Preflight

Luxon says all of that cooperation is ongoing after Air New Zealand moved to sell off its 26 per cent shareholding in the Australian carrier at the end of March. The Air New Zealand chief executive also stepped down from the Virgin board at that time.

“There has always been three parts to the relationship,” Luxon tells Australian Aviation in an interview on August 26.

“One has been the shareholding. We’ve obviously exited our shares but that has been a pure, rational investment sort of mindset.

“We’ve got our alliance which continues to go from strength to strength and I think is the best Australasian sort of solution available to customers.

“And then the third piece is yes, we have a lot of operational synergies and tie-ups with each other as well. There is quite a lot operationally that we do together and we will continue to do a lot. ” The selldown was completed in June when Air New Zealand sold 19. 9 per cent of Virgin shares to Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group, leaving the airline with a residual 2. 5 per cent stake.

Air New Zealand chief financial officer Rob McDonald said it was the company’s “intention to sell that stake when appropriate”.

The airline booked an NZ$86 million loss on the sale.

Headwinds ahead after record profit

It has been a banner year for the Star Alliance member, which had the best financial result in the airline’s 76-year history in 2015/16.

Net profit after tax for the 12 months to June 30 2016 came in at NZ$463 million, up 42 per cent from NZ$327 million in the prior corresponding period.

Meanwhile, earnings before taxation and other significant items, which excludes one-off charges and was regarded as the best indication of financial performance, rose 70 per cent to $NZ806 million, Air New Zealand said in a regulatory filing to the New Zealand stock exchange on August 26.

It was the fifth straight year of earnings before taxation growth and in line with company guidance issued in February.

That run is forecast to end in 2016/17, with Air New Zealand guiding the market to expect a drop in earnings before taxation in the vicinity of 50 per cent to between NZ$400 million to NZ$600 million in the current year.

In addition to its own expansion into new markets, other carriers have also been keen to tap into the growing popularity of New Zealand as a tourist destination. This led to a 6. 1 per cent decline in revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK), excluding the impact of foreign exchange moments.

In response, Air New Zealand has accelerated the retirement of its remaining 767-300ERs, with one to exit the fleet in November and the remaining two to be withdrawn by March 2017, as part of efforts to redirect some capacity.

Luxon said the move reflected the flexibility in the fleet to react quickly to changing circumstances.

“The reality for us is we’re very agile, very commercial and as we’ve come under RASK pressure one of the levers we can pull is capacity and as a result we’ve pulled forward the exit of the 767s by a year,” Luxon says.

“It is not just the reduction of the capacity of those planes, it’s the fact that we also are avoiding a whole bunch of costs with a very small fleet.

“That’s a really rational decision and that’s very much how Air New Zealand is. ” The last 19-seat Beech 1900D was retired in late August.

In other fleet movements, the Star Alliance member said it would receive three more Boeing 787-9s, bringing to nine the total number in the fleet, in 2016/17, while one Airbus A320 and two ATR 72-600 turboprops would also be arriving.

The company is also spending $100 million to refurbish its seven 777-300ERs with the latest inflight entertainment systems and the more standard forward facing premium economy seat already flying on its 777-200ER and 787-9 widebodies.

While the decision spells the end of the line for the premium economy Spaceseat that was first launched in 2010, it will give Air New Zealand a consistent product across the 777-300ER, 777-200ER and 787-9 fleet, increasing flexibility in where the aircraft are deployed.

The change means the 777-300ER premium economy cabin will increase to 54 seats, compared with 44 Spaceseats currently. Reconfigurations are expected to begin in February 2017 and be completed that November.

“We’re going from one awesome product to an even more awesome product,” Luxon says.

The airline is also adding a new passenger configuration for the final three 787-9s due for delivery from 2017 that features more business and premium economy seats.

Specifically, the business cabin will increase by 50 per cent to 27 seats, from 18, while premium economy will expand 57 per cent to 33 seats, from 21 currently. Overall seat count will drop from 302 seats to 275 seats.

