Well the NWK COO has world domination planes and has sold his grandmother multiple times to get higher on the greasy pole.

A couple of hundred A320 guys and gals from Tiger looking for a new seat too.

yep, no reason why they couldn’t slap the JQ paint on there and do that too.

Anyone know if the Network folks got a pay bump for flying the A320 or are they doing it on F100 rates?

That will need some good spin in the Press Release, I can see it now-

“The A320 has superior airfield performance to the 737 to utilise the short runways found at captial cities on the East Coast, particularly with global warming becoming a bigger consideration each year.”

All these world domination plans.....

.....on aircraft that are JQ’s hand me downs near the end of their service life. Seeing out their days before retirement performing low density FIFO charter in beaten down old aircraft that are apparently going to be used for high density RPT which requires near perfect dispatch reliability.

Now if NW were getting brand new 320s straight off the production line I’d say these theories had some substance, until then it’s all baseless speculation.

Wouldn’t there be a branding issue? There is a reason Network aircraft have LINK painted on the side of them

I was told by an ex Network pilot that they are flying the A320’s for F100 pay - they weren’t organised enough to insist on a higher pay scale.

These JQ hand me downs are younger than plenty of QFs 737s (2004/5 builds).

I wouldnt call the speculation completely baseless (albeit still speculation).

First they were just getting 2 A320’s, then 4, now 9.

I think there’s a chance they’ll start flying them on thin interstate routes (PER-ADL/CNS/DRW/CBR) especially during their down time on the weekends and it will grow from there.

Who’s to say they won’t end up with some newer frames in the not too distant future? Only time will tell!

You forget that many of us predicted that every F100 was going to be replaced by an A320. There is nothing new in this strategy.

But are F100s being retired?

my reading was that these are additional airframes, but I could be wrong

Not true at all. You merely have to prove the ‘employer’ is willing to offer you lwop. You don’t have to be on it before you apply.

Some good FUD campaign assistance here

good job :yuk::rolleyes:

The A320 pilots get a pay increase via an allowance over the EA rate that the F100 guys get paid, so the ex-Network pilot was not correct.

As the F100s age (some are close to 30 years and this was after Fokker went under way back in 96) they’ll fly less and less. Resale ain’t worth much so they’ll remain “on the books” but probably just be used for spares.

Nothing like a good thread drift......

How Notwork getting clapped out JQ and JSA A320’s amounts to world domination I fail to understand. As far as I understand, the 4 they have are doing exactly what they said they would do.
Last I checked, WA was going gangbusters with record iron ore prices.

Back to the popcorn and chips....

to bring it back on thread, the 32 positions at network are 32 less redundancies that would be required from elsewhere in the group. So that’s a positive

There must be redundancies fast impending maybe starting with JQ crew with all the town halls scheduled from Wednesday. Guessing an ASX Wednesday morning

someone says that every time there’s a townhall :)

I don’t think there has been 4 in one week organized tho.

I count 3, but yes, more than usual.

The JQ one being first takes the sting out of that idea I think. If it were an announcement as big as more redundancies it would come straight from AJ at the QF townhall first.

It’s only been 5 weeks since they announced the 6000 redundancies, they have barely scratched the surface of processing those.

I wouldn’t read too much into the pilot dial in, probably just an update on the potential Flexi line arrangements.

since the start of COVID, I count no less that 37 QF/JQ town halls and chief pilot dial ins, it could just so happen that these 3 have fallen in the same week, as they have before.

But as always, I could be wrong.

True, the whole situation is getting frustrating tho. the two flight ops ones will just be LWOP updates and general Q&A

That is true if they have gone out and found new business for those 32 pilots to fly to.

If however, it is flying that was previously done by a QF 737 then it will mean 32 more Qantas pilots stood down while the Group finds a cheaper contract to operate the sectors. I don’t believe that would be a positive on the whole.

ahh, yep. Good point

could be an uptick in the mining industry or could be taking QF737 flying.

Could be either or a combination of the two

It’s all new business, mining contracts.

They started doing 2 pilot dial-ins last week, with the added one being in the evening, so that people that were working second jobs during the day would get an opportunity to listen in and ask their questions.

This is the ultimate plan, to slowly replace all 737's with 320's. Soon all domestic aircraft will be branded Qantaslink crewed by network/cobham/sunstate/whatever and the passengers wouldn't know the difference all they see is the red tail, same same. Its been tested on the eastcoast with ****ty old 717s and no one seems to mind.

As Perth is pretty much the least affected state it makes sense to build up a large base that can operate with less restrictions .
This is about survival and being able to adjust to the market .
East coast flying may dry up !
A320 Sim to be put in Perth .

thats not entirely true. The 717 is a different aircraft size. An a320 is effectively the same as a 737. So it hasn’t been tested as a ‘replacement’ as such, and when the 717 was growing, no one from the 737 was forced out of the business. Entirely different scenario if the a320 is growing and the 737 is shrinking.

LOL how's the coolaid? New business to keep 32 pilots and 5 A320s busy? I'll have what he's smoking
Not to mention of course there would be serious issues if that info was to get out, what with being market sensitive and all

You know Qantas never wanted Qantas domestic, it was imposed upon them with the merger of australian airlines. It's the very reason jetstar was created to absorb what was then australian airlines and sell it off as its own entity. When Air New Zealand bought into Ansett, there was a change in thinking.
I wouldn't rule out a return to that strategy in some form post covid.

do some research, you’ll find it yourself.

Too many pilots with too much time should be the name of this thread now.

Yikes! Must be retired Longhaul.
QF Domestic has been the life blood of Qantas since the “takeover” of Australian Airlines in 1992.
The reality is that the current CEO has been looking for a reason to give up on Longhaul for his entire administration.
Project Sunrise is its last best hope.
Longhaul has managed to believe its own BS for decades now. This crisis has demonstrated how fragile ,and marginally profitable ,it is.
Reality is the A380 will probably never fly again.

You're quite right George, short haul saved the day after 911 and probably the GFC as well, this event will be no different. Short haul is sure to be back before long haul. The Company structure is messy though with all those subsidiaries in the mix. This might be an opportunity to clean that up and I can't see jetstar being on the cleanup list.

717 took over 737 several slots into canberra and adelaide. Their eagerness to get rid of bag chucker's proofs they are gearing up for less ground handing requirements using a320 ULD system. Melbourne workshops have been churning out a million of them.

i don’t disagree in that regard mate, that free’d up the 737 for other stuff. What I’m saying is, an increase in 320 at the same time the 737 is decreasing, if the product was identical, is a different scenario to taking over some routes when the 737 is also holding steady/expanding.

If you are reffering to Network A320's, they don't use ULD's

I doubt it. With int'l ops stuffed for years to come, domestic operations will be the only thing getting off the deck for quite a while and without domestic, QF will just be a loyalty business

That is absolute garbage.
At the time the then CEO of QF spent a lot of time pursuing the merger.
He was rewarded with the success that Keating delivered.

You are correct Qantas got TAA and Ansett got to fly overseas that was the trade off.