Qantas quits Dubai

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Roderick Smith
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Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Roderick Smith »

Hooray. A horrible place, and forcing Qantas not to serve Pork on London flights.

Roderick.

August 31 2017 Goodbye to Dubai: Qantas shifts London stopovers to Singapore.
Qantas is dropping Dubai from its network and will instead have its Europe-bound aircraft stop over in Singapore, in a major shake-up that repositions it towards the booming Asian market.
The airline said on Thursday it would reroute its daily Sydney - London A380 service to fly via Singapore instead of Dubai from March 2018. That service will replace one of its two daily Sydney - Singapore A330 flights.
More videos 'Antidote to the tyranny of distance'
Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce puts a challenge to Airbus and Boeing to deliver an aircraft that can take passengers non-stop from Sydney to London by 2022.
Qantas had already announced its Melbourne - London service will fly non-stop to Europe out of Perth on its new Dreamliners starting in March, meaning the airline will not have any flights to Dubai.
Flights to Singapore from Melbourne are also being ramped up as part of the overhaul, with Qantas' daily service upgraded from a 235-seat A330 to a 484-seat A380 and its thrice weekly A330 service increased to a daily service.
Qantas shares profit bounty with frontline staff
Qantas Dreamliners to be based in Brisbane under new deal
Melbourne passengers will have the option to transfer in Singapore onto a flight to London as an alternative to the 17-hour leg out of Perth.
Qantas codeshare partner Emirates will continue to fly 77 weekly services to its base in Dubai, connecting to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which passengers will be able to book through Qantas.
The two airlines said on Thursday they would apply to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for a five-year extension to their alliance deal.
Qantas said it no longer needed to fly its own aircraft to Dubai as most of its passengers flew only to London and passengers flying elsewhere in Europe already flew their entire journey on Emirates.
Qantas has dropped Dubai from its network. Photo: Bloomberg
"That means we can redirect some of our A380 flying into Singapore and meet the strong demand we're seeing in Asia," chief executive Alan Joyce said.
Australia's biggest airline last said last week it was looking to do away with stop-overs en route to London all together, and had challenged manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to produce aircraft it could fly non-stop to the UK by 2022.
Qantas said the changes announced on Thursday would deliver it net benefits of more than $80 million a year from 2019.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/aviat ... y7opr.html
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rogf24
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by rogf24 »

The London-Melbourne flights now go via Perth. Perth probably going to suck compared to Dubai. Changi for Sydney passengers will be better than Dubai though. I don't think Dubai forced Qantas to drop pork off the menu, it was their own decision when they switched to Dubai. They probably wanted to localise, although you could argue the only localisation Qantas should do is Australian localisation but I don't really care. I just want to go from one airport to the other airport fed.
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by GeoffreyHansen »

Part of me thinks this is a winding down of the partnership although I wish Qantas would still have connecting flights to other European centres themselves. Maybe they should have arranged for an A330 to go to Dubai.

I haven't been to Dubai but I get the feeling that Southeast Asia would be a more interesting stopover point although it's having direct flights from Perth to London.
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by simonl »

Wasn't a lot of money spent on reorienting the network around the Emirates partnership? I never understood how it would work. They are apparently making a lot of money now. Perhaps that is in spite of the Emirates link up rather than because of it.

I expected the PER-LHR flights would be additional flights! Wow, a lot less seats to London on QF metal than 10 years ago.
Roderick Smith
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Re: Qantas aims for nonstop.

Post by Roderick Smith »

