QANTAS Fleet and Operations

[James Smith]

VH-OQC is located at VCV, Mark. Is the A380 relocating to LAX for the gear swing and then heading to DRS or is the work in LAX for one of the two resident A380s there - OQB & OQD?

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by James Smith

VH-OQC is located at VCV, Mark. Is the A380 relocating to LAX for the gear swing and then heading to DRS or is the work in LAX for one of the two resident A380s there - OQB & OQD?

Go to LAX then Dresden

[James Smith]

QANTAS A380 VH-OQC hasn't moved from VCV for maintenance as yet.

A332 VH-EBF returned to service on 15/5/21 when it operated QF649 from SYD to PER. This was the aircraft's first revenue service since 23/3/20. This leaves half (9) of the QANTAS fleet of A332s in service and half (9) still in storage - 7 located in SYD and 2 in BNE. The stored aircraft in SYD are now located either on the Kilo bays, adjacent to taxiway Juliet or near the pond with runway 07/25 recently cleared of stored aircraft in time for the brutal winter westerly winds.

[Greg Hyde]

VQC ferried to LAX as QF6011 on 20/05/

It will then ferry to Europe for a full maintenance check

[Adam W]

Originally Posted by Greg Hyde

VQC ferried to LAX as QF6011 on 20/05/

Do you mean OQC? VQC is currently operating AKL-WLG.

[Greg Hyde]

Yes Adam OQC from VCV to LAX

[MarkR]

Qantas customers can now book seven new domestic routes and travel on more widebody aircraft between major capital cities to help meet strong demand for domestic travel across Australia.
The new routes – Townsville to Adelaide/Melbourne/Sydney, Adelaide to Cairns/Hobart, Sydney-Uluru and Perth-Gold Coast – provide direct connections and reduce travel time for customers. They bring the total number of routes Qantas and Jetstar have added since the start of the pandemic to 45.
Five of the routes will be operated by Embraer E190 regional jets as part of QantasLink’s partnership with Alliance Airlines. The first Qantas flights operated by the 94-seat E190s took off today between Adelaide, Darwin and Alice Springs.
Customers will also see more widebody aircraft with Business Suites on flights between the East Coast capital cities into Perth and Darwin.
Usually used for long haul international flights including Perth-London, the 236-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will begin operating up to nine Sydney to Perth flights per week.
Widebody Qantas Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which serviced international routes into Asia, will operate on more flights into Darwin from Sydney and Brisbane, and also into Perth from Sydney and Melbourne. These will be added to the A330s already flying on east-west routes.
The additional flying will see Qantas’ capacity exceed 100 per cent of pre-COVID levels in the coming months and the Group’s market share around 70 per cent.
Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said the new routes would support the growing demand for domestic tourism.
“As most international travel remains off limits for now, Australians are taking more regular holidays within the country and we expect these new direct flights to key tourism destinations will be popular with travellers,” said Mr David.
“Our customers now have 45 more routes to fly than we had pre-COVID making it even easier for them to get to their next holiday or business meeting. Previously, travelling between these cities meant a connecting flight in the middle, but now they can fly direct and save at least an hour in the process.
“Our strategy of adding new domestic routes is generating revenue from our aircraft rather than leaving them on the ground. It means more work for our people and even more low fares for our customers.
“We know how popular the 787s and A330s are with our customers on our international network and we think there will be huge demand for the domestic flights these aircraft operate on, particularly frequent flyers looking to use points.
“Qantas is also the only airline in Australia operating these widebody aircraft which offer Business Suites and inflight entertainment for all customers.
“People know exactly what to expect when they book with Qantas, whether its complimentary food and drinks, baggage or access to 33 lounges around Australia.”

[James Smith]

To support today's QANTAS media release advising that more A332s are to be operating east-west routes, VH-EBS operated two test flights last Saturday, positioned to MEL yesterday and returned to service this evening operating QF779 from MEL to PER.

This leaves ten of the QANTAS fleet of A332s in service and eight still in storage, six located in SYD and two in BNE.

[Gary Smith8]

Given the impending introduction of the E190 into QLink, could they not consider an Adelaide - Launceston route in addition to Hobart? Doesn't have to be daily.

[James Smith]

QANTAS B738 VH-VXR flew a 28 minute test flight from BNE as QF6102 on 18/5/21 and returned to service the same day operating QF541 from BNE to SYD.

This leaves only B738s VH-VXH and VXS to return to service, although Flightaware showed VXH was to operate QF536 from SYD to BNE on 24/5/21 but the flight was cancelled.