Debrief

Insights from the world of aviation

Airline news

Long-haul, low-cost carrier (LCC) Thai AirAsia X has chosen Brisbane as its first Australian destination, with four times weekly flights from Bangkok Don Mueang International Airport with 377-seat Airbus A330-300s to begin on June 25 2019. Brisbane Airport announced the new route in early February.
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Air Vanuatu will add a third Australian destination to its route network from June 18 2019 when it begins nonstop flights to Melbourne from its Port Vila hub. The airline plans to serve Melbourne three times a week with Boeing 737-800s. It will be the only carrier on the route. Currently, Air Vanuatu flies from Port Vila to Brisbane and Sydney.
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Emirates is cutting services on two of its Australian routes due to what it describes as changes in “market dynamics”. The first network change kicks in on March 31 2019, when Emirates’ Dubai-Perth schedule is cut from 11 times weekly to daily. Then, from May 31 2019, the airline is dropping its daily Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney service entirely. The change leaves Emirates with three flights a day between Dubai and Sydney.
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Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) is adding a second Australia destination to its network from June 11 2019 when it resumes nonstop flights to Brisbane from its Bandar Seri Begawan hub. The route will be served by Airbus A320neo narrowbodies and operate four times a week, RBA said on January 18. RBA previously served Brisbane in 2011.
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Japanese flag carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) will launch daily nonstop flights between Perth and Tokyo Narita with three-class, 184-seat Boeing 787-8s from September 1 2019. ANA will be the only airline on the route. Perth will be ANA’s second Australian destination alongside its daily Sydney-Tokyo Haneda service, also served with the 787.
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Embraer announced in December 2018 the government of Kiribati had signed a contract to acquire two E190-E2 regional jets for Air Kiribati. The aircraft were due to be delivered later in 2019. The orders follows a visit by Embraer’s E2 demonstrator to the Kiribati capital of Tarawa in October during a three-week Asia Pacific sales tour.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in mid-December 2018 it expected airlines around the world to post a collective net profit of US$35.5 billion in calendar 2019 in what would be the industry’s 10th consecutive year in the black. The forecast represented an improvement on a likely profit of US$32.3 billion for calendar 2018. IATA director general and chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said the aviation industry was “on a more solid financial footing than at any time in its history”.
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Pilots believe withdrawing from flying duties due to fatigue leaves a negative impression with management, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report “Fatigue experiences and culture in Australian commercial air transport pilots”. The report, published in January, showed about one-third of pilots surveyed said they had removed themselves from duty in the previous 12 months due to fatigue, usually for between one and three days. Of those, 57.1 per cent believed their decision not to fly because of fatigue would not be well received. “The pilots who removed themselves from duty felt they left a ‘slightly negative’ or ‘very negative’ impression with management,” the report said.
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In a draft report published on February 6, the Australian Productivity Commission concluded the existing regulation of the nation’s airports benefitted the community and remained fit for purpose. Further, it said Australia’s largest airports – Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – which are subject to monitoring by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), “have not systematically exercised their market power to the detriment of the community”.
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The Australian Airports Association (AAA) welcomed the draft report’s conclusions. “The Productivity Commission’s conclusion that the current regulatory approach is working is a strong endorsement of airports’ efforts to increase efficiency and capacity at a time when demand for air travel continues to rise,” AAA chief executive Caroline Wilkie said in a statement.
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However, Airlines for Australia and New Zealand (A4ANZ), which had called for changes to the regulation of Australia’s airports, said it was disappointed with the findings. “It beggars belief that the PC could simply set aside such highly credible evidence from experts both in Australia and internationally in their choice not to suggest real change,” A4ANZ chair Graeme Samuel said in a statement.
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Still on the draft report, Qantas said in a statement that the Productivity Commission report essentially endorsed Australia’s airports to remain some of the most expensive in the world. “That means the travelling public will continue to pay more at every stage of their journey, whether it’s car parking, taxis or airport landing fees,” Qantas said.
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Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti said there needed to be a better mechanism to resolve disputes. “I do think that at first glance it doesn’t appear as though it’s gone far enough but I want to reserve the final comments until we have time to go through it properly,” Borghetti said.
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Alliance Aviation Services reported a 40 per cent lift in 2018/19 first half profit and said it expected a strong second half amid ongoing improvement in the resources sector. The company said net profit for the 12 months to December 31 2018 came in at $9.85 million, up 38.9 per cent from $7.1 million in the prior corresponding period. Meanwhile, revenue rose 17.5 per cent to $137.79 million, Alliance said in a regulatory filing to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on February 6. Alliance said the outlook for the rest of 2018/19 was positive, with the second half of the financial year expected to exceed the first.
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In other Virgin Australia news (see other developments below), the airline said it would transfer its nonstop service between Brisbane and Port Moresby to Alliance Airlines in order to free up a 737-800 for its trans-Tasman network. The change was due to take place from February 25 2019. Alliance would use a Fokker 100 to fly the route.