Qantas could be ditching their international layovers sooner than you think . Sep 6 2017 .
Qantas could be scratching their layovers for longhaul flights. Photo: Shutterstock .
Are you ready to spend upwards of 20 hours sitting on a flight to London?
That's the new world order of non-stop flights that Qantas hopes will take wing in just five years' time.
Geared at time-pressured business travellers as well as holidaymakers who want to maximise their time on the ground, these direct flights will skip those stopovers in Dubai or Singapore to spend almost a full day getting you from A to B.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce believes that the technology capable of making these non-stop flights will be available by 2022. Photo: Brendon Thorne .
Qantas expects the flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to London will shave almost four hours off the time taken by such stopovers, with a shorter 18 hours non-stop to New York trimming the transit tally at LAX by three hours.
Direct flights to Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town are also mooted.
Pushing the limits in every way. They'll push the limits of technology – Airbus and Boeing have yet to design the jets capable of such long-legged trips, although Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says that both companies "believe they can create an aircraft by 2022 that will get that range."
Those flights will also push the limits of endurance, even if you're sitting in business class.
Let's take today's Qantas Business Suite, as seen on the airline's Airbus A330 jets and from later this year the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as the benchmark.
From comfort to cocoon. The well-appointed seat is wide, comfortable and converts into a lie-flat bed. There's ample space around the seat for your laptop or tablet, books or magazines, plus a big-screen telly picked with videos including boxed-set TV shows.
Easily among the world's best business class seats, it has just about everything you could want to while away those many hours.
But how long does it get to reach the point where even the best seat becomes a confining cocoon? Even in a spacious first class suite such as Etihad's Airbus A380 Apartments, there's got to be a point at which you start to go a bit stir-crazy.
A chance to get social. That said, the inclusion of a social space where you can stretch your legs, change your surroundings and break up the journey – a lounge or bar – becomes a welcome respite from spending so many hours in that same seat.
I've enjoyed slabs of time spend relaxing in the sky-high business class bars of the A380s from Qatar (my favourite), Etihad and Emirates, as well as Virgin Australia's Boeing 777 jets to Los Angeles. It's quite astounding how a few hours chatting with fellow travellers over a drink can help time pass so quickly.
Even so: 20 hours to London? That's one long trip, and it's got me in two minds.
The thrill of experience. I enjoy the current stopover in Dubai, although if you have access to the superb first class lounge of partner Emirates that stopover is admittedly too brief and feels too rushed. However, I was among the first to cheer Qantas' return to Singapore as the hub for its London flights from March next year.
Non-stop to New York, for me, is a simpler proposition. Having to transit at LAX remains a right pain, primarily due to need to retrieve and re-check your luggage as well as sometimes change terminals depending on who your onwards flight is with.
My preference for travelling to New York these days is not Qantas but Cathay Pacific, because I can fly from Sydney to Hong Kong and then straight through to Gotham.
My checked luggage goes straight through from Sydney to New York, and if I've got to have a stop-over I'd rather it be in Hong Kong with its excellent business class and first class lounges and even the opportunity to break my journey for a day or two.
Few people spend more time on planes, in lounges or mulling over the best ways to use frequent flyer points than David Flynn, the editor of Australian Business Traveller magazine. His unparalleled knowledge of all aspects of business travel connects strongly with the interests of Executive Style readers.
What's your current airline of choice for flights from Australia to London and New York, and are you ready to make the switch from stopovers to an 18-20 non-stop flight?
See Also:
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Virgin's new battle for business class .
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Maximise and minimise.
http://www.executivestyle.com.au/qantas ... ink-gybmfi
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Merc1107 »

Passed through Dubai twice, once on an outbound trip and then on a return trip with Emirates.

Can't really understand the fuss about Emirates or Dubai. While it wasn't a bad experience, both are completely overhyped. Service aboard was quite variable and the food, even by economy standards, pretty lacklustre.

Visited the USA some years ago now. I was headed to Texas, but despite trying to book three months in advance, the QF system didn't want to offer me the direct flight to Dallas/Fort-Worth. In the end, I scrapped the idea and booked with Japan Airlines (which landed me a flight to Sydney on QF, to Narita on JAL, then a Transpacific flight with American Airlines) as they worked out about $300 cheaper than QF for the whole journey.
Admittedly, this was the long way, but service aboard JAL was exceptional (if a bit quirky), and even American had friendly, experienced crew, and most of all, plenty of food and snacks for economy passengers.

Would I transit in the Middle East again? No. For Perth to London, it simply means you have the longer flight first as opposed to last. For lesser destinations on either end, it may mean an extra stop, a long wait or otherwise.

