Positioning for the future

For QantasLink, Cobham is adding two Boeing 717s to the fleet it crews and operates for the Qantas regional subsidiary.

This will take the 717 fleet to 20 aircraft, with one of the new arrivals to be based in Hobart and the other in Sydney, to expand QantasLink services to Tasmania and on the mainland.

“We are well aware that Qantas is going through a transformation process, and we are really pleased to gain two more aircraft, which are coming into Cobham operations in the first quarter of 2016,” Peter Nottage, president of Cobham Aviation Services, said.

The company is “out recruiting now” for additional flight and cabin crew for the existing Hobart and Sydney bases.

For Cobham, the additional aircraft provide some compensation for the loss of the QantasLink heavy maintenance contract, with the national airline bringing the work in-house to its Canberra base in October. The major checks, previously done in Adelaide by Cobham and involving about 5,500 man hours for each Boeing 717, are carried out every two years. ngineering base has retained its line maintenance and support work on the 717s and has carried out major refurbishments for QantasLink, while continuing to use three BAe 146QC freighters on the Australian air Express overnight business, which has been absorbed into Qantas Freight. The original contract dates back to 1992, with the quiet 146s cleared to operate inside curfew hours at Sydney and Adelaide airports.

Meanwhile, Cobham continues to make gains with its FIFO contracts, despite hard times in the resources sector and growing competition for work among aviation operators.

“The market segment is very tough at present,” Peter Nottage said. “It’s not a growth phase, but we are winning business. ” There was significant belttightening in the sector, and Cobham was working hard with its customers to try to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, where possible.

Among contract successes in the past year were services for miners Metals Ex and Northern Star in Western Australia. In May, Cobham took delivery of an 82-seat Avro RJ85 for a four-year FIFO contract with Gold Fields Australia for its Granny Smith and Darlot mines inWA’s Yilgarn. The contract, using the gravel kit for RJ85 operations through unsealed runways, incorporates six return flights a week from Perth to the mine sites.

The gravel kits – designed to deflect runway rocks from engines and undercarriage – have enabled Cobham to bid for work at remote mine sites with jet aircraft, and replace turboprop aircraft.

In June, Cobham gained a fiveyear extension of its contract with Minara Resources for its Murrin Murrin nickel project in WA, 900km north-east of Perth.

The latest deal called for an upgrade from an 81-seat BAe 146- 200 to a 99-seat 146-300, operating eight return services a week.

And Cobham continues to operate between Adelaide and the Moomba oil and gas fields in South Australia’s far north and the Ballera gas centre in Queensland under a $50 million contract which extends to 2018, expanding the original Cooper Basin deal with Santos, struck by predecessor National Jet Systems in 1990. The current services use one of Cobham’s five RJ100s.

The company’s flagship resources contract is the one with petroleum giant Chevron for its $US54 billion Gorgon project, based on environmentally-sensitive Barrow Island off the northern WA coast.

Cobham won its initial $170 million contract in 2009, which encompassed the introduction of two 99-seat RJ100s to the Australian fleet and was due to run until next year.

To improve services to this major customer, under a $160 million contract extension last year, Cobham acquired a 104-seat Embraer E190 jet from a Lufthansa subsidiary last November, to augment the RJ100s carrying passengers and freight between Perth and Barrow Island, with a BAe 146-300 as a technical backup aircraft.

The company operates 39 returnIt’s not a growth phase, but we are winning business. PETER NOTTAGE

services each week on the route. In addition, its BAe 146-300s operate 29 services each week between Karratha and Barrow Island.

“The E190 is working very hard on the Chevron contract,” Nottage said.

“It is delivering on the promises of greater comfort, speed, fuel efficiency and environmental logistics. ” The services operate under stringent environmental and quarantine conditions to avoid any contamination of Barrow Island’s fragile environment.

Cobham continues to look for new FIFO opportunities, but Nottage describes the market as “very tight” and he expects it to remain challenging in the year ahead.

He acknowledges some forecasts for business improvements for the specialist aviation charter companies in the second half of 2016 but is cautious about crystal-ball gazing.

“We are using this period to refine our products and services, to focus heavily on how we can work better with customers who are doing it pretty tough. ” The company also continues to review its fleet, which comprises one E190, and a total of 12 BAe 146s, RJ100s and RJ85s, as well as three Dash 8s.

“We have no plans to acquire new aircraft at present but we may retire a couple of the older 146s in the year ahead and bring in a couplemore (younger) RJ85s,” Nottage said. “There are aircraft available. ” The main aim was to ensure that customers received efficient and cost-effective services, and to set Cobham Aviation Services up to benefit from the eventual rebound in the resources sector.

“We are here for the long term and we need to position ourselves for the future. ” Beyond its regional and FIFO work, Cobham Aviation Services continues its coastal surveillance role under the Project Sentinel program.

The original program was launched by National Jet Systems in 1994 and took a quantum leap in 2006 when Cobham’s Surveillance Australia signed a $1 billion, 12-year deal with the Australian Customs Service to operate fixedwing maritime patrols with a new fleet of 10 Dash 8s, equipped with new-generation sensors and advanced satellite communications.

The contract runs through to 2020.

Meanwhile, the special mission activities are about to be boosted by a contract with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to operate search and rescue services around the Australian coast.

The first of four Bombardier Challenger 604s is due in Adelaide in December, for extensive modification to perform the AMSA tasks.

The first aircraft will be based in Perth, and operations are due to start in August 2016, while operations will begin by the end of 2016 from Cairns and Melbourne. Cobham has begun recruiting crews already for the Perth base.

AMSA chief executive officer Mick Kinley said the faster jet aircraft would be equipped with a suite of electronic sensors, and would be capable of dropping equipment such as life rafts, satellite phones, food and water to people in distress at sea.

The contract will run for 12 years, with optional extensions for another three years, taking the total value above $700 million.

Nottage said previously that Cobham would employ five-member air crews, including a captain, first officer, visual search officer, electronic search observer and aircraft mission coordinator who will be on permanent standby to enable search and rescue tasking at any time of day or night.

The present contractor, Darwinbased Paspaley Group’s AeroRescue, will continue to provide search and rescue services until the Cobham service is fully operational.

We are using this period to refine our products and services. PETER NOTTAGE