[Anonymous]

[Binman62]

According to the website

http://www.theqantassource.com/

Qantas have operated rescue flights from Cairo this week.

On first glance this looks like a real marketing coup for the down under airline….but wait….they appear to have done so by delaying overnight, the Frankfurt Singapore flight QF 6, which is showing as being delayed yesterday for almost 11 hours.

Does anyone know if they told the passengers who were booked on this flight, just why they were delayed? Did they pay EU compensation (as they must surely have been required to do given the circumstances?)

Would like to hear from anyone affected? The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the rescue flight carried just 103 passengers and anecdotally it seems many flights are leaving with lots of empty seats. (It also seems they only just made it, as the aircraft suffered a technical delay……as incidentally, did one of their services from Heathrow which was also delayed overnight.)

Is it really a good use of an aircraft and crew as well as delaying around 500 plus passengers in Frankfurt and Singapore? I understand the concern over non Egyptian nationals but surely they could use flights that are still operating out of Cairo on a scheduled basis. A look at the departure info for Cairo today shows dozens of flights including BMI.

Perhaps rather than looking for glory in launching such operations, Qantas should rather focus on ensuring that scheduled operations run as planned and that the aircraft in the fleet are better maintained.

[TominScotland]

I don’t think that Qantas, given the mess they are reported to be in, are doing anything altruistic here!! I am currently in Oz and local media are reporting that Qantas are operating to Australian Government contracts in evacuating nationals from Egypt – so no glory, just extra revenue. Given that Alan Joyce reported this week that QF’s share of international travel in/ out of Oz has dropped from 35% to about 20% (thanks to Middle Eastern and other competition), I guess they need every scrap of revenue and two fingers to anyone waiting for QF6!!

[Binman62]

Tominscotland…interesting news….would seem the Ausralian tax payer is paying QF so much that picking up 103 passengers from Cairo is so lucrative, that they can afford to pay for hotels and the disruption costs of the 350 who got stuck in Frankfurt and Singapore. Given the delay in London as well onthe same night they must be in a pickle in Singapore coping with the disruption.

[TominScotland]

I guess this was not seen in cost terms but in relation to the safety of nationals. Trouble is, quite a few Ausies got out on Canadian flights before QF arrived……. Reportedly, there were over 600 who had registered for repatriation and the Government are committed to paying for this all the way back to Oz.

[austline]

Binman, the Aussie taxpayer would pay regardless of who operated the charter. The delay in getting an aircraft to Cairo was the procrastination and incompetence of the Aust government.

Qantas did agree to take anyone home for free from Fra or Lhr; however the proviso was that if you wanted to fly out of hr you had purchase ticket Fra/Lhr.

Ironically I didn’t see the EK/SQ or anyone else for that matter rushing to help Aussie ticket holders.

The delay ex FRA on the QF006 was technical.

[Binman62]

The point is these so called rescue flights are not necessary, there is plenty of commercial availability ex Cai and flights, including so called rescue flight (which had just 103 passengers) are leaving with hundreds of empty seats. That includes EK who operated to and from Cairo regularly.

If people need to get out why can they not pay their own way? UK/EU passengers have done so and with no impact on commercial operations.

Indeed had the Aussie government or anyone else been interested in actually helping then there are lhundreds of options to charter from Europe, again with no impact on commercial operations. There seems to have been more thought given to having a kangaroo tail at Cairo airport a few times than about actaully doing any good. This may help the PMs disaster management credentials and give QF some airtime in OZ but it has done nothing for their reputation with thos estuck in Frankfurt.

There was indeed a technical delay but not to the QF6 but to the rescue flight as detailed in the SMH. That fault delayed it 12 hours and impacted further on those stuck in Frankfurt.

If QF are claiming a technical delay in order to circumvent the EU compensation laws then that is reprehensible.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Several points:
* the flights out of CAI were charters, paid for by the Australian Government. (And the government did not on-charge pax for the flights.)

* QF then offered to fly the pax back to Australia, at no charge to the pax (so this part was a freebie from QF, which was nice)

* Aircraft utilisation – the aircraft used normally sits on the ground in FRA all day, so operating FRA-CAI-FRA should have had little impact on the normal departure time from FRA for QF6

* the tech delay mentioned applied to the second ‘rescue’ flight, not the first (I have no idea why the first day’s QF6 was delayed and this has not received coverage in Australian media; the second day’s delay was caused by a brake issue and the part required had to be flown in from LHR)

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