And would I use a Qantas non-stop service from Australia? You'd have to PAY me to sit in Qantas economy for that sort of time. I'd be hoping for a lot more than 31.5" of pitch, that's for sure.
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Re: Long-haul international

Post by Roderick Smith »

Roderick

September 9 2017 Fly longer, but the airport transfer is not departing just yet .
For all the hardships of long-distance travel, stopping mid-journey at an unfamiliar airport to change planes is generally accepted as one of the more trying.
So two pieces of news from Australia's largest airline created quite the stir among frequent flyers.
More videos 'Antidote to the tyranny of distance'.
Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce puts a challenge to Airbus and Boeing to deliver an aircraft that can take passengers non-stop from Sydney to London by 2022.
Firstly, Qantas will drop Dubai from its network early next year and reroute flights from Sydney to London to stop in Singapore instead.
And in the not too distant future the airline hopes it won't have to stop anywhere at all, with chief executive Alan Joyce outlining plans to fly non-stop from Australia's east-coast to London and New York by 2022.
In doing so he put Qantas at the pointy end of a trend that has the potential to upend global aviation, as a new generation of aircraft threatens the model which underpins how we travel.
To the point. The cornerstone of long-haul aviation for decades has been the "spoke and hub" model: gather all your passengers in a central point (like Sydney or London), put them on a large aeroplane like a Boeing 747 or an Airbus A380 and fly them to another well-connected hub (say Hong Kong or Los Angeles).
From there, passengers can board smaller planes to travel to their final destination.
This has been a boon for well-placed hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong - traditionally where flights from Australia to Europe stopped off to refuel.
Qantas' new 787 Dreamliner will fly the non-stop Perth to London route, but the airline wants planes that can go even further.
Airports in the Persian Gulf later emerged as a competitor through the late 1990s and 2000s, becoming popular stop-over points on flights between continents and driving the growth in their local airlines: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar.
"These major Asian hubs have really suffered from the gulf carriers," says Peter Harbison, executive chairman of the industry intelligence firm CAPA - Centre for Aviation.
Qantas will drop Dubai International Airport from its network from March 2018. Photo: EschCollection "Singapore Airlines has been languishing because of low-cost local short-haul entrants, but also because Emirates has been vacuuming away a lot of its transfer traffic."
Last week Qantas said it was altering its Sydney to London service to stop in Singapore instead of Dubai from March 2018.
New aircraft mean carriers can bypass stopover points. But hub carriers like Emirates have a cost advantage if fuel rises, experts say. Photo: AP Its Melbourne-Dubai-London flights were already set to be routed through Perth when it starts its non-stop London service in March, meaning Dubai will disappear from Qantas' network entirely.
Rico Merkert, an air transport expert and professor at the University of Sydney, said Qantas' decision was a blow for Dubai as competition between the hubs was fierce.
"A lot their economies are built around those airports," Merkert says.
"Yes they want you to connect there, but ideally they want you to spend a couple of days there. They're trying to grow their tourism, and both are very important trade hubs."
Qantas will maintain its code-sharing arrangement with Emirates under an extension of the deal that saw the "Kangaroo Route" move to the United Arab Emirates from Singapore five years ago, as it tried to stem the flow of cash hemorrhaging from its international arm.
Harbison suspects the Gulf carrier would have extracted its "pound of flesh" in exchange for Qantas dropping its home base. (The airlines wouldn't provide details).
Virgin Australia has meanwhile secured slots at the crowded Hong Kong airport, with plans to build on its daily flights to and from Melbourne and using it as a hub to tap into the lucrative Chinese market, with flights connecting to mainland China through its code-share partner Hong Kong Airlines.
Don't stop. But a new generation of jetliners that fly longer, use less fuel and carry fewer people are presenting an alternative to the hub model by making it possible - and economical - to fly non-stop between new city pairs.
United Airlines, for example, on Friday announced it would fly 787-9 Dreamliners between Sydney and Houston, a route not previously served, while Air Canada last week unveiled a year-round Melbourne to Vancouver service, also on Dreamliners. And Chinese carriers have added a slew of new non-stop services to Australia from cities like Hangzhou and Shenzhen.
Qantas will use 787-9s on its 17-hour non-stop route from Perth to London, starting in March next year, carrying just 236 passengers on the 14,498 kilometre journey - fewer than half the 484 seats on the A380s Qantas flies to London from Sydney.
And the airline has tasked airline manufactures with providing planes that can fly non-stop from Australia's east coast to destinations like London, New York, Paris, Cape Town, and Rio de Janeiro.
It should be easy enough for Boeing and Airbus' to make their latest aircraft (the 777X and the A350) go the distances Qantas wants by reducing their payloads (generally done by putting in fewer passengers), says Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy based in Virginia.
But he says the economics of long haul "point to point" travel will largely rest on the price of fuel.
"Very long haul aircraft are guilty of self tanking: you have to carry more fuel in order to carry the additional fuel that you're carrying, which weighs you down even more," he says.
"If fuel is $40 a barrel it's not all the important. If it's $70 or $80 it becomes ruinous."
Departure time?
Qantas expects to be able to squeeze a premium from time-hungry corporate travellers on its non-stop flights, and has geared its cabins to be heavy with business class seats.
"[But] that additional revenue better outweigh the additional cost of flying a plane that's stuffed to the gills with fuel," says Aboulafia.
Fuel is an airline's biggest single cost, and price fluctuations can wreak havoc on a carrier's balance sheet.
Qantas, for example, spent $3.03 billion on fuel in the 2017 financial year but $4.59 billion in 2014, when a barrel of oil was about twice the price it is today.
The $1.4 billion difference in fuel expenses is the same size as Qantas' entire underlying profit last year.
Aboulafia says that is where airlines like Emirates have an advantage with their central stopover and refuelling points - they won't need to carry as much fuel at any one time, creating savings they can pass on to passengers.
Merkert agrees that flying through stop-over hubs will remain the best option for cost-conscious Australian travellers, particularly holidaymakers.
"Although Emirates is not a low-cost carrier, if they can fill those A380s on the trunk route every day, then they are fairly low cost and they can use that cost advantage in terms offering customers lower [fares]," he says.
Harbison says the hub airport operators aren't facing an existential threat just yet. There aren't enough of the long-haulers around yet, he says, and new point-to-point routes create more passengers and don't necessarily steal them from existing routes.
"But give it five years, and it'll be a different equation."
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http://www.theage.com.au/business/aviat ... ydd51.html
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Roderick Smith
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Re: Qantas B787s