While the 777-200ER and 777-300ERs are mainly used on flights to the Americas and the 787-9s mainly operate Asian, Australian and South Pacific routes, these three aircraft gave Air New Zealand more options in its network planning.

“As we’ve been building markets and as markets have been changing and evolving and as the customer mix has been changing, typically from leisure to more premium leisure travellers, with a consistent product in our fleet you can just actually then move the aircraft around for the right aircraft for the right market at the right time,” Luxon explains.

McDonald told analysts the increased range of the 275-seat 787-9s will “take them well into the interior of North America and things like that”.

Air New Zealand declared a fully imputed final dividend of 10 NZ cents per share, as well as a fully imputed special dividend of 25 NZ cents per share from the disposal of its Virgin stake.

Skidmore resigns as CASA chief

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has appointed Shane Carmody as acting chief executive and director of aviation safety (DAS).

Carmody, a deputy secretary at the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development with responsibility for aviation and airports, the Office of Transport Security, the Western Sydney Unit and local government and territories, takes over from outgoing CASA chief executive and DAS Mark Skidmore, who announced his resignation on August 26 and is expected to leave the organisation in October while CASA undertakes a global search for a permanent replacement.

CASA chairman Jeff Boyd said Carmody would “provide the appropriate leadership and stability as CASA continues to deliver the organisational transformation program”.

“Mr Carmody joins CASA at a time when the organisation has undergone a period of significant change with the major restructure of the organisation and a renewed focus on stakeholder engagement and collaboration to deliver improved aviation safety outcomes,” Boyd said in a statement on September 1.

“A number of improvements including the development and implementation of CASA’s new regulatory philosophy and just culture throughout the organisation will continue to be delivered. ” Carmody worked at CASA between 2006 and 2009 as deputy chief executive for strategy and support. He has also worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defence.

In an email to staff on August 25, Skidmore said the decision to step down was made for personal reasons.

“We have been able to reshape the way CASA operates and delivers its services in a positive way,” he said in the email.

“It is an appropriate time for me to hand over the leadership as CASA moves through the next phase of its improvement program. ” During Skidmore’s tenure as chief executive and DAS, he undertook an organisational overhaul of CASA’s structure, forming three main groups – a stakeholder engagement group, an aviation group and a sustainability group – as part of the aviation safety regulator’s response to the Aviation Safety Regulatory Review (ASRR).

The retired RAAF Air Vice-Marshal has also sought to respond to the views of industry, including issuing a new timetable for regulatory changes, including those covering general operating rules, air transport operations, aerial work, continuing airworthiness and maintenance for small aircraft, small aircraft maintenance licensing, sport and recreational operations and unmanned aircraft.

Despite this, there remained deep frustation within parts of the aviation industry at the slow pace of change at CASA.

In response to the change at the top of CASA, the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) called for a moratorium on CASA’s regulation reform and for the new DAS to be a domestic appointment.

And, Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) chairman Jim Davis said the government should commission a progress report on the implementation of the ASRR recommendations, noting a national survey on the performance of CASA conducted between August 2015 and January 2016 by market research firm Colmar Brunton found 46 per cent of respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the relationship they had with CASA.

The RAAA called for the CASA board to move “as quickly as possible to appoint an appropriately qualified successor to carry out the necessary reforms” within the organisation.

Australian Aviation and Dassault Falcon Launch Photo Competition

To mark the 100th anniversary of aerospace group Dassault Aviation, Australian Aviation and leading business jet manufacturer Dassault Falcon are running a photo competition.

Dassault has a long history in Australia. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operated Dassault Mirage III fighters and Dassault Falcon 900 and Mystere 20 VIP aircraft for many years.

To celebrate the shared history between Australia and Dassault, we invite you to send in your photos showing Dassault aircraft in Australia.

The aircraft can be military or civil, and this competition is open to everyone.

The winner and runner-up in the competition will have their photos published in Australian Aviation. And Dassault Falcon will provide each winner with a large model of its newest long-range, large cabin business jet – the 8X.

