[rferguson]

Just interesting to note that this thread was started in 2008. And we are now 2012 and the route is still there.

Who knows what will happen……

Maybe QF will stop flying to London altogether and BA will take all the London/UK passengers while QF will feed those travelling to europe via LHR and significantly have to ‘backtrack’ will be sent via DXB.

Who knows.

So far, there are no new rumour in BA about the route closing.

[Hippocampus]

Australia is not, in financial terms, an important market for BA.

However, I think BA will still continue to serve Sydney, perhaps indirectly.

Maybe when BA has the A380 running on the Singapore route, both Qantas and BA will be happy for passengers to transfer onto each other’s services in Singapore and BA will stop the Singapore-Sydney leg and Qantas will stop the London-Singapore leg. This would release significant efficiencies.

[FrequentPR]

While some of these posts are up to four years old, it doesn’t appear from the above that the contributors seem to be aware of the current speculation in Australia that QANTAS may be about to sign a major agreement with Emirates.

Much Australian media commentary has focussed on how this might imperil QANTAS’ membership of OneWorld.

QF’s international flights are now losing A$450 million a year. recently, QF claimed that it might be able to find A$350 million per annum in cost savings.

QF has underinvested in its fleet. it has unionised staff who maintain the seniority system. QF failed to purchase Boeing 777-300ERs, the aircraft of choice for many competitors and far less fuel guzzling than a B777-400.

Unfortunately, QANTAS may have a dismal future if it cannot de-unionise and instead employ Asian cabin attendants on lower wages. This is despite the airline’s fairly large domestic (Australian) profits (which may now be under threat from a resurgent Virgin Australia headed by former QANTAS senior manager John Borghetti).

[VintageKrug]

I think we’re well aware of current speculation.

But it’s not just Qantas getting close to Emirates. There is also other activity going on in the background, not involving Emirates, which might actually not be that negative for oneworld. Hence the comments above.

It’s time QF introduced a Mixed Fleet type approach to staffing throughout its operations – not just for cabin crew – but even that is unlikely to correct the structural problems which afflict the airline, some of which are by dint of geography, but others due to entrenched positions and the drag on the airline created by unreasonable unions and their unrealistic demands, which have hamstrung management’s ability to react dynamically to global trends.

On the point fof whether the original speculation was accurate, well, it was in that the 747 appears only rarely on this route nowadays.

BKK direct has stopped altogether, and it can’t be long before the obvious solution Hippocampus indicates comes to fruition; all dependent on bother airlines’ discussions with Middle Eastern partners.

[rferguson]

FrequentPR. Your post is a bit off topic but I think Qantas would have a bit of a problem with its new ‘The spirit of Australians’ tag line if it was staffed by Asian cabin attendants.as far as I’m aware one of QF internationals biggest problems (apart from a less than ideal fleet of aircraft and limited ‘feed’ opportunities) is that it has low patronage amongst its home citizens.  Apparently the whole ‘spirit of Australians’ relaunch was to pull at the national heart strings a little.  

Just regarding the cabin crew your information is only partly correct.  The only crew on international that operate on a seniority system are those that have started with QF more than ten years ago and still on the old contract.  Any crew who have joined since then are employed by subsidiary companies on inferior terms and conditions. 

As for unions, well only two words to say there really. ‘Western world’.  Otherwise every European, American, Canadian and Australian airline might as well shut up shop and leave aviation to the asian and middle east carriers. 

VK just saw your post. QF was at the forefront of a mixed fleet approach way before BA. The entire A380 operation is staffed by crew employed on way inferior t&c’s and with their own ranking system. Actually QF went a step further that BA by setting up subsidiary companies to employ them. Jetconnect employ NZ based cabin staff (who operate via oz on all mainline routes as well as many NZ-OZ flights) Qantas Cabin Crew Australia pty ltd that crew the A380’s as well as provide newer crew to the 747 flights and Qantas Cabin Crew UK ltd that provides cabin crew based in the UK

[rferguson]

It’s not just the A380’s VK. Any Cabin Crew recruited by QF within the last ten years has been employed by one of the two sub companies. All the crew are checked out on the A380 and the 747. Out of London the entire base was a la Mixed Fleet whether the flight was on a jumbo or A380. Obviously the 747 no longer serves the route so it is just the A380. On the A380 it is the mixed fleet approach. In that all the crew from CSM to CSS to Cabin Crew are on the new contract. When the new contract crew work on the 747 they are integrated with the oldies. For example a few months ago I flew Tokyo to Sydney on a 747. Out of the 16 crew only 8 were ‘legacy’. Four were AKL based crew provided by Jetconnect the others were new contract sydney based. And to be honest I can’t remember any industrial strife with the QF Cabin Crew for some time. The pilots and engineers are a different matter.

[VintageKrug]

Ah, I see.

It is indeed the engineers who seem to be the problem at QF.

[VintageKrug]

… it does seem that the prescience in this thread is coming to pass.

I’m looking forward to further announcements on this in coming months.

[transtraxman]

There is nothing to stop BA signing new agreements with Qantas or anybody else for that matter. Cathay pacific is an option but more likely is one with Malaysian (given that it will enter Oneworld soon and also offers an onward connection to Auckland). Qatar could also become an option if BA signs the agreement that has been mooted.

Everything is up in the air at the moment. I think that BA will wait and see how its traffic to Australia and Sydney in particular develops. It might even return to Melbourne. The numbers will dictate what happens.

[BeckyBoop]

Good news VK its staying!!

http://www.ausbt.com.au/british-airways-confirms-london-singapore-sydney-kangaroo-route?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=flipper&utm_campaign=home-flipper

[VintageKrug]

I’d give it 18 months. At the very maximum.

Without QF’s assistance, the existing losses (reportedly £28m/year) would be unjustifiable. It’s only kept for prestige’s sake – and there will come a time when that prestige is no longer worth the cost.

BA left NZ years (decades?) ago. It will, sadly, leave our former colony in due course.

Gone are the days when BA had to serve a destination, or there was no air service; the time is right for other airlines to take up the mantle.

No chance of the route stopping in the next 6 months, but after that it’s very much on borrowed time.

Of course, there will always be some sort of oneworld BA codeshare on the route, just unlikely to be operated by BA metal.

[BeckyBoop]

From when, now or after the JSA ends?

I thought you would be pleased 🙁

[767prisoner]

Isn’t one issue that BA only hold the slots in Oz, (eg they do not own the slots) and if they don’t use them they get handed back. I did hear some speculation that BA may base a couple of 767s in Oz to run a shuttle service to Singapore. Can’t see it somehow. Anyone see heard that?

[sparkyflier]

What do you make of this suggestion?

Perth is booming, Jakarta Indonesia is doing very well, but is too far from LHR for a current aircraft in the BA fleet, (except for 77W which may be too big), so how about a LHR-Jakarta-Perth-Jakarta-LHR routing, on 787!
787 is a good size and has the legs. Great for capturing both business and leisure traffic.

[AMcWhirter]

Not sure if I would want to travel 14 hrs non-stop in Y class on one of BA’s 787s. Early indications are that they will have 3-3-3 seating.

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