Post by Roderick Smith »

Roderick.

October 27 2017 Dreamliners need to prove their worth before Qantas orders more .
Qantas chief Alan Joyce says the airline will need to see further improvement in its international business before it can justify ordering more Boeing Dreamliners.
The first of eight 787-9 Dreamliners it has on order landed in Australia earlier this month, but Mr Joyce on Friday said shareholders expected the "game-changing" aircraft to prove their worth.
More videos Timelapse: Watch Qantas' first Dreamliner get built See the 15-day build time on Qantas' first Boeing 787 Dreamliner compressed into just two minutes. Video: Boeing His comments came Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford on Friday defended his chief executive's bumper $25 million pay packet in 2017, which was bolstered by shares Mr Joyce was issued three years ago and which vested after his successful execution of the airline's $2 billion turnaround plan.
"It was the quadrupling of the share price that determined the full amount – now I think that's an excellent outcome for the shareholders," Mr Clifford said.
The company's remuneration reported was voted up by an overwhelming majority, as was the election of Wesfarmers' outgoing CEO and AFL chairman Richard Goyder to the airline's board.
Qantas has purchase rights and options on 45 more Dreamliners, which will come up over the next three years.
The light-weight, long-haul aircraft will initially serve the Melbourne-Los Angeles, and new non-stop Perth-London routes, and allow Qantas to retire five of its ageing 747-400s.
International remains one of the toughest areas of Qantas' business, even as the group's financial fortunes have recovered in recent years.
CEO Alan Joyce said while international competition would heat up in the second half of this financial year, he expected a "significant" improvement in the business in 2019. Photo: AAP .
International delivered a $327 million underlying profit last financial year - an improvement from a $497 million loss in 2014, but still less than the airlines' domestic operations, its low-cost carrier Jetstar and loyalty businesses.
Mr Joyce said while international competition would heat up in the second half of this financial year, he expected a "significant" improvement in the business in 2019.
Qantas has purchase rights and options on 45 more Dreamliners, which will come up over the next three years. Photo: Brent Winstone .
"That then gives us the permission to invest more capital into those aircraft and grow the network," he told investors at the airline's annual general meeting in Melbourne on Friday.
"We have a commitment to making sure we do pace our capital expenditure, and for us, that capital expenditure has to fit in to the returns the business is making.
"All things being equal, if we continue this fantastic performance … we will be able to afford more 787s, more replacement of our domestic fleet and aircraft."
Mr Joyce said Qantas had been talking to Boeing about its mooted twin-aisle "middle of the market" aircraft as a replacement for Qantas' workhorse 737 domestic jets.
However, he said replacing its domestic fleet would not happen until the completion of Project Sunrise, its plan to fly non-stop from Australia's east coast to New York or London, which is not expected until 2022.
On Thursday, Qantas revealed its revenue had risen 5.1 per cent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, but warned fuel costs and international competition would crimp earnings growth in the second half.
Despite this, UBS analyst Simon Mitchell said Qantas was on track to deliver its highest profit before tax of $1.55 billion, up from $1.4 billion last year and its record $1.53 billion in 2016.
Qantas' shares fell 5.5 per cent on Friday to close at $5.96 following its warnings of a softer second half. The stock has more than doubled in value over the past year.
Related Articles:
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http://www.theage.com.au/business/aviat ... z9c9v.html
flaneur
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by flaneur »

