Perth News ?
 

Hello all

Have been away for a few weeks and am interested in catching up on the WA (Perth) news front. Who can help me with the following

1. What happened with the WA Gov aircraft contract ?, seems to be quiet on that front.

2. Something about a couple of DASH 8-300's and no AOC to operate them.

3. One of the GA FIFO operators at Perth getting a 50-70 seat jet (this is a rumour I heard, any truth to it)

4. With the 717's taking over on the RPT, how many 146/RJ's will be left operating in WA on FIFO contracts with NATJET.

Thanks for the info/gosip or whatever.

If this has been done before, feel free to let me know the links.

richo

Richo,

Skippers are rumoured to be touting they are close to acquiring a $25m 50-70seat jet for FIFO operations. For an investment of that kind of money they would want to have a lot of work lined up as the Jet charter market in WA is red hot at present with Alliance, NJS, QFlink and Skywest all looking at adding addiional capacity to what they currently have.

Not wanting to hijack this thread but is there any more word on if/when XR will begin 320 operations? :O

Bugs:ok:

Skippers getting a jet??? what type???

Did here that Network were looking at ERJ135-145's?

There must be a few ex Ansett 146's still floating around which would be a good cheap entry to the jet market for either Skippers or Network.

Well from those four, QFlink and NJS are one in the same in terms of operation. Alliance are doing Mt Keith and Leinster and are sure to look for more work to keep the F100's busy.

Richo, the DHC8-300s are now at their new home I believe. CASA flew one last week on an RPT proving flight so the High Capacity AOC cannot be too far away.

The word from BN is that HCAOC is likely next week.

I've heard they've started planning flights with the new dash and they start mid next week. You'd want to hope CASA is running a tight ship. :\ :}

Correct, service entry of the -300 is imminent.

With the demise of the last two 146-300s from the QLink fleet, I believe this leave 8 or so 146-100 and -200 series in the NJS blue-tail fleet to continue serving the FIFO contracts, as well as 1 or 2 Dash 8's.

Don't be surprised to see at least one of the 146-300s to stay in PER doing FIFO in lieu of a -200. There are a couple of mining companies out there that are busting at the seams as far as capacity goes.

cheers
Gunnadothat.

Thanks all
 

Thank you to the members who have posted info.

I must suppose that the Gov contract is either still draging on, Memories of last time, or the winner is keeping it very quite.

Anyway time will tell. Best of luck to all.

The Jet scene in Perth is taking a very strange turn. If we are to belive the adds in the paper we will soon have a new operator on the field.
It begs the question are these new contracts or existing ones up for grabs.

To summarise, this is what I can put together from the latest news.

NATJET 146-100,200,300, Dash 8 -300 on FIFO contracts
Ravensthorp, Murrin, Telfer, West ang, Coondawana (Area C), Barimunya, Barrow Is.

Alliance F100
Linster and Mt Kieth

Ozjet B737-300?
????

Skywest F100 and ??A320??
Newman and RPT

Qantas Link B717
All RPT (Karratha?)

Skippers (Rumoured)
Network (Rumoured)

Sure there is lots of work, but me thinks that there are too many operators out there for even that amount. Who knows???

richo

To clean up the above Richo, you can stick the 717 under the Nat Jet heading and delete the A320 from Skywest............IMHO :hmm:

and yes the 717 does service KA.

Just updating some of the info in the above list Richo.

Skywest F100:
FIFO to/from Argyle for Rio Tinto
RPT to Kununnura (an extension of the Argyle charter flight), Exmouth, Port Headland, Newman, Broome & Darwin. They also do a FIFO in the F50 to Tanami Gold Mine from PER. I hear the A320 is going to do the PER-PHX-DPS route from early December.

Nothing confirmed on Skippers getting jets at this stage. CEO says, "it is possible" and he has a nice E-190 model in his office (alas, not in Skippers colours) but nothing to suggest that it is on the scope. I guess when the customers ask for it, they'll consider it.

oh early december for the 320 now..... yeah right! Its not happening people get over it!

Skywest announced provisional schedules last weekend for A320 ops from 01DEC.

Unfortunately its a bit late to start selling 01DEC.

Anyway, Phuket and Bali are the new RPT destinations ex-Per.

