Air Austral to start SYD flights

[lloyd fox]

Next year from 14april twice weekly with 773 equipment SYD-Reunion.

Source Travelweekly today

Cheers Lloyd

[Adrian B]

Whats the range of a 773 these days? Seems to be about 4900 Nautical Miles.. anyone for a refuel??

[Jim Liu]

http://airlineroute.blogspot.com/200...is-sydney.html

Air Austral will launch Paris - St Denis de la Reunion - Sydney - Noumea Boeing 777-300ER same plane service starting 12APR09

UU771 CDG2250 - 1145+1RUN1345+1 - 0605+2SYD0750 - 1135+2NOU 77W 36
UU772 NOU0820 - 1020SYD1210 - 1825RUN2015 - 0530+1CDG 77W 26

The Indian Ocean-based carrier announced earlier this year it intends to provide service between France and Australia when the new Boeing 777-300ER arrives

[Jon Harris]

no traffic rights on the SYD-NOU-SYD sector - this may change in the future hopefully...nice way to get to NOU on a 77W!

[Shameel Kumar]

Another 77W in SYD.... BIG grin from me!!

This would be a nice way to get to Europe instead of the usual stop in Asia or Middle East. But that's a damn early arrival into Sydney from Reunion (ie: that's a bummer for us spotters!)

Whats the range of a 773 these days? Seems to be about 4900 Nautical Miles.. anyone for a refuel??

RUN-SYD is 4,989nm
SYD-LAX is 6,507nm
77W range at Max Payload is ~4,900nm Link

So if VA can fly their 77Ws to LAX, then UU shouldn't have any problem getting to SYD. You would have to assume that their flights wouldn't be fully booked, so that'd mean a saving in Passenger Payload, therefore allowing even more for cargo.

[Steve Jones]

I imagine cargo would be a big earner on these flights - to the extent they might even choose to restrict pax loads to ensure maximum cargo uplift. Pretty much everything you can buy in NOU is straight from the 'motherland'!!

[James Smith]

What a bolt out of the blue. Air Austral 773 in Sydney 4 days a week. Interesting flight numbers for a 777 service.

I wonder how the new service will impact on Qantas' Paris aspirations when additional European rights are finalised.

Just checked the map and Reunion looks to be just Sydney to Canberra distance from Mauritius. It is a lot further south in the Indian Ocean than I thought which explains the long flight with a 12:10 pm departure from Sydney and only a 05:30 arrival into Paris, with less than a 2 hour stopover in Reunion. Qantas 17:00 departures get to London at approximately 06:00, so this flight is at least 5 hours longer via Reunion to the SE Asian or Middle East stopovers.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by James Smith

so this flight is at least 5 hours longer via Reunion to the SE Asian or Middle East stopovers.

maybe they could attract people to do a one-stop at Reunion Island holiday and then go to Paris etc. would be quite good for a honeymoon?

Not sure why QF's Paris aspiration is mentioned - currently codeshared with AF and a solid arrangement. Plus they can draw pax from other Australian cities on QF to say.. Singapore, then hop on an AF flight.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Jon Harris

no traffic rights on the SYD-NOU-SYD sector - this may change in the future hopefully...nice way to get to NOU on a 77W!

which freedom of the air would the SYD-NOU sector be? 3rd/4th / 6th / 7th?
if NOU is a French territory, could it be considered that UU is operating from another French territory to Australia? If that's the case they should be able to pick up pax between SYD-NOU

[Tony G]

Good to see the Europeans coming back out. If KLM made a come back, it would add some colour to ours shores as well.What ever happened to UTA? Did AIr France swallow them up as well?