been to Europe in both directions. The are two problems with both routes. To Dubai - long trip with 3-5 hr layover and then 4 hr trip to Europe but has the advantage of numerous flights to Europe. Returning via Singapore, long flight then 3 hr layover before heading to Australia. If planes go straight to London journey might be shorter in time but if continuing to European country direct other than Chunnel Train, journey will be more expensive due to higher UK airport costs for airlines
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1whoknows
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by 1whoknows »

Personally I prefer the middle east transits.

Leaving Melb at 9-10pm and getting there at dawn their time has given a reasonably normal sleep time followed by the opportunity for a shower in the lounge. This leaves you quite refreshed for an 8-9am departure for Europe arriving at lunchtime or early afternoon. Makes it almost two normal days which minimises jet lag.

I went via Singapore this year which was less enjoyable - though no complaints about Singapore Airlines as seats, service and food were all fab.

But leaving Melb mid afternoon required a 4.5 hour layover in SIN. A later option was available with a 90 min transit but that left absolutely no margin for error. So by the time i boarded the flight to Zurich and got up in the air it was about 6am Melb time before sleep was possible. The flight arrived at 8.30am Zurich time and by the end of the day and several train trips with suitcase in tow (including a side trip up to Vallorbe and back) I was buggered by the time I got to Lausanne.

Likewise on the way back you get to SIN at 5.50am which again makes for a very long day.

I imagine the Qantas Perth- London will have similar issues. I'm told the flight out of Melb is around 3pm with 90 minutes on the ground in Perth giving a 5am arrival at LHR. probably bad enough in business but Id really hate to be doing it back in economy.
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Tim Williams
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Tim Williams »

I agree with the comments Dubai is very handy being almost half way between Adelaide and New York - it is also a great stop over if you have the time, a great transport system there (including double deck Neoplans, I think) I have travelled to New York twice with Emirates and their lounge at Dubai is huge and well equipped, also travelling to Manchester with Emirates is great.
Qantas fly only domestically from Adelaide, which is a great pity and difficult to understand as Emirates, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Malaysian, Air New Zealand and more recently one of the large Chinese Airlines all fly either daily or several times per week with large airliners and apparantly getting very good loads.

