 fleet from Cobham Aviation.
Dont have a link to a report yet, it just scrolled across on a business report I was just watching.

It’s in the AFR

Does that include Cobham pilots as well or are the flying roles going to mainline?

Great news for the 717 drivers. Hopefully their seniority carries through onto the mainline seniority list.

How can QF buy a fleet that they already own?

They aren’t going to mainline. Qantas has bought the operation and will be setting up a new entity just like network sunstate or eastern. Cobham drivers will be employed as a group entity rather than as a contractor. Good news for the Cobham guys and girls!!

they bought the AOC

So there is basically no real changes, Just a different name to operate under instead of Cobham? I’m not overly familiar with their ops so maybe there is more to it.

Mainline pay & conditions??😫

Story is behind a Paywall. Can someone cut and paste it here.

I wonder what the thought process is behind QF doing this.

I would have thought the way the 717 operation is currently set up is the cheapest way of doing things. It was always easy for Cobham to say ‘No money in the contract, can’t afford pay increases’.

Or is this a brand new world where QF are going to start bringing back all that has been outsourced over the last decade and a half?.😂

Clear your cookies/internet data and try again.

Haha, imagine that. No more Swissport, Aerocare...all one big happy family post COVID 🤔🤣

Qantas brings regional fleet back in-house

Qantas will take the operation of 20 Boeing 717 aircraft running regional routes back in-house with the purchase of Cobham Australia's National Jet Systems.

The acquisition, which the airline announced on Wednesday afternoon, ends 15 years where National Jet Systems had operated the fleet on behalf of regional subsidiary QantasLink.

QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said the acquisition provided it more certainty for the future.

"The B717s provide us with [the] flexibility to service many segments of the domestic market, including regional routes, fly in fly out operations or more frequencies to capital cities. These are the kind of routes where travel demand is likely to recover first [from the COVID-19 pandemic]," he said.

"Importantly, this is a back-office change which our customers won't notice."

It comes after Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce laid out the airline's plans to ramp up its operations after the pandemic, which forced it to fly just 5 per cent of operational capacity on Tuesday.

At a media briefing on Tuesday, he said masks and sanitising wipes would be provided to passengers, who will also be encouraged to limit movement around the cabin.

But the middle seat will still be in use as customers begin booking flights again.

"All of these procedures, all of these changes will be in place from the 12th of June, with expectations that we could see domestic travel with border restrictions significantly resuming from July onwards," Mr Joyce said.

The acquisition also follows an internal strategic review of the operations at Cobham, which commenced in the middle of last year.

Cobham Aviation Services chairman Kim Gillis said the company was proud of its partnership with Qantas.

“This outcome is testament to the exceptional levels of service and safety the B717 pilots, cabin crew and support staff have provided to Qantas over the years – I am sure many of them will see this as being brought 'home'," she said.

Neither party disclosed the terms of the agreement. But Qantas said the deal was not material and replaced a 10-year contract for National Jet System's services signed in 2016.

Qantas will also take on National Jet System's employee liabilities, though most have been temporarily stood down like many Qantas employees during the pandemic.

Cobham will continue to operate four freighter jets on behalf of Qantas freight.

That is some funny 5hit right there, I haven't laughed so much since somebody said Rex were going to compete against Qantarse and Virging :}

The reality is a captain stubing uniform (if they don't already have one) and staff travel. Then next time anyone in the group wants a pay rise "we'll get Network/Jetstar/NJS/QLINK *enter any name here *to do it"

why would it?

network doesn't
sunnies doesn't
eastern doesn't
EFA doesn't

Reuters - U.S. private equity group Advent buys UK's Cobham for $5 billion

It appears we have clarity now

had both of those for quite some time!

Were any 717 crew on paid sick leave?

Hmmmmm 'Interesting'- Why is IT so....
 

They outweigh an F-Truck and there is 'only' 20x of them in 'this' Gig/Deal............., could 'one' get another gross/or more of 'em....????

Does, 'anybody' still support the Propulsion & Avionics packages......??? and how does, the pressure-vessel/hull system work?????

Just askin :rolleyes:, got me stuffed- have a really great day.
Rgds all
S28- BE

Could you please repeat that in 'english'

Hilarious.

Meet your new project sunrise crew when it gets going.

Doesn’t matter. They’ll all be flying 320s soon.

Maybe they’ll call it Impulse Airlines! :}

HAHA!

The end of QF seniority list is not where you want to be right now.

Well there's a few being parked by Delta if they want some more. Maybe QF are replacing some 737 flying post covid??

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/05/17/delta-will-cut-717-operating-fleet-by-50-67-due-to-covid-19/#4c48d5c452d2

Any idea what the big picture is here?? How many AOCs does one airline actually need? Good news for empire building management I guess they get to duplicate everything again!

As was mentioned in another thread, the 717s are the Fokker replacement.

Network will be the 320 operator and NJS will be 717 operator. Expect a bunch more 717s over the next few years.

QF Management following the old expression...never waste a crisis!

As if there wasn’t enough downwards pressure on terms and conditions :*

Perfect. Replace a very old plane with an old plane.

The 717s are early 2000s, same as a bunch of QFs 737s...

I think he meant the 717s replacing F100s

The Network F100s are early ‘90s builds.

QF was hardly going to replace them with C Series. The 717 as a replacement makes sense.

Engines supported and still being made by Rolls (Global Express and G5) and Avionics by Honeywell (VIA2000 is in C5 Galaxy and 777)

You cannot buy an AOC.
You have to buy the entity that has been granted the AOC.
If the entity is a natural person, the AOC cannot go anywhere as you cannot buy a person.

I think some of my friends on the 717 will sleep a little easier tonight knowing they are bound for new management and a vastly different culture. The 717 has plenty of life in it yet and so do the crews who fly them now.

Aussieflyboy

Ironic really since the Fokkers replaced the 717s in WA a few years ago.

The timing of this move could be fortuitous for QF and disastrous for VA. QF could use the the low cost B717 to compete with VA on the East Coast routes charging fares VA could not match. The ACCC would be powerless to prevent this.

It's good news for the drivers but it really is a pretty grim aircraft - the design is well over 50 years old and so there's only a couple of Operators left - I don't think they have much passenger appeal TBH

The DC9 and 737 both started their life in 1963, so if the 717 is a grim aircraft based on its original design age, so too is the 737.

I think you might be surprised at the passenger appeal.

So what happens to the F100 drivers/717 drivers in this scenario? I can’t imagine them doubling up on crews if it’s a replacement, especially how things are going to be into the future with demand.

Have they actually confirmed no redundancies for anyone?