How to enter

Email your pictures to images@phantommedia. com. au or send by post to PO Box 3926 Manuka ACT 2603 AUSTRALIA With each photo, provide: a brief description, your name, address, telephone number, the date and location of the photo.

Deadline: Monday November 21.

Lockheed Martin uses Lighthouse to shine the way on Plan Jericho

Lockheed Martin has been using its Center for Innovation to demonstrate and validate its ability to connect different systems such as aircraft and ships operated by the Australian Defence Force to allow them to share data.

As part of its preparatory efforts to bid for the nascent AIR 6500 project for a joint battle management system that has grown out of the RAAF’s Plan Jericho, Lockheed Martin has been using its Center for Innovation facility – dubbed ‘The Lighthouse’ – to model and simulate its ability to integrate no fewer than 14 major military platforms or systems such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Aegis-equipped Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) and datalinks to share information.

Over just a two-week period Lockheed Martin engineers were able to take 14 representative systems “that were never designed to talk to each other, put them in a lab and demonstrate scenarios for AIR 6500,” Steve Froelich, Lockheed Martin’s capture lead for the AIR 6500 program, told Australian media.

Lockheed Martin used The Lighthouse facility, located in Suffolk, Virginia to demonstrate three scenarios involving the F-35 – a dynamic retasking of an F-35 mid-mission; a coordinated engagement between an F-35 and an Air Warfare Destroyer; and demonstrating how F-35s could share information with commanders on the ground during a combat air patrol mission.

Lockheed Martin was one of four prime contractors, as well as Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, that were due to submit an AIR 6500 capability solutions study in September.

“The main theme we hear is to be [platform] agnostic,” Froelich said of the AIR 6500 requirement, which envisages a joint battle management system reaching IOC – initial operating capability – in 2022 or 2023. A second phase of AIR 6500 will acquire a ground-based medium range missile defence system.

Lockheed Martin uses its Lighthouse as a cooperative development facility for experimentation, wargaming, and concept and capability development with US military and international customers.

Badgerys Creek flightpaths redrawn in final environmental impact statement

Flightpaths over the proposed airport at Badgerys Creek will be spread out across the Western Sydney community and be restricted during overnight hours, according to the project’s final environmental impact statement (EIS).

The draft airport plan and EIS published in October 2015 showed indicative flightpaths for landing at the airport would converge at a single point some 5,000-7,000 feet over the Blue Mountains community of Blaxland, just west of Penrith.

However, in May 2016 the federal government asked for flightpaths to be redrawn to eliminate this single merge point. The final EIS, published on September 15, has reflected the government’s wishes, with indicative flightpaths spread out as part of a comprehensive noise mitigation plan.

Indeed, the EIS said “aircraft arrivals will not converge through a single merge point over any single residential area”.

The federal opposition’s call for there to be night-time restrictions at Badgerys Creek, where all takeoffs and landings between 2300 and 0600 would be in a south-westerly direction to avoid residential areas, has also been taken up. This policy has been criticised by pilot groups.

“The use of head-to-head operations to and from the south west, when it is safe to do so, is an important preferred option for managing aircraft noise at night,” the EIS said.

“This preferred option will be thoroughly evaluated through further detailed assessment. ” Minister for Urban Infrastructure Paul Fletcher said indications were that head-to-head operations “could be available greater than 80 per cent of the time”.

“The flight paths set out in both the draft and final EIS are only indicative, and were prepared for the specific purpose of determining whether safe operation of a second major airport in the Sydney Basin is possible, and for allowing an assessment of the environmental impact of Western Sydney Airport using a credible and representative set of operational parameters,” Fletcher said in a statement.

It took the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development 11 months to review the 5,000 submissions in response to the draft EIS.

The federal government planned to establish a community forum for the proposed airport with representatives from the aviation industry, local community, state and local governments, as well as tourism and business groups, to “ensure community views were taken into account, particularly in relation to the airspace design process”.

Fletcher said the EIS would be given to Minister for Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg to determine whether to approve the EIS and what environmental conditions, if any, to impose.

