Qantas selects Airbus over Boeing

[Pearly White]

Originally Posted by Willie Nelson

Apart from a bit of token hand wringing what are the odds that CASA doesn’t approve the operation.......discuss.

Nil. Zip. Nada.

[PJ2]

That the company wants crews to take less money AND introduce a B scale complicates things too. The industrial regulatory situation in Australia is skewed against unions, so the pilots have to take every opportunity to secure pay and conditions.

Many of us watched this kind of thinking & hiring unfold through the eighties & nineties. Many potential young pilots took a look and decided, "US$16,000/year for an F/O job?", and went elsewhere for careers and profession.

The MBAs will do what they will regardless of historical results, but now is not the time for airlines to restart planning for pilots-on-the-cheap.

[cxorcist]

Originally Posted by kiwi grey

I think this is the real significance.
If an order for the A350 goes ahead, it will rule out the B777 for future QANTAS twin-aisle fleet replacements: they'll surely buy some model of either the B787 or the A350, as these will already be in their fleet, rather than adding a third type.

Hmmm, pretty tough to replace aging 744s and eventually 380s with 35Ks. Therefore, it seems 779 is a certainty at some point. Waiting until proven at other carriers with all the bugs worked out is probably a prudent strategy. The 778 hasn’t even firmed its configuration yet, although I suspect this will be done around the freighter version.

The super ultra long haul market (SYD-LHR/JFK) is very small in global terms. I suspect it would be unwise to compromise the rest of the market by chasing the “Project Sunrise”. That said, 778 was supposed to be the greatest aircraft ever for this type of market. Boeing is obviously having problems with 777X as well as 737MAX. Brain drain??? Certainly no capacity for NMA at the moment.

[rubik101]

maybe still born and stillborn mean the opposite!