Qantas ! QF ! QFA !

Yes, Qantas reported a full year profit of A$181 million ($150 million) for the year ended 30 June 2009, down 87% from a year before. But that is not the full story.

For the first half of its fiscal year, the six months to 31 December 2008, the carrier made a profit before tax of A$288 million. In the second half, however, it lost A$107 million.

Both are a dramatic drop from a year, but the airline will be very worried about its business at a time when demand has fallen dramatically and there is little sign of recovery.

Little wonder, than, that Qantas is trying to keep costs down. It expects to save A$1.5 billion over the next three years as part of a new plan, and that may be key to whether it manages to be profitable in this and the next quarter - and the full year.

It will continue to be a challenging year for Australia's flag carrier.

Qantas passengers stranded for 26 hours
By Kate Schneider


FRUSTRATED passengers have been stranded in Sydney for more than 26 hours following problems with two Qantas A380s.

Around 120 passengers on flight QF31 experienced the lengthy delay on the Sydney-Singapore-London service.

The flight was originally delayed for over five hours due to a hydraulics issue, a Qantas spokesperson said.

A replacement aircraft also experienced technical problems, forcing it to be returned to the terminal.

“The flight was originally delayed by just over 5 hours... a replacement aircraft was allocated," the Qantas spokesperson said.

"In the early stages of its take off roll just before 11pm, the flight crew received an engine control message which required a return to the terminal and a night stop."

The passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and meals and were booked on other flights late yeserday.

Ryan However frustrated passengers have told of their anger over the extensive delays.

“They don’t understand that time is precious,” one passenger told Channel Seven.

Passengers flying from London-Singapore-Sydney on flight QF32 will be delayed by approximately 22 hours as a result of the incident, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson has apologised for the delays.

“We regret any inconvenience this delay has caused but will always put operational safety before schedule.”

Qantas revs up Jetstar expansionSCOTT ROCHFORT
November 26, 2009

QANTAS has provided its biggest signal yet its Jetstar operations could service the bulk of its international routes within the next decade, after confirming half of its $9 billion order of Boeing 787 Dreamliners would be diverted to the low-cost offshoot.

The airline yesterday was forced to clarify a presentation given by its head of operations Lyell Strambi to analysts and fund managers this week, which outlined that Qantas expected to have 25 of the fuel efficient jets - with a list price of up to $US205 million each - in its fleet.

Some aviation trade journals interpreted it as meaning Qantas would slash its orders for the jets from 50 to 25. But in rejecting the reports, Qantas confirmed for the first time that 25 of the jets would be in Qantas livery, while the other 25 would be operated by Jetstar.

This means Jetstar will become the biggest user of the jet internationally within the group, given Qantas wants to fly most of its 787s domestically.

Jetstar already handles one-third of the group's domestic services and has already replaced Qantas as the main carrier on some international routes, such as Japan.

Yesterday's confirmation comes five months after Qantas cut its order from 65 787s to 50, and pushed back the delivery of its first of the jets from 2010 to mid-2013.

While Qantas is expected to deploy its future fleet of 20 Airbus A380 superjumbos on its high-yielding business passenger-dominated Los Angeles and London routes, the first batch of shorter-haul 787-800s (instead of going into the Jetstar fleet as originally intended) are now due to replace Qantas's domestic fleet of 767s from 2014.

The longer-range 787-900s to be delivered to Jetstar from 2013 are expected to help the airline's expansion into Europe, North America and several new Asian destinations.

However, Jetstar is believed to be looking to fly to Europe as early as next year, when it takes delivery of the first of its longer-range batch of five Airbus A330s, which will boost its wide-body fleet to 12.

Aside from looking to fly into unprofitable routes long abandoned by Qantas, such as Athens and Rome, Jetstar has been considering destinations such as Munich and Milan.

With the Jetstar's seventh A330 expected to be used to bolster its Bali and Honolulu services next month, Jetstar has declined to say where it plans to fly the additional aircraft.

''We're making no decisions beyond aircraft number seven,'' said Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway. The airline has not ruled out the prospect of its part-owned Singapore- and Ho Chi Minh City-based subsidiaries using the jets.

The key attraction Jetstar has towards the lightweight 787 is its fuel efficiency, which is touted as having 25 per cent lower fuel costs than existing jets of a similar size.