TUE/THU/FRI/SUN PER-DPS 1000/1330 XR301
TUE/THU/FRI/SUN DPS-PER 1430/1800 XR302

MON/WED/SAT PER-HKT 0900/1415 XR351
MON/WED/SAT HKT-PER 1515/2230 XR352

xr

XR, am assuming A320s crewed by the people who own them? or have you sneeky little buggers been over to brisbane :} .............or France.

I would have thought Bali in summer was a pretty big call

Where was this announced? Nothing on the Skywest website...

Is it true that Ozjet are setting up shop in Perth and starting flights to Derby?

there is a strip being built at Koolan Isl. north of DRB but I believe will only be 146 capable...DRB shire were looking at attracting a RPT service to work in with the Koolan mine op but with the strip going in at the mine would be surprised if this happens...simply not enough demand.

that Koolan Island strip was only 700 metres when I last flew in/played golf on it. I don't honestly believe that you would get 1800m min req for 146 ops, its just not long/wide enough. CIN would be the only real option considering derby's strip is now as hard as a salada.

Ah ha! I heard an NJS hushpuppy going to DBY a couple of days ago...

The main strip at DBY (11/29) had a major upgrade a few years back, at the time I was told it was to be 737 capable, don't know how true that is but I would be surprised if it wasnt up to handling a 146 as Ansett used to run the RPT into there.

certainly is, and i blieve you are correct that it isn't 737 capable. Shire of Derby had an EOI floating to try and attract an RPT services and one of the req's was that it had to be 146 or similar EQPT.

An article circulating regarding OzJet and their Perth plans released today. Looks like things in Perth will be hotting up :E

Ozjet to relaunch WA debut - picks Derby over Melbourne
21-November-06 by Andrew Hobbs

Eight months after breaking the hearts of plane-spotters across Perth, Victorian charter carrier Ozjet Airlines will make its move into the WA market with a Perth-Derby service to commence in February next year.
In March this year the then business class-only carrier had planned to start a Perth-Melbourne service, only to withdraw from scheduled services and concentrate on charter work before flying a single mile.

But now the company is back in WA, commencing Derby's first air services from Perth's domestic airport to the Department of Defence's Curtin Airbase, situated 30km from the town, operating three return flights per week.
The State government has granted Ozjet exclusive access to the route for two years with an option for a further 12 months.

This will help the company avoid the red-eye factor, which it blamed in part for the failure of its earlier attempt to break into the Perth-Melbourne market.
Flights will be two hours' long and are scheduled to leave Perth at 5.30am, to return at 12.30pm.

Ozjet chief executive Willie O'Neill said the company would look to expand its presence in the WA market, with this service to be a base for the group.
The process for setting up this one had been very involved, he said, with the company working with the Derby-West Kimberley shire to negotiate an agreement with three local mining companies.

"We had to negotiate with the three mines to align their working rosters, to ensure a sustainable volume of passengers was achieved to justify the service," Mr O'Neill said.

"Our return fares will be competitively priced when compared with existing airfares."

The service will run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week on a 737-200 aircraft.

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the service would provide a boost to the town.

"A regular passenger service for the public is an important way that regional communities can gain some benefit from fly-in fly-out mining operations.
"While mining employees will be its mainstay, local people, other local employers and businesses will also be able to take advantage of this service."
Shire president Elsia Archer said the shire was delighted that the State Government had approved the application for this integral service .

"Our community looks forward to this convenient service commencing and we are sure it will offer an opportunity to attract more tourists to our beautiful region," Ms Archer said.

Topend 3, with respect to the Koolan Island strip, subject to a rather large gully being filled in, there is very little chance of the strip being extended enough to get any useful load any reasonable distance direct from Koolan Island in a BA146.

Good Luck to all those lucky enough to get an interview Friday, would like to know how it all goes.

Just wondering if anyone knows the three mines involved? Could be a hit to some of the other hopefuls trying to get contracts up there.

One would probably be Aztec on Koolan Island. I know a few operators were looking at flying direct with Dash 8's as well.

Another could be Kimberley Diamonds at Ellendale. How would this affect Skywest's loads to Brm as I beleive they currently fly the workers to Brm while Brm Aviation fly's them from Brm to Ellendale? I heard a few operators were looking at flying direct to Ellendale also in Dash 8's.

Don't know who the third one is though. Anyone else???????? Maybe Cadjebut but I thought Skippers were starting back up with Dash 8-300's.

Perth scene
 

Hello Richo and others, I haven't seen any mention of the State Government tender for the 850xp yet. Has anyone got any news as to who the got the gurnsey and when the aircraft will be arriving?