Once approved, the final Airport Plan could be determined. The proposed airport was slated to begin operations in the mid-2020s.

Preparatory work on the airport site was already underway.

Sydney Airport said its evaluation of the proposed Badgerys Creek airport was ongoing as it waited for the federal government to issue the sales contract before the end of 2016.

Chief executive Kerrie Mather said the evaluation has focused on factors such as the hurdle rates of return, growth potential and impact on the existing facility at Mascot, among other issues.

“We continue to evaluate the opportunity using the same rigour we apply to all capital expenditures,” Mather said during Sydney Airport’s half year results presentation on August 18.

“Western Sydney airport is a greenfield development and therefore subject to higher return requirements.

“The Commonwealth indicated prior to the election it intends to issue the Notice of Intention to Sydney Airport in 2016 and there has been no change to that advice. ” Sydney Airport chief financial officer Hugh Wenby said about $18 million had been spent so far on its evaluation of the proposed airport, including $3 million in the six-month period to June 30. The company reported net profit of $160 million for the six months to June 30 2016, up from $134. 6 million in the prior corresponding period.

ACCC issues draft determination approving extension of Virgin-SIA alliance for five more years

Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines look set to renew their alliance for a further five years after a draft ruling from the competition regulator gave extending the tie-up the green light.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) draft determination published on August 25 said the partnership “had resulted, and is likely to continue to result, in material public benefits” including new routes, more online connection options and the promotion of competition.

Further, the ACCC said the partnership was also likely to bring about “small public benefits in the form of operational and other efficiencies which may be passed through to consumers in the form of lower fares or better services”.

“The ACCC is satisfied that the alliance is likely to result in a net public benefit and proposes to grant authorisation,” the draft determination said.

SIA and Virgin’s application for renewal, lodged in May, had called for re-authorisation for 10 years.

However, the ACCC said five years was a more appropriate term, given the “ongoing evolution of services between Australia and the UK and Europe and between Australia and Asia, including Virgin Australia’s proposed expansion of services into Asia, and the dynamic nature of the aviation industry”.

While Virgin does not operate to Singapore with its own aircraft, it plans flights to Beijing and Hong Kong from June 1 2017 in partnership with new shareholder HNA Group.

The ACCC said SIA’s flights to various Asian points from Australia via Singapore “do not provide a significant competitive constraint”.

First approved in 2011, Virgin and SIA have been able to work together on schedule planning, capacity, pricing, revenue management, sales, distribution and marketing, frequent flyer offerings as well as purchasing and procurement.

SIA is also a major shareholder in Virgin.

In their application, the two carriers said they would develop systems to better recognise their high value guests travelling on each other’s networks and flagged the use of data analytics to offer an improved customer proposition and services to customers, helping increase passenger numbers and earned revenue.

Captain of record-breaking Qantas 747-400 delivery flight, David Massy-Greene, dies aged 73

David Massy-Greene, the captain of Qantas’s record-breaking Boeing 747-400 nonstop flight from London Heathrow to Sydney, died on August 21.

He was 73.

Qantas confirmed the news in a note to its 30,000 employees.

“It is with sadness that we let you know of the passing of former Qantas Captain David Massy Greene,” Qantas said.

Massy-Greene began his career at Qantas as a cadet in 1966 and flew Boeing 707s, 767s and 747s until his retirement from the airline in 1999.

Massy-Greene, alongside captains Ray Heiniger, George Lindeman and Rob Greenop, was at the controls of the delivery flight of Qantas’s first Boeing 747-400, VH-OJA City of Canberra, in August 1989, when the aircraft flew nonstop for 20 hours, nine minutes and five seconds, covering 9,720nm.

The record for the world’s longest nonstop flight by distance stood until Boeing set a new mark with a 777-200LR that flew 11,664nm, heading eastwards from Hong Kong to London, flying over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and North America in 22 hours and 42 minutes, in November 2005.

Massy-Greene was among the thousands on hand to witness the final flight of VH-OJA in March 2015, when Qantas retired the aircraft and donated it to the Historical Aviation Restoration Society at Illawarra Airport.

