Thousands Airline Passengers Failed to Fly As Qantas Airlines Workers Continue Strike

At least eight flights and some 1,300 passengers have been affected by another workers’ strike at Australian air carrier Qantas, the second this week.

In report by the Australian Business Traveller, the following flights were affected:

* QF449 Sydney-Melbourne: cancelled
* QF462 Melbourne-Sydney: cancelled
* QF627 Brisbane: Melbourne: 55 minutes delay
* QF634 Melbourne-Brisbane: 50 minutes delay
* QF453 Sydney-Melbourne: 10 minutes delay
* QF481 Melbourne-Perth: 45 minutes delay
* QF455 Sydney-Melbourne: 10 minutes delay
* QF466 Melbourne-Sydney: 10 minutes delay

Members of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) are currently holding a one-hour work stoppage in Melbourne on Friday.

The workers are striking over pay and claims, alleging Qantas management is trying to move Australian jobs elsewhere.

Qantas engineers have been holding work stoppages for some time.

Earlier this week some 4,000 ground crewmembers staged a strike.

At least 6,000 passengers were affected after more than 50 schedule changes and 28 cancellations were made by Qantas management.

Qantas and British Airways Increase Flight Services on Joint Services Agreement

Australia’s Qantas announced on Tuesday plans of enhancing Joint Services Agreement (JSA) with British Airways. Enhancements will strengthen their Singapore hub and offer better services on flights between London Heathrow and Australia.

Qantas and British Airways are set to develop their long-running Joint Services Agreement (JSA). The two airlines aim to strengthen their Singapore hub and offer better products and services to passengers booking flights between London Heathrow and Australia. The move is seen as a part of the Qantas Group’s plan to create a competitive global airline business.

Qantas will maintain its Airbus A380 operations from Melbourne and Sydney to London via Singapore. The carrier also proposes to construct a new premium lounge at Singapore’s Changi International Airport. On the other hand, UK’s flag carrier, British Airways will upgrade its London to Sydney (via Singapore) operations from a Boeing 777 to Boeing 747.

These developments will consolidate Singapore’s standing as the principal hub in the relationship, reinforcing the two airlines’ competitive position in the Asia-Pacific region. Both airlines are known to be premier carriers. Cheap flight tickets may not be their forte, but the carriers still enjoy popularity among travellers for offering quality on-board services.

Under the updated Joint Services Agreement, Qantas will offer flights on Australia – Bangkok and Australia – Hong Kong routes, while British Airways will provide services on Bangkok – London and Hong Kong – London routes. This move is aimed at maximising the carrier’s respective operational strengths and will come into effect from 2012 beginning. BA also plans to augment the frequency of London – Hong Kong flights from 14 per week to 17 per week.

Australia’s Qantas will discontinue its Bangkok – London and Hong Kong – London routes and BA will terminate Bangkok-Sydney operations in favour of Qantas operating flights on the route. This will ease early retirement of Qantas’ four Boeing 747 aircrafts.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce remarked that the time was right to restructure the JSA between British and Qantas Airways.

“Strengthening our relationship with British Airways is an important element of our new strategy for Qantas International,” Mr Joyce said in the company’s press release that was posted on the website on Tuesday.

“Singapore will become the focal point of the JSA relationship, with daily Qantas A380 services from Melbourne and Sydney and onward to London, increased British Airways capacity and a new premium lounge.

“The new approach is a smarter use of both airlines’ resources that will enhance our competitive position in Asia and in the Australia – Europe market.

“Regardless of which airline is operating flights between Australia and the United Kingdom, we are focused on delivering a smooth and enjoyable flying experience for passengers. Restructuring the JSA will put us on the front foot in the fiercely competitive Australia – UK air travel market,” Mr Joyce further elaborated.

Qantas Announces New Lounges and Fleet Upgrades

Qantas also announced that it is going to invest almost $400 million in new international lounges, in-flight entertainment and aircraft refurbishment to enhance travellers’ experience.

“Qantas will construct a new First Lounge and Business Lounge in Los Angeles, three times the size of the current space, as well as new First Lounges in Singapore and Hong Kong,” Mr Alan Joyce was quoted in the company’s press release.

Mr Joyce stated that the introduction of the A380 in 2008 brought new levels of customer satisfaction and now the airline aims to make sure that consistent superiority is maintained across the fleet and lounge network.

“In February last year, Qantas announced a $250 million upgrade for nine Boeing 747-400s to meet the changing demands of the airline’s international customers. The first reconfigured B747 will commence services between Brisbane and Los Angeles in October, operating three return services per week,” he said.

The Qantas Group additionally launched a new low-cost airline, Jetstar Japan, in partnership with Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi. The airline is aimed at Japanese market and will serve travellers who seek cheap flight tickets.

American Airlines Considering Flights to Australian Aviation Market

Frequent travellers to the USA will be interested to hear what American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey has to say about his airline’s thoughts on the Australian market, including possible plans to fly to Australia, and updating the AA fleet.

Arpey, speaking to Executive Road Warrior, let slip several important pieces of information for Australian business travellers.

It’s fairly clear to industry observers that Boeing has given American some cheap deals on 777s to make up for the delays to the 787 Dreamliner program.

American dropped some serious hints that American has aspirations for the very lucrative trans-Pacific route in the interview, saying: “we did just apply for the Joint Business Agreement with Qantas and they started flying into and out of DFW, which is great for both of us. We may want to put our ducks in Australia with the Qantas guys, but [the 777-300ER] certainly could do that route.”

When talking about delivery dates for the 777-300ER, American spokesman Tim Smith was very clear about the timeline: “All 8 are set for 2012 and 2013.”