Interestingly, there was a strong rumour going round that if Qatar had not commenced their service (I believe soon to be daily, with their A350's) to Doha, Emirates were going to upgrade their daily service to Dubai from 777-300's to A380's!
Their A380's are magnificent to travel in, particularly if you are fortunate enough to travel Business Class as their is a wonderful cocktailbar/lounge at the rear on the upper floor, which does really become the social focal point of the aircraft on those long runs.
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Tim Williams »

Actually, I have missed out a couple of other airlines that fly to international destinations from Adelaide - they are Fiji Airlines and Jetstar - Tiger used to fly to a couple of international ports but they have now ceased over regulatory problems with the Indonesian authorities. The Chinese Airline that flies to Adelaide is China Southern
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by simonl »

Re: Adelaide

All of those other airlines are based elsewhere (assuming Jetstar is Jetstar Asia (3K), not JQ). It's much easier to fly from your base to Adelaide than to position to Adelaide and then fly somewhere else. Qantas have no crew based in Adelaide last I heard (could have changed but I'd be surprised). Also, there are no wide body flights to Adelaide domestically I believe. At one time there was a flight, QF81/82 which was SYD-ADL-SIN A330 3 times a week but no more. Unless you're flying to somewhere that a 737 can reach, you need 4 legs.

So it isn't at all surprising that Adelaide isn't well served by Qantas International.
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by VivalaBuses »

Another point is that all the foreign carriers are able to connect Adelaide passengers to other destinations in their network or v.v. (Emirates/Qatar to Europe, Singapore/Cathay/Malaysian/China Southern to Asia/Europe, Fiji/AirNZ to the Americas etc) and not just rely on point-to-point demand solely. Some also have a very large home population to draw passengers from. Neither of these luxuries are available to Qantas. This is reflected by the fact that Denpasar is the only destination which has enough point-to-point demand from Adelaide for Qantas Group to operate profitably on, and still needs to be operated by Jetstar (JQ, for simonl's reference) for its lower cost base to achieve this profitability!
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Tim Williams »

Firstly, just a quick couple of points:
1. Jetstar does base 3 A320's in Adelaide and has a crew base - The planes must be cycled and exchanged through Melbourne (?) for maintenance etc.
2. The other domestic carriers have Adelaide based crews.

I recently flew to Singapore by Jetstar 787 from Melbourne - the cabin crew were Singapore based, both directions - same when I travelled in Feb - I met the flight crew and they were locals.
QF81 and 82 were obviously operated by Sydney based crews - although the service was well patronised from Adelaide, Qantas must be able to operate it more efficiently from Sydney to Singapore directly.

There is a strong feeling in other ports as well as Adelaide that Qantas want as many of us locals to hub in Sydney as possible - operational efficiencies again. But travellers will resist transfers if possible, so from Adelaide the direct services to the USA and Europe with just one stop, with the carriers mentioned above, are very popular
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by boronia »

Tim Williams wrote: QF81 and 82 were obviously operated by Sydney based crews - although the service was well patronised from Adelaide, Qantas must be able to operate it more efficiently from Sydney to Singapore directly.
I've done SYD-ADL-SIN on QF81/82 a couple of times. On both occasions the fare was considerably cheaper than direct flights. The loadings out of Sydney were quite good, although I suspect there might have been some domestic SYD-ADL only pax on board.
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Tim Williams
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by Tim Williams »

I travelled on QF 81 and 82 ADL-SIN-ADL in its last week of operation through Adelaide and check in and cabin crew were very sad the routeing through Adelaide was ending and for them it made no sense as the support from Adelaide was good through good loadings.

My understanding is that with the service travelling via Adelaide the arrival time in Singapore did not permit good connections through to Europe etc. and the same with the return run.

Some of the more knowledgeable aviation experts on other sites have suggested that some sort of a reinstatement of ADL-SIN could occur with the coming of the 787 to the main Qantas fleet.
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Re: More long-haul international from AU

Post by Roderick Smith »

This will be useful for Australians, as it is the cheapest route to central America and northern South America. I flew Melbourne - Los Angeles - Houston - Panama City in 2017, but returning was Quito - Los Angeles - Melbourne.
Roderick.

