RAAF Globemaster makes first flight into Taji

“It was very late in the afternoon, there was a dust storm predicted and the crew simply got the call in Baghdad, flew the aircraft to Taji in fading light, landed on a challenging airstrip they have never seen before and completed a very important mission.”

The minor technical issue with the Hercules was resolved later in the evening and it flew out of Taji the next day.

It was the second landing of a C-17 into Taji since major runway upgrades there. A US Air Force C-17 had conducted the first flight into the Iraqi Army training establishment on March 22.

AA cuts Sydney seats, takes Auckland seasonal

American Airlines plans to downgauge its daily Los Angeles-Sydney nonstop flight from the Boeing 777‑300ER to the 787-9 from November.

The move represents a decrease of 25 seats a day and the latest move in response to the US Department of Transportation’s rejection of the proposed American- Qantas revenue-sharing joint venture in late 2016.

American’s 787-9s are configured with 285 seats comprising 30 in business, 21 in premium economy and 234 in economy.

By contrast, the oneworld alliance member’s 777-300ERs feature 310 seats (eight first, 52 business and 250 economy).

American Airlines general manager for Australia and New Zealand Simon Dodd talked up the introduction of premium economy on the airline’s Sydney service, noting it was the first US carrier to offer the cabin on the route.

Qantas removed its QF airline code on American’s daily flight to Sydney on February 1 and cut some frequent flyer earning rates for flights on the US carrier, arguing some areas of cooperation were not viable without an immunised jointventure alliance.

There are also changes across the Tasman, where American will reduce its Auckland-Los Angeles nonstop flight from year-round to seasonal.

The airline will suspend the service for an eight-week period between August and October.

When it returns, American plans to deploy the larger 787-9 on the route, compared with the 787-8 being used currently.

Dodd described the seasonal adjustment as a normal practice within the airline’s network.

American started flying to Sydney in December 2015 and Auckland in June 2016.

The pair has indicated it will make another application to regulators in the US for anti-trust immunity (ATI) on a metal-neutral, revenue-sharing joint business agreement.

Alliance Airlines adds new routes in Queensland as Virgin prepares to close Brisbane ATR base

Alliance Airlines will begin regular public transport (RPT) flights from Brisbane to Bundaberg, Gladstone, Moranbah and Port Macquarie from July that will be sold as Virgin Australia codeshare services in what is a significant expansion of its operations.

Brisbane-based Alliance is also adding wet-lease flying for Virgin Australia on three more routes – Brisbane to Cloncurry, Mt Isa and Rockhampton – under a separate 12-month arrangement.

Currently, Virgin Australia serves the Bundaberg, Gladstone, Moranbah and Port Macquarie routes from Brisbane with ATR 72-500/600 turboprops. However, Virgin is withdrawing six ATR 72-500s and two 72-600s as part of efforts to simplify the fleet, reduce costs and return the company to profitability.

As a consequence of the reduction of the ATR fleet from 14 to six, Virgin is ending turboprop operations in Queensland.

Alliance said the expanded flying in Queensland followed the signing of a heads of agreement with Virgin.

“The operation of the regional Queensland and wet lease flights will require an additional three operational aircraft that have already been acquire from Austrian Airlines,” Alliance said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on May 11.

“In aggregate the additional services announced above will increase the company’s fleet by 11 per cent and total flying activity by up to 45 per cent.”

Also, Alliance has operated flights to a number of regional centres, including to Emerald, of behalf of Virgin under wet-lease arrangements since 2016. The flights to Emerald will continue.

An indicative flight schedule from Alliance shows the Bundaberg, Gladstone, Moranbah and Port Macquarie services would be operated with Fokker 70 regional jets, which have 80 seats in a 2-3 layout with 33in pitch in an alleconomy configuration.

By contrast, Virgin’s turboprops have 68 seats.

The closure of Virgin’s ATR base was first communicated to staff in March in a memo from Virgin Australia group executive for airlines John Thomas.

“The consolidation of ATR flying will unfortunately result in the closure of the Brisbane ATR flightcrew base to ensure our crew are positioned in the locations which best support the remaining ATR network,” Thomas said in the memo.

“We recognise that this may be disappointing news for some of you, however this will ultimately help us achieve a sustainable fleet and network mix to meet customer needs and continue to provide further opportunities for our people.

“This decision will allow us to have appropriate resources and schedules for the market and to focus on profitably growing our network elsewhere.”

In his Traffic column in the May edition of Australian Aviation, Gordon Reid reported the six ATR 72-500s to be withdrawn by July are VH-FVH, VH-FVI, VH-FVL, VHFVM, VH-FVU and VH-FVX.

The downturn in the resources sector has led to a a drop in demand on a number of Queensland regional routes.

Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics show passenger traffic on Brisbane- Gladstone fell 18.3 per cent in the 12 months to December 31 2016, compared with the prior corresponding period.

Meanwhile, Brisbane-Moranbah was down 15.4 per cent and Brisbane-Mount Isa (which Virgin serves with Fokker 100s operated by Alliance Aviation Services) was 7.3 per cent lower.

Virgin Independent Pilots Association (VIPA) president John Lyons said the airline had offered all affected pilots new roles in Brisbane or at another base.

Further, Captain Lyons said cabin crew were expected to be retrained onto other fleet types such as the Boeing 737.

“They may move to remain on the same aircraft or remain in Brisbane to fly on a different fleet,” Captain Lyons told Australian Aviation.

“There are no redundancies or job losses.”

VIPA represents about 60 per cent of pilots at the Virgin Australia group of airlines, comprising Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia International, Tigerair Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA).

Asked if Virgin would be able to replace a withdrawn ATR on a route with another aircraft as part of a wet lease arrangement, Captain Lyons said: “I think they can do that provided they get permission from the pilot representatives.”

Virgin said it planned to use its six remaining ATR 72-600s in the ACT, NSW and Victoria.

“This consolidation supports our fleet and network optimisation strategy,” Virgin said in a statement.

“Any guests who have booked travel on these routes from 17 July 2017 onwards will be reaccommodated on the Alliance Airlines services.”

Virgin said members of its Velocity frequent flyer program would continue to earn points and status credits on eligible flights and receive status benefits applicable to their silver, gold or platinum tier.

On February 17, Virgin reported a statutory net loss of $36.1 million, falling back into the red from net profit of $45.7 million in the prior corresponding period.

Underlying profit before tax, which removes one-off items and is regarded as the best indication of financial performance, was $42.3 million, a decline of 48 per cent from $81.5 million in 2015/16 first half. Revenue dipped 0.9 per cent to $2.63 billion.

A slide presentation accompanying the financial results showed Virgin booked $69.8 million in restructuring changes in the 2016/17 first half as part of its “Better Business” program, which aims to reduce costs through fleet simplification and operational efficiencies in catering, maintenance and fuel consumption. Virgin said the program was on track to achieve net free cash flow savings of $300 million by the end of 2018/19.