Boeing hopes the 787 will finally be ready for its first test-flight by the end of this year.

Qantas is adding capacity in its Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 fleet, but is doing so by reducing its first class seats -- becoming the latest carrier to admit that its much harder to make first class pay off these days.

By replacing first class sections with business class seats in nine of its 747s and almost half its A380s, the carrier estimates it is adding the equivalent capacity of three 747s.


The breakdown is as follows:

The nine 747s will be upgraded with the seats and inflight product used in the A380. First class will be removed from the 747s, resulting in 359 seats (58 business, 36 premium economy and 265 economy), an increase of 52 seats overall.

Twelve A380s will fly with a four-class configuration, including first class, but will be refitted to reduce business seating and increase premium economy and economy seating. The remaining eight aircraft will be delivered from 2012 in a three-class configuration with no first class cabin. The exact seat numbers are yet to be confirmed.

While many routes will no longer offer first class, it will remain on daily services from Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles, Singapore and London.

The upgrade and reconfiguration program will begin at the end of 2011 and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. It will be funded through the combination of operating cash flows and pre-existing debt facilities. The majority of capital expenditure will take place in 2012

Qantas has warned that it will be seeking new hubs in Europe and thus new travel destinations because of the UK’s recent decision to halt further runway development at London Heathrow and Gatwick on environmental grounds.
Speaking exclusively to ATW's Eco-Aviation Today, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the airline, while not ruling out other destinations in the UK, is now eyeing Berlin and Madrid as hubs for future growth. “Certainly the UK is important but we have to look for other gateway opportunities, and with Air Berlin joining oneworld Berlin will be a natural fit,” he said. “We are also looking at Madrid with British Airways to build its operations there with the pending merger with Iberia. Airlines are now making decisions around these new environmental taxes and restrictions such as runways,” he noted.
QF has four slots into Heathrow and will move to an all-A380 operation as soon as aircraft are delivered. It also is looking at other southern European hubs for its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar from next year. Another part of the equation is the UK's distance-based Passenger Duty Tax, which disadvantages Qantas against operators such as Emirates that hub from Dubai.
In July last year, the Dutch government was forced to abandon its deeply unpopular "eco tax" on passengers of €11 ($14) for intra-EU flights and €45 for intercontinental flights from all Dutch airports. The tax was introduced on July 1, 2008, in the face of strong protests by airline and airport groups and resulted in a significant drop in passengers through Schiphol, with most opting to fly to their intended destinations from Belgian or German airports.

Airbus is also offering Qantas a longer-range version of its A340-500 to meet the airline's nonstop London-Sydney requirements. But John Leahy, chief operating officer for Airbus and its super jet salesman, told reporters during a Qantas visit late last month to discuss the idea that even this performance-improved A340-500 would only be able to carry about 120 business and first-class passengers on the nonstop return flight to London.

Qantas suspends A380 flights after emergency landing
By Siva Govindasamy
Qantas Airways is suspending all Airbus A380 flights after an engine failure forced one of the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Singapore. "Safety is our number one priority," says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. "We are suspending all A380 flights until we have sufficient information, until we are completely confident that all Qantas safety standards are met." The airline adds in a statement: "We have commenced our own investigations as to how this incident occurred and have notified the ATSB [Australian Transport Safety Bureau]. We will continue to work with them as they investigate the issue." Picture credit: Cory Mathews/Flightglobal Qantas has six A380s in active service and another 14 on order. It operates them on its high-yield high-capacity services out of Melbourne and Sydney to London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, and Singapore. The A380 involved in the incident, which had the registration number VH-OQA, was en-route from Singapore to Sydney. It made an emergency landing in Singapore after developing an "engine issue" shortly after take off, says Qantas. VH-OQA was the first A380 delivered to Qantas, entering service on 18 September 2008. The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. Television footage from Indonesia shows aircraft debris in the red and white colours of Qantas. Qantas engine cowlings feature the red and white Qantas livery. Indonesian media reports say an explosion was heard over the island of Batam, and debris was found littered over a field. The aircraft had 433 passengers and 26 crew on board, says Qantas. There were no injuries due to the incident.http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/11/04/349295/qantas-suspends-a380-flights-after-emergency-landing.html