A smiling Massy-Greene said having the 747-400 at Illawarra Airport was a fitting tribute for the aircraft given its place in Australian aviation history.

He expressed relief the initial retirement plan for the aircraft – it was understood Qantas was originally going to send VH-OJA to the desert to place it in storage or have it parted out – did not eventuate.

“The last I heard before they finally announced that it was coming here was it was going to the Mojave, which is the boneyard where they break them up,” Massy-Greene said after VH-OJA’s arrival at Illawarra Airport.

“My great thanks to Qantas for their generosity and my congratulations and thanks to HARS for accepting it as a permanent record of Australian aviation.

“I think it is absolutely wonderful. ” Qantas noted Massy-Greene’s contribution to aviation did not end after he left the airline.

“He retired from Qantas in 1999 and joined Boeing where he spent the next 12 years and worked on the development of the electronic flight bag which is now standard equipment on most airline fleets,” Qantas said.

“He was recognised for his foresight and passion for Qantas and the aviation industry in general. ”

Scoot offers new LCC option to Athens

Australians will have a new one stop option to Europe from June 2017 when Scoot launches flights to Greece from its Singapore hub in one of the longest flights in the world to be operated by a low-cost carrier.

Scoot, a wholly-owned unit of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) Budget Aviation Holdings, announced on August 16 it planned to expand into Europe with four flights a week between Singapore and Athens with Boeing 787-8s.

“Scoot has devoted much thought to configuring our cabin product and services to elevate and transform the low-cost travel experience, enabled by our world-first all-787 Dreamliner fleet, and this has positioned us well to mount our first ever long haul flight between Asia Pacific and Europe,” Budget Aviation Holdings chief executive Lee Lik Hsin said.

Scoot said the 787-8s to be used for flights to Athens would be differently configured from the type already part of the fleet.

The 787-8s currently flying in Scoot colours have 21 Scootbiz and 314 economy seats. However, the 787-8s to serve Athens, and likely to other points in Europe as the airline grows its footprint on the continent, would have a smaller Scootbiz cabin comprising just 18 seats, while economy would increase to 329 seats. The aircraft would also have eight crew rest bunks.

At 4,884nm, Singapore-Athens would be one of the longest flights in the world operated by a low cost carrier, rivalling Eurowings’ Cologne Bonn-Phuket (5,074nm) and Norwegian’s Paris-Los Angeles (4,927nm). Norwegian also operates similarly long routes to Bangkok from Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Singapore Airlines previously served Athens but dropped the route in 2012 after 40 years of operations.

It returned to Athens on a seasonal basis in 2014.

Tigerair returns to Canberra

Tigerair Australia is planning a return to Canberra with a daily service linking the nation’s capital to Melbourne, offering a split schedule featuring mid-morning or evening flights depending on the day of the week.

The low-cost carrier made the announcement at Canberra Airport on August 25, with Tigerair chief executive Rob Sharp flanked by Canberra Airport chief executive Stephen Byron and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

“We have witnessed overwhelming demand and are proud to provide the only low-cost services between Canberra and Melbourne,” Sharp said in a statement.

“We are confident the new route will prove popular for our core market of budget and leisure travellers. ” The first flight is due to take off on December 9 with 180-seat Airbus A320s.

Under previous owners Singapore based Tiger Airways Holdings, the airline then known as Tiger Airways Australia started Melbourne Canberra flights in 2008, but the route was dropped following the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) grounding of the airline for six weeks in 2011.

The airline has since been sold to Virgin Australia and been rebranded as Tigerair Australia.

Byron said the return of Tigerair to Canberra would help boost tourism in the ACT and give the territory’s residents a LCC option for travel to the rest of Australia.

Tigerair will be the only LCC at Canberra Airport, which is served by Virgin, Qantas and FlyPelican.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays TT663 is scheduled to take off from Melbourne at 1030 for an 1135 arrival in Canberra, while the reciprocal TT666 would depart at 1205 and land back in the Victorian capital 70 minutes later.

