Lack of Qantas pilots - Route cut from schedule.
 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-...2024/103084892

So not Covid, not Putin, not Hamas but lack of pilots. If only there was a solution.

To be fair, it was only a trial. If you have to consolidate routes, then perhaps the ones you weren't really that sure of in the first place are the first to go?

​​​​​​​Fixed it for you.

Is the A321 already meant to arrive next year? its still not even certified yet..

It was supposed to be taken over by the A220 in 2024 however a majority of next years deliveries have now been delayed 6+ months. E-Jets are struggling with crew and don’t (yet) have a MEL base.

Both the A220 and 321XLR are delayed. A321XLR Certification was an issue, now its engine problems on the existing fleet. The fuel tank issue that delayed certification cost 2,500 kgs to fix, so that sounds like an hour less range.

I was speaking with customer service staff in MEL a couple of weeks ago and they revealed that they have been told that most flights there will eventually be A220s.

in other news, QF is going to mod the oldest 737 airframes* to install fuel tank nitrogen inerting, which is not required until 2026. So we are going to have those pieces of —— for a while yet.

*.except the first two, according to the engineer that was laughing/crying about it.

I’m really suprised that QF have gone with the PW engine. The PW engine has been problematic worldwide. JQ are operating the CFM engine on their neos and have not had the problems that the pratts have. Wouldn’t commonality and reliability win the day?

Far too sensible for the morons (mis)managing things at QF, and there was probably a much smaller bonus involved with selecting CFM rather than PW.

Either that or someone got a nice little kick back for going with the alternative. All in the name of competition of course we don’t want to “limit” ourselves to one supplier even though we run the risk of grounding our fleet because that has zero bearing on my bonus.

Surprised about the Nitrogen inserting. How many airframes get around without it?

about 40… TWA theatrics says the antivaxers

Unlike the A320 family, the A220 family only comes with PW engines, so commonality between those two types appears to be what QF Group want. The red-tail narrowbody order is up to 134 aircraft, so we can draw our own conclusions about the mix of A32X and A22X. With plenty of life left in a big part of the B737 fleet, that and the fuel tank inerting mentioned in this thread gives QF Group time to wait for Airbus to develop and certify a stretched version of the A220-300.

The woeful NJS pilot EA doesn't expire until 2026, so the question of being able to crew the A220 once the delivery frequency increases is still largely unanswered.

Not unusual for an airline to spread its investments across multiple manufactures.
Prevents a total fleet grounding should there be an issue with one manufactures product.

Has Anyone heard/confirm scuttlebutt that the next A380 due back is now being withheld from return to service, due an inability to release crew from other fleets for training, due crew shortages?

So here's the thing
Does a 738 driver forget how to drive one when getting certified on a 320?
After everything that's gone down at QF recently why couldn't they just be honest and release a statement like

Qantas will be cancelling its direct service between Melbourne and Learmouth / Exmouth
The reason for our decision are as follows
We learned that not everyone wants a one week holiday so a once a week service was kinda hard to sell
We also learned that people would prefer to transit via Perth rather than pay twice as much for the convenience of a direct flight
We really thought that we could gouge people with this direct connection but boy oh boy were we surprised
We seem to get away with charging a bomb on Port Headland direct to Brisbane once a week, like 30% more than via Perth
So as we can't make a killing on this route we may just leave to Bonza to have a crack at 1/4 the airfare
We still can't see how they do it, what with their cheapy prices connecting secondary towns, its totally got our number crunchers stumped

Pilots can’t fly multiple fleets, especially when they are significantly different (ie. 737 vs A320). The only exception to this is things like the A330/350 when they get them. They’re considered close enough (arguable) that they can run it as a single fleet type. They’re also the same type rating.

Do you have a reference for that?

CASA would have some requirement squirrelled away in the bows of a regulation or a stupid MOS, that is extremely difficult to find. Probably an ATPL airliaw question🤬🤬 these days.

Correct me if I’m wrong, however Qantas had a few incidents not long after they introduced the Q400 and had pilots flying all variants, that resulted in quite a few operational incidents, over speeds and procedural excursions.

I doubt the left hand and right hand in that scenario would even be talking.. so I reckon that’s a BS rumour.

I don’t know of a particular law, but let’s look at it from a safety perspective. Do you think it’s very smart? And find me an airline in Australia where you fly more than one type.