Skytrans Cease Operations

[Max C]

Better how? Looks to be the exact same timetable as per the contract.

No doubt you'll see Rex expand up North as the resources work in SEQ contracts. They have plenty of spare capacity to deploy.

The remaining work in the Gulf isn't commercially viable on its own and really needs to be under a similar scheme to the TMR work.

[Paul F]

Originally Posted by Max C

Better how? Looks to be the exact same timetable as per the contract.

No doubt you'll see Rex expand up North as the resources work in SEQ contracts. They have plenty of spare capacity to deploy.

You have just answered your own question

[Rowan McKeever]

Presumably Rex was cheaper due to economy of scale. I've never had any dealings with Skytrans so can't comment on what they were like but, from my experience with Rex, I can't imagine there was anything but price in this decision.

[Rob R]

Originally Posted by Mick F

As Rowan said.

The main crux of it all, is how the current QLD Government has been crapping on the entire time about how they're for supporting QLD jobs, yet they give a contract to a company who has next to nothing to do with QLD and let the QLD based company fall over as a result of losing such a big contract.

I have friends at Skytrans, so it's very sad to see it go like this.

Mick

REX, through it's subsidiary Pelair have been operating in QLD for years. Originally with Metro's and 1 E120 freighter operating night freight services along the coast. In recent years, the a Metros and E120 have been replaced by Saabs and they have expanded into FIFO.

Yes it is sad to seem they go, but I fear we will see more operators go the same way as the AUD keeps falling and the FIFO market starts to dry up.

The collapse of both Skytrans and Brindabella (last year) shows it's almost impossible for regional airlines to operate large (29 seat +) aircraft in Australia unless they have government contracts, long term FIFO contract, or have backing from one of the majors.

Regarding the QLD government contracts and the far north QLD communities (that now have no services). The local councils and the communities need to have a look in the mirror as they are partly to blame. They all want a 30 seat aircraft, however most (if not all) do not have the numbers to support a large aircraft.

If you look back at the history of these routes, up until the early 80's they were operated by F27's (DC3 before this) with the airlines making on loss on these routes. TAA (Australian Airlines) then decided to replace the F27's with the smaller J31. Although the size (18 seats) was better suited the performance of the J31 in western QLD required a chaser aircraft to bring the bags. TAA (Australian Airlines) advised the QLD government they intended to pull out of the routes and from this the government elected to put the routes out to tender.

A new company called Flight West, formed by the owner of Talair (PNG) won the tender and elected to use the B200 and within a few years E110 (Bandits) on the far north QLD routes. They operated these two types on these routes for around 10 years, even after adding the E120 and Dash 8 to coastal QLD routes. In the late 90's they decided to replace the B200's and E110's with the J32EP. The J32EP's operated the subsidised routes right up until the collapse of Flight West in 2001.
Following the introduction of the J32EPs the E110's operating out of CS on the Far North QLD routes were sold to a new company called Transtate Airlines and they operated the Bandits on these routes for around 5 years, when Transtate airlines was purchased by Macair and the Bandits were replaced with Metros.
Meanwhile following the collapse of Flight West, Macair was awarded the western routes and operated them with a Metros.
Macair operated the western routes and far north QLD routes with the Metro until they collapsed in 2007.
Following Macair's collapse, the communities approached the QLD government and demanded the next tender must include larger aircraft as they were not happy with the service they received with Macair's Metro's. The Metro was clearly the wrong type due to it's reliability issues and very small hot cabin.
The QLD government issued a tender with the requirement for larger aircraft and in late 2007/early 2008 Skytrans was awarded the contract using Dash 8's
The Dash 8 was really to big for the routes, however Skytrans were already operating it and didn't want to introduce another type. They had already sold off their smaller piston fleets.
All went well until the last few years, with increased competition in the mining (FIFO) sector, led to the lose of some large mining contracts and in recent months with the fall in the AUD has led to increased lease/ownership costs of such a large aircraft on routes that it's to big for.
Even the Saab is to big for most of these routes! If you look at the EAS routes in the USA they are all operated by smaller (19 seats or less) aircraft and these communities are happy with to have a service and don't demand larger aircraft.
So to summarise looking back at what worked in the past, all these routes in order to remain profitably for those operating need to be operated by smaller (19 seat or less) reliable aircraft, such at the B1900, B200, E110 and C208. These aircraft ate reliable (although the Bandit is a bit old) and can carry a good load of passengers and bags in hot conditions. Plus the need minimum ground support, thereby reducing costs further.

[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.

[Daniel M]

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.

The old race to the bottom. I'm sure some new airline will come by in a few years, somehow operating with an Asian based crew being paid $4 an hour and they will win this contract by providing the cheapest price.

Gotta love this country !

[Rowan McKeever]

Well, when all else fails, there're a few more Dashies coming available this year...

[Rob R]

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.

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.

[Max C]

QLink had no interest as their cost base is far higher and they have downsized the fleet of Q200's to that required to service LHI. QLink wouldn't see anywhere near the profits from the TMR routes needed to justify the amount of resources needed to service the contract.

Air-link only have 1 B1900 which wouldn't be enough to service the contract.

A fleet of B1900D's would almost be the perfect aircraft for the routes given the loads, stand up cabin, Toilet, etc but downsizing from a Dash 8 would be a hard sell.

[Rob R]

Originally Posted by Max C

QLink had no interest as their cost base is far higher and they have downsized the fleet of Q200's to that required to service LHI. QLink wouldn't see anywhere near the profits from the TMR routes needed to justify the amount of resources needed to service the contract.

Air-link only have 1 B1900 which wouldn't be enough to service the contract.

A fleet of B1900D's would almost be the perfect aircraft for the routes given the loads, stand up cabin, Toilet, etc but downsizing from a Dash 8 would be a hard sell.

They only gave 1 at the moment, but in the past they had 2, so they can add more as required.

Agree the B1900D is the perfect aircraft for the routes, but as you said it would be hard to see the downgrade. Although they've only had a larger aircraft on the routes for 5 years out of the last 28 years. The western local governments want what their coastal towns get, big aircraft, even though the western towns don't have the numbers to support them.

If the local councils and the QLD Government actually looked at the number of passengers on these routes they would see the routes can only support a 19 seat aircraft. The only airline to survive long term on these routes was Flight West, they operated the routes the routes for 12 years and the largest aircraft they had on the routes was the J32EP (18 seats).