The new CEO of Cathay Pacific, John Slosar gave a luncheon address in Sydney today that would leave its Asia Pacific competitors, including Qantas, with a feeling of enviable discomfort, if not despair. Unlike Qantas, writhing with misery over the burden of being an Australian icon, or Singapore Airlines, sitting on a shrinking premium market [...]
Australian Business Traveller tweeted the above pic of a ‘cash mob’ doing ‘Go West’ at yesterday’s fifth or sixth relaunch of 747s on the Perth-Sydney route. Hmm. Looks like Amanda Bolger, the original Virgin Blue media czarina is steering Qantas in her new gig in its media division toward ‘fun’. And why not? When the [...]
A potentially serious incident on an Air China flight on the weekend is a reminder to never pack the lithium batteries commonly found in computers and ‘smart’ phones in your checked luggage. It is also a reminder that the Qantas and Virgin Australia rules that permit lithium battery carriage in checked luggage ought to be [...]
Something has gone seriously wrong with the drafting of new rules in Australia concerning the responses of pilots to emergency situations. These rules are included in what are collectively known as the Part 91 regulations which are being overhauled by CASA, with the enthusiastic support of much of the industry from general aviation to high [...]
On first reading the release of a factual ‘note’ on the last minutes of Air France flight AF447 on June 1, 2009 point to serious and persistent errors by the pilots of the Airbus A330-200 in which all 228 people on board died when it crashed into the mid Atlantic ocean on its way from [...]
A major security investigation is underway at Jetstar Asia because of a complaint to Plane Talking by an alert passenger taking one of its flights from Penang to Singapore before returning to Australia. This is the passenger’s report: We are alert and seasoned travellers. (It was the week that Osama Bin Laden had been taken [...]
A hearing by the Senate inquiry into pilot training and air safety in Australia adjourned in confusion today after the CEO of CASA, John McCormick, said there were no current show cause notices against major Australian carriers but did not clarify whether any had been recently issued. The hearing had been scheduled at short notice [...]
Qantas and Jetstar as well as every major airline from Japan to the Middle East will be reviewing their strategies and outlook following Singapore Airline’s decision to launch a medium to long range wide bodied low fare carrier. SQ has not given any details of fleet or routes, further adding to the uncertainty, but there [...]
By Ben Sandilands
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Abu Dhabi, AirAsia, Changi Airport, Dubai, Emirates, Jetstar, Jetstar Asia, Lee Kuan Yew, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways, Virgin Australia
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Singapore Airlines has set the scene for consolidation among Asia-Pacific carriers by announcing it will launch a wide body longer range low fare second brand airline. The move will bring enormous pressure to bear on Qantas plans for expanding its Jetstar franchise in the region and its projected low cost but ‘premium’ single aisle Asia [...]
In the big picture today’s filing by the Qantas pilot union for court protected industrial action in pursuit of a new enterprise agreement begs the question as to whether Australian businesses can survive as such in global markets. The pilots made a number of stinging points in support of their application to Fair Work Australia, [...]