Jan 18 2018 United Airlines' direct flights from Sydney to Houston take off.
The inaugural flight, UA 101, departs Houston at 8pm local timeon 18 January and arrives in Sydney on Saturday January 20 at 6.30am, taking 17.5 hours to cover the 13,850-kilometre flight.
It will be the world's fourth longest flight route and the longest route every flown by a US airline.
The new Sydney-Houston non-stop flight will be the fourth longest route in the world.
The flight back from Sydney will depart on Saturday, January 20 at 11.50am, arriving in Houston at 10.35am am the same day.
The route will be serviced by the airline's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
To celebrate the new route, United launched a nationwide search to find Australians bearing the name Houston (as either a first or last name) to travel on the first flight from Sydney.
Five Houstons and their guests will be flying to the city on United's inaugural return flight to Houston to experience its "Southern-style hospitality, Texan BBQ, cowboys and cowgirls, and the NASA space station".
In a reciprocal arrangement, five US residents named Sydney will get to experience Australian hospitality courtesy of United, flying on the first Dreamliner from Houston to Australia.
United's second "ultra-long haul" flight – the first flying direct from Los Angeles to Singapore – will be the only non-stop service between Australia and Houston. They also operate services from Sydney to its west coast hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and from Melbourne to Los Angeles.
Qantas currently operates a non-stop route to Texas from Australia; the Dallas to Sydney route, which covers a distance of 13,804 kilometres and was the longest route in the world until last year when it was surpassed by new non-stop Middle-Eastern flights to New Zealand.
"We are looking forward to visiting Sydney and welcoming our Australian visitors with open arms to Texas," said Houston mayor Sylvester Turner.
Scott Kirby, president of United Airlines said: "This new route will serve more than 70 cities across North America making the one-stop service to Sydney faster and more convenient than ever before."
Passengers will be able to take advantage of United's Polaris business class seats, which include 48 lie-flat beds. The Dreamliner service also includes 63 Economy Plus seats, which offer additional leg room and increased personal space, and 141 Economy seats.
From Houston, United offers nearly 500 daily flights to more than 170 destinations around the world. Of particular interest to Australian travellers, Houston serves as United's gateway to Latin America, flying into 51 destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean non-stop.
The Houston hub has recently seen an injection of $US277 million ($343 million), with roomier gate areas, the latest technology and chef-inspired dining experiences.
The world's longest flight routes (by distance):
1.Doha-Auckland, Qatar Airways, 14,500 km.
2.Dubai-Auckland, Emirates, 14,200 km.
3.Los Angeles-Singapore, United Airlines, 14 100 km.
4.Sydney-Houston, United Airlines, 13,900 km.
5.Sydney-Dallas, Qantas, 13,800 km.
http://www.traveller.com.au/united-airl ... off-h0jlui
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eddy
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by eddy »

After reading the above comments I think people would be prepared to pay a bit more to get there faster on the Sonic cruiser at 3 minutes in this video if one was built.http://www.milestothewild.com/compariso ... oeing-787/
Parrahub, an extra option in the public transport menu http://www.parrahub.org.au/
lunchbox
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by lunchbox »

The A380 lives on....
Emirates has announced a deal for up to 36 Airbus A380 aircraft worth as much as $US16 billion. It will postpone, for at least a decade, what was the imminent closure of the A380 production line.
simonl
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by simonl »

How do you get the "at least a decade"? 36 A380s should only take 2-3 years to build.
matthewg
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by matthewg »

simonl wrote:How do you get the "at least a decade"? 36 A380s should only take 2-3 years to build.
This is deliberate on Airbus's part to keep the factory ticking over. If they built the Emirates A380's at full production rate, in 2-3 years the line has to be mothballed and any further A380 sales would be almost impossible due to re-activation costs of the line.
By 'dragging' it out over 10 years, they have the possibility that they MAY be able to sell some more A380's to other customers over that time. Gives them 10 years in which to make sales instead of just 2-3.

I guess they are desperately hoping that the airlines will move back to the hub and spoke operations model that the A380 was designed for before they have to close the production line.
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VivalaBuses
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by VivalaBuses »

They are reducing production rate to 6/year, combined with existing outstanding orders this will drag out the line for a decade.
Time for a new signature!
simonl
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by simonl »

I think that hope of new orders is a bit distant unless they offer a mega stretch version, which they don't appear to be about to do.
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boronia
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Re: Qantas quits Dubai

Post by boronia »

SQ has already started withdrawing some of theirs from service.
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