And there could be more to come: “We still have seven 777-200 deliveries for 2013 through 2016 that are on the books. Now, whether those might be changed to 300s, I don’t know,” Smith hedged.

American could even be planning a Qantas-busting new first class product on flights to Australia. When asked about whether the existing American Flagship Suite first class seat will be put on the 777-300ER, American said: “We haven’t decided for sure how we’re going to configure that [aircraft].”

Since Qantas has eschewed the 777-300ER and is using its 747-400ER planes — which have diverted twice to refuel just this week — instead, is American losing patience with Qantas’ trans-Pacific problems?
New aircraft: what does it mean for Australian connections?

Australians will be affected by the aircraft purchase as older planes are replaced with newer ones. The first set to go is clearly the old McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 fleet, which are ancient in aircraft terms.

But American’s Tim Smith also mentions retiring the Boeing 767-200 domestic fleet. Those are the planes that American flies between New York JFK and Los Angeles or San Francisco with better seats and service as part of its “Flagship” transcontinental service.

American clearly hasn’t made its mind up on the planes that will replace the 767-200s.

“We’re not saying that we’re going to fly a bunch of 737s or Airbus A321s on the transcons. We’re just saying it opens some new possibilities for those aircraft,” Smith says, cagily, especially when probed on whether American’s much-delayed Boeing 787 fleet will be deployed on those flights.
Qantas: not on American’s radar?

An interesting aside from the interview is that American doesn’t seem to see the Red Roo as a key part of “the best network for premium traffic”, despite applying for a trans-Pacific joint venture with Qantas.

Arpey cited British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific as parts of that network, yet pointedly failed to list Qantas.

That’s an interesting omission, considering that Qantas is not only a founding member of oneworld but has been closely involved with American, especially in the high-profile shift of QF’s Sydney flights from San Francisco to American’s mega-hub in Dallas with the goal of feeding Qantas passengers into AA’s domestic US network.

The airlines’ membership of the oneworld alliance doesn’t necessarily signify a meeting of minds between the two airlines either. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and Qantas have famously not seen eye to eye in recent memory, with Qantas’ decision to skip Cathay’s Hong Kong base (the natural oneworld stopover location for Kangaroo Route flights to Europe) in favour of the existing Qantas-British Airways joint venture via Singapore.

Arpey could have some advice to offer Qantas CEO Alan Joyce with regards to Jetstar and its increasing role in the Qantas family — to the point where it seems that Jetstar could morph into “Qantas Lite”.

From the perspective of the US airline industry, low-cost carriers affiliated with legacy airlines just don’t work.

Delta Air Lines attempted a low-cost move with Song, moving 48 of its Boeing 757 planes into a subsidiary with a low-cost model to try to compete with new airlines like JetBlue. Song only lasted three years, from 2003 to 2006.

Similarly, United Airlines tried a low-cost subsidiary called Ted between 2004 and 2009. It failed, and its nearly 60 Airbus planes were folded back into the United fleet.

An earlier version of this story quoted AA CEO Gerard Arpey regarding American’s flights to Australia.

Qantas Airlines May Airfares as Rise Oil Prices Rates

Australia’s primary airways, Qantas Airlines, may hike its fare rates this month due to the consistent rise in oil rates. According to the Australian government, they have warned that there will be an additional price rise in the country, as the global rates continue to surge. Another point of worry is the carbon emissions taxes, since the Australian government may bring in a hike in prices in this department also.

The emission taxes are going to be most important base for the price rise and it will affect what the consumer will pay for their respective travel. As of 19th February, the passengers will need to pay an additional $20-$50 each way in the fare, and it will be on fuel surcharge.

While traveling on Qantas airlines, passengers will pay around $290 as fuel surcharge while commuting from Australia to Britain. The price has been hiked by almost AU$100. Passengers of flights heading from US, Canada, South America, South Africa and India will pay surcharge worth $230 to the Australian Government. These are the after effects of the 24% price rise in jet fuel which has taken place in the period of only four months.

Qantas Airlines to Increase Flight Service Los Angeles to New York, Non-stop Daily Flight Service

Qantas is bumping its LAX-NY connecting flight up to a daily service from 1 June 2011.

The Red Roo-liveried Airbus A330-200, which carries the same QF107/108 flight numbers as the primary feeder flights between Sydney and Los Angeles, currently runs just six flights per week from Los Angeles to New York’s JFK airport, skipping Tuesdays.

But it’s strictly for Qantas passengers connecting from Australia and New Zealand – no tickets are sold inside the US for this flight. Just as well, because Yanks may become quite jealous of the fitout on the A330: as one of Qantas’ international variants of the A330 it includes 36 Skybeds in business class.

They’re not the fully lie-flat horizontal beds – it’s a lie-almost-flat recline which tends to be better for extreme relaxing than serious snoozing. But that’s perfect for this last leg of your journey because it’s a day flight, and you should be trying to adjust to your destination time zone.

So in this stretch-out mode and with 60 inches of legroom (almost twice that of the A330’s economy cabin) it’s one of the best ways to spend the almost six hours shuttling from coast to coast and is a cut above almost anything on the US domestic market.

So while Qantas has plenty of codeshare flights from Los Angeles to New York with American Airlines, if you’re travelling in business class you may as well stick with Qantas all the way through.

Another reason is that Qantas runs this flight purely as a connection service for inbound LA flights from Sydney (QF107), Melbourne (QF93), Brisbane (QF15) and Auckland (QF25, which originates in Melbourne), so it’s more likely to be held over at LAX to accommodate late-arriving aircraft whereas a US domestic service would happily take off before your late flight touched down.

The exception to this is if you’re on QF11, which arrives too late into LAX for the QF107 connector.

Qantas Airlines Cuts Anger Travellers

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