How is the jungle prop going Richo?

No, nor does the Dornier sitting next to them...

Its all going to end in tears. You can't keep adding aircraft to that airspace within 160 miles of Perth at those times of the day without repercussions. The sectors are overcrowded now, the controllers are working at their limits several times per day with inadequate equipment, procedures and staffing. There's too many aircraft running around with inadequate nav gear which directly effects the operations of aircraft with the good gear. There's too many aircraft operating the same schedules. Its stunningly stupid to allow Hawks with no gear to fly high level no-com operations through the major civil air routes around Perth at the edges of radar coverage. Something is going to give, and I hope I'm not there when it happens.

Sama sama the ONE controller on ACD and SMC before 0530 doing EVERYTHING. An accident waiting to happen.

Do Skippers still have non-GPSRNAV Conquests floating around, or have they been "fixed"? It would seem a bit odd that they have enough money for Dash 8-300s but not enough to fit out the Conqs. Not to mention the inconvenience caused to the rest of industry...

Bloggs,

I thought skippers were getting rid of the Conquests? if so, I can't see them spending any more than the bare minimum to keep them flying.

Very well thanks Spini, all good

I have heard nothing on the Gov contract, apart from maybe a replay of the last time the contract was awarded.

Knackers and Bloggs, I have to agree, the airspace is over stretched at certin times of the day. There are news reports in the West about the capacity issues at the airport, mostly about parking and infistructure. Lets see if the jurnos eventualy work out whats happening in the air as well.
Just look at the (aircraft) parking deparcle at PH in the mornings, there are more NOTAMS about taxiway parking than Galahs at the moment.

So OZ jet is going to use PH-DBY to start a run at buisness in PH. Good luck to them, but I don't see it myself. I hope that have reserved parking space.

I also caught a very slight rurmour of one operator contenplating using Dash 8s out of JT, to what advantage I don't know. Obviously an attempt to get away from the congestion at PH in the mornings, but probably wont get around the airspace over crowding, as the still have to join the flow somwhere.

Already stretched to the _________ point, and yet more operators are coming???????????.

Bye all, and good luck delise for the 12th.

You can't do that!!! Think of the dangers of those high capacity aircraft sharing the same airspace as all of those un-controlled trainers.
They will be in danger of crashing into Jumbo A380s flying a "little more" than 500' above the Jandakot CTA.:ugh:

Sorry, just practicing my spiel for my job application with ASCOT and ARID :E

Bloody funny IJ, you must be home for a stretch, I have been meaning to ask,are you green again or just in it for the money?.

Sounds like you the job down pat IJ.

Get your application in right away, don't forget to add your other relevant qualifications.
Good at keeping head down, can dig deep bunkers, oh and I can shoot.

I should mention that, the dash rumour came with the statment that the operator in question could not get a pavement concession, so it was never going to happen anyway.

g'day Richo. Check PMs

Spoke to a friend yesterday who assures me that the C441 fleet is having brand new GNS430 GPS units fitted very soon.

RTG, the Cheyenne is operated by Ad-Astral and I think the bulk of its work is from being x-hired by other companies (crewed of course). As for the Metros, they fly on a contract to Southern Cross and back. So depending on what time you usually visit Perth, it could appear that they don't fly much :E

Are you sure its operated by Ad-Astral that Cheyenne? Those metros fly with CAS (or incomplete aviation services) :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

They do have a mining contract out over in southern cross

Skystar

I thought the Cheyenne was owned by BM but operated by Ad-Astral like the 1900 is :confused: :confused:

The Metros are indeed operated by CAS. My previous post did not reflect that very well :E.

Mono

BM I would like to ask what is that?

Both 1900 and C90 are fact leased from awesome aviation in perth......

Ad-Astral has a twin 310 from memory for student training?

Not 'WHAT' Skystar320 but rather 'WHOM', and i'm not about to splash his name around in here :ugh: .

I could be wrong. I thought the Cheyenne and the B1900s were operated by Ad-Astral. I never said owned by ad-astral :ugh: :ugh:

Mono

About time. Well done.

Don't 310s have three engines??:}

There are only the three Conquests left and somedays they are GPSRNAV approved and others they are not. Is this more to do with pilot endorsements? It would be interesting to know the reason for this.

10 departures between 5.30am and 6.00am this morning, over 50 in total, the airspace is overloaded with no relief in sight. All ATC's do their best but the situation is getting dangerous, not sure what the solution is though.