However’s Tigerair’s services on Thursday, Friday and Sundays have a late afternoon departure from Melbourne, with TT667 pushing back at Tullamarine at 1735 for a 1840 arrival in Canberra. After a 30-minute turnaround, TT668 heads back to Melbourne at 1910 and is scheduled to touch down at 2020.

Tigerair said the schedule would “suit the airline’s core market of budget and leisure travellers”.

Currently, Qantas and Virgin fly between Melbourne and Canberra.

It is understood Tigerair’s entry on the route would not result in any changes to Virgin’s Melbourne Canberra schedule.

Air China to launch third Sydney route

Air China will launch a third route from Sydney in November when it begins a three-times-weekly service to Chengdu. The Sydney-Chengdu flights are scheduled to begin on November 12 and be operated by Airbus A330-200s. Air China already serves Sydney from Beijing and Shanghai. Flight schedules show CA429 departing Chengdu, Air China’s second largest hub, just before 2300 on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, arriving in Sydney at about 1235 the next day. The aircraft was due to be on the ground for about two hours before operating the reciprocal CA430 back to Chengdu.

China Eastern starting new Hangzhou service

China Eastern is also boosting its Australian network with a new service from Sydney to Hangzhou and onwards to Beijing starting in November. The three-times-weekly offering will operate as a Beijing-Hangzhou-Sydney routing with Airbus A330 equipment. MU711 departs Beijing at 2000 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving at Hangzhou two hours and 15 minutes later. After 90 minutes on the ground, the flight continues on to Sydney, arriving at 1300 the next day. The reciprocal MU712 was due to depart Sydney as an overnight service to Hangzhou on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving at 0550 local time the next morning. The flight continues onto Beijing at 0750 with the scheduled arrival time 1010.

Qantas crew praised for dealing with smoking mobile phone on flight to DFW

A mobile phone that started emitting smoke when trapped under a business class seat onboard a Qantas Airbus A380 has highlighted the need to inform passengers about the dangers of travelling with lithium batteries and the importance of well-practised crew procedures for dealing with potential fire situations.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report on an incident that took place on May 16 showed the charred remains of the mobile phone cabin crew retrieved from under seat 19F on the upper deck of the A380, VH-OQD, after it started emitting smoke.

The report said a passenger alerted cabin crew to the presence of smoke in the cabin about two hours before the flight from Sydney was due to land at Dallas/Fort Worth, at which point the crew initiated the “basic fire drill procedure”.

“Two of the cabin crew proceeded to the source of the smoke with fire extinguishers,” the ATSB report said.

“At the same time, the customer services manager (CSM) made an all stations emergency call on the aircraft interphone to alert flight crew and other cabin crew to the presence of smoke.

“The crew removed the seat cushions and covers from seat 19F while the CSM turned off the power to the centre column of the seats.

“When the seat was further dismantled, the crew found a crushed personal electronic device (PED) wedged tightly in the seat mechanism. The cabin crew assessed that the crushed PED contained a lithium battery. ” While the mobile phone was no longer emitting smoke, there was a “strong acrid smell” still in the cabin.

The mobile phone was placed in a jug of water and then put in a metal box and monitored for the rest of the flight.

The ATSB said Qantas estimates about one billion lithium batteries are transported by air each year.

Further, the ATSB has received 17 notifications of similar incidents over the past six years.

As a result, education of both cabin crew and passengers was a “key component to managing these events”.

Qantas onboard announcements specifically tell passengers that if they lose their device to tell a member of the cabin crew and not to move the seat as it may crush the device and be a fire hazard.

“Raising passenger awareness of the potential hazards of PEDs commences at check-in, through to the pre-flight safety demonstration, and aims to minimise the risk of PED thermal runaway events,” the ATSB said.

The ATSB praised the Qantas cabin crew’s response to the incident, noting the airline’s basic fire drill was based on a teamwork approach.

“This incident provides an excellent example of an effective response to an emergency situation,” the ATSB said.

Meanwhile, Jetstar, Qantas, Tigerair Australia and Virgin Australia have banned the use of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone on their flights. The device may not be used or charged and had to remain off.

