More A330's for QF?
 

Hot rumour doing the QF rounds. Further, as yet unannouced orders for the A330 to take the total to 19.

Plans for the A330 to initially ply the trunk routes in order to better compete on a seat/km basis with VB, then as of next year, start taking over 767 routes to Asia.

767's to possibly be all domestic within three years.

..or the 767s to be in an orange colour scheme is the other bit I heard. (Sorry, I think the correct term is 'ochre' isn't it?)

CityFlyer to Perth
 

Qantas CityFlyer Heads to Perth
PERTH, 17 October 2002

Qantas today announced that it would extend its successful CityFlyer service to Perth from January 2003.

Qantas Executive General Manager Sales and Marketing John Borghetti said the new CityFlyer services would operate seven times a day between Sydney and Perth and eight times a day on the Melbourne-Perth route.

He said in addition to complimentary meals and movies provided on Perth services, the new CityFlyer flights would also offer:

* dedicated check-in counters for customers without baggage;
* dedicated baggage carousels;
* dedicated gate lounges offering check-in and customer service; and
* stand alone, easy to read information screens.

"As with our popular CityFlyer services already operating between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Perth CityFlyer customers will be offered complimentary newspapers on weekday flights between 6:00am and 9:00am and complimentary beer and wine in Economy Class on weekday flights after 4:00pm.

"CityFlyer customers will also be able to use their mobile phones while boarding aircraft aerobridges and inside the aircraft until the time the doors of the aircraft are closed," he said.

Mr Borghetti said Qantas was also undertaking an extensive $14 million development of its Perth Domestic Terminal and Qantas Club lounge, featuring:

* an expanded check-in area, with eight new check-in counters taking the total number of check-in desks to 21;
* expanded baggage reclaim facilities;
* new toilet and bathroom facilities; and
* a new dual aerobridge for the airline's new A330 operations, allowing Qantas to operate its brand new A330 aircraft to Perth from early next year.

"Our Qantas Club lounge will be expanded and enhanced, with seating for an additional one hundred guests, enhanced food and beverage facilities featuring a new bar and buffet, an improved business centre with additional data and power outlets throughout the lounge, and panoramic views of the airport and surrounding area."

Mr Borghetti said the airport development was expected to be completed by mid-December 2002, with the expanded Qantas Club lounge scheduled to open in March 2003.

Issued by Qantas Public Affairs (2804)
Email: [email protected]

Do either of you, or anyone else, know when the first A330 will enter service with Qantas?

I was led to believe some time ago, by an Airbus Rep, that it was about mid November, that is only about 4 weeks time?

Haven't seen much publicity about it IF that is true?

Must be pretty soon, they announced an extension of CityLink services to Perth.
8 a day to SYD and 7 a day to MEL using A330s

$14million upgrade to PER terminal inc. addition of 100 seats to the Club Lounge.

Ups the ante a bit? no, a lot and with the VB services, pretty much shuts the door.

Any pretenders to the mythical "third airline" slot will need to think really hard, or increase their Prozac dosage.:p

Airsupport,

Current schedules show Jan 2nd as the date. It takes a little while for the schedule to settle down, but at the moment it appears to be something like 0700, 0930, 1200, 1500 and 1800 flights on the Mel/Syd route (both directions).

Gaunty,

With regards to the Perth cityflyer, I doubt that there will be 7 A330s to Syd, and 8 to Mel. Current schedule shows these flights operated mostly by 73H, with the odd 734/767 thrown in, and of course, the two 747 classics to Syd. If all of these flights went to 330, that would effectivly double capacity!!!

But then again, isn't the rumour that the 73Hs are replacing the 717s early next year or something, with the 717s replacing the 146s????

Time will tell!

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Gaunty, I don't know why you think it would shut the door if the third airline did start. All they would have to do is fill ( or at least 3/4 fill) an A320 3 or 4 times a day. Alot of that would be passengers that Star Alliance have to put on QF at the moment anyway. Then there's the on-carriage off the soon to be daily EK flights into PH. I think the main problem would be for QF to fill 8 A330s every day.

Now watch the FA's try to explain the difference to passengers on other flights.:rolleyes:
Apparently the marketing name of the product affects the (alleged) interference to systems.;)

DJ response
 

DJ are obviously impressed with the new CityFlyer, so much so that they are adding 3 daily flights to Perth, including a daily return flight to Brisbane, with $199 fares!!! Those 8 A330s are already looking harder to fill!!!

:)

I heard that DJ will now start departing SYD for MEL on a half hourly basis now to make the Express Terminal less crowded and compete with CityFlyer.