Quote:
Originally Posted by Max C
Paul, not a better service, but a cheaper one. Price was the primary objective in awarding the TMR contracts. Having spare capacity to deploy to the Gulf means nothing in regards to the TMR contracts as they are separate services.
Whether the Saab is a better suited aircraft than the Dash will remain to be seen but without an APU, it'll be interesting to see how they cope with the use of ground cooling equipment.
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Why does this keep coming up? The F27 operated these routes for 30 odd years without an APU. APU equipped aircraft (Skytrans Dash-8's) were only on the routes for 5 years and where an overkill. The Dash-8 was far to big for the routes, if there was money to be made operating Dash-8's then Qantaslink would have tendered for the routes.
As I said earlier these routes are similar to the EAS routes in the USA and they are all serviced by 19 seat or less aircraft. For a 30 seat aircraft you can't go past the Saab, it's fuel burn is around 100 kg ore hour less than the Dash 8, it's a lighter aircraft and due to this, it falls into the pilot pay group below the Dash 8. But it's still to big for 80% of the routes it will be flying in QLD and my guess is next time round they (REX) will ask for more money or offer up the B1900D currently used by the subsidiary Airlink.
In other news, WestWing Aviation has stepped up to fill the void in North QLD;
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/quee...04-12hpkk.html
These guys have the correct mix of aircraft (6-19 seat) to actually service these communities.