The move followed Samsung’s worldwide recall of the Note7 due to concerns about a potential lithium battery fire amid reports some had exploded while charging.

Cathay to bring A350-900, 777-300ER to Melbourne

Cathay Pacific is boosting passenger and cargo capacity between Melbourne and Hong Kong with the use of the larger Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER on the route from early 2017.

The oneworld alliance member said on September 8 it would deploy the A350-900 on one of its three daily flights to Melbourne from February 1 2017, with the 777- 300ER to be used on the route a month later on March 1.

Currently, all three of Cathay’s Melbourne-Hong Kong rotations are operated with Airbus A330-300s configured with 251 seats comprising 39 in business, 21 in premium economy and 191 in economy.

By contrast, the A350-900s have 280 seats (38 business, 28 premium economy and 214 economy) and feature the airline’s latest cabin products such as onboard Wi-Fi, new premium economy seats and refreshed business and economy seats. In particular, the aircraft features Cathay’s innovative “six way” economy headrest designed to make it easier for passengers to sleep.

And the airline’s three-class 777-300ERs have 40 business class, 32 premium economy and 268 economy seats for a total of 340.

The upgauge of aircraft type of two of Cathay’s three daily flights represents a capacity increase of 15. 7 per cent to Melbourne.

The A350-900 has been scheduled to operate the CX104/CX105 rotation, which is an afternoon departure from Melbourne and red-eye service from Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the 777-300ER will take over the CX178 overnight flight from Melbourne and CX163 morning service from Hong Kong.

Cathay, which picked up its first A350-900 in May, has 22 of the type on order due to be delivered between now and the end of 2017. It has also signed for 26 of the larger A350-1000, which are due to arrive between 2018-2020.

The use of larger aircraft follows a similar move in Sydney, where two of Cathay’s four daily flights are now operated with 777-300ERs.

Cathay has utilised all available traffic rights for Hong Kong carriers to Australia’s four major international gateways of Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, which currently sits at 70 flights a week. As a result, the only way to add capacity is to upgauge to larger equipment.

The decision to add extra capacity to Melbourne also comes as Virgin Australia prepares to mount flights to Hong Kong and Beijing from a yet-to-be-disclosed Australian city from June 2017 in partnership with HNA Group

RNZAF air mobility and maritime surveillance acquisition programs progress

The New Zealand Ministry of Defence has released two separate Requests For Information (RFIs) covering the acquisition of a ‘Future Air Mobility Capability’ and a ‘Future Air Surveillance Capability’ to replace the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s C-130H and 757-200 transports and its P-3K2 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, respectively.

The Future Air Mobility Capability (FAMC) RFI seeks to replace the current five C-130Hs and two 757s with a “no less than . . . equivalent” capability, with the C-130H replacement slated for first delivery by February 2020, initial operational capability (IOC) in February 2021 and full operational capability (FOC) declared “no later than 2024”. The first 757 replacement will be “required” by February 2025 allowing an IOC by February 2026.

The Future Air Surveillance Capability (FASC) RFI, meanwhile, notes that New Zealand “seeks information on platforms and services that could potentially contribute to solutions for Defence to be able to continue to provide the New Zealand Government with air surveillance operations beyond the withdrawal of the current P-3K2 Orion-based capability, planned for the middle of the next decade. ” The FASC operational concept, reads the RFI, “will be largely a continuation of the extant P-3K2 Orion-based concept, adapted to exploit any greater platform and capability systems performance of the FASC fleet and support systems. ” It continues: “The capacity of FASC to deliver at least the current rates of effort, between 2,500 to 3,200 hours of airborne operations per year, is expected from the project. ” Six upgraded P-3K2 Orions are currently in RNZAF service.

Both RFIs also seek information on any commonality between the air mobility and air surveillance requirements.

“Information is also sought on solutions that may allow synergies between the Defence Force’s future air mobility capability and its future air surveillance capability,” the FAMC RFI reads.

The closing date for both RFIs is September 30.