Virgin clashes with IATA

Virgin Blue is reportedly furious with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) over its decision not to let the carrier sell tickets for VAustralia through travel agents, The newspapers from Australia has reported. IATA’s move comes despite the fact that VAustralia has already obtained government permission to sell seats on both sides of the Pacific.According to the newspaper, Virgin Executive David Lloyd confronted IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani on the issue at the National Aviation Press Club this week but was told that VAustralia had to obtain its air operator’s certificate (AOC) before it could use IATA’s new settlement plan – a scheme which assists payments between agents and airlines.IATA has so far refused to give VAustralia a code that would allow it to sell through the system. Bisignani has said that such a code could only be supplied to airlines with an AOC.

Qantas admits its reputation is damaged

Outgoing chief executive Geoff Dixon says research commissioned by the airline shows the media reports have seriously hurt Qantas’ reputation.“I have no doubt over the last eight weeks given some of the (media) articles… we have suffered brand damage,” said Mr Dixon.“I know we have because I’ve seen the research.” The chief executive said although the brand damage was “not insignificant” the research company felt it was “kneejerk”.“That people read something and say this, but a few days later they say `well we understand that Qantas has a great reputation … and is superior to most other airlines.”’

If the problems continued the damage to Qantas’ reputation could be “potentially, but not likely, permanent”, Mr Dixon said.The spotlight has been squarely on the airline since an explosion tore through the fuselage of a Boeing 747-400, causing the cabin to depressurise en route from London to Melbourne on July 25.Over the ensuing eight days, Qantas planes suffered two more mid-air incidents.

But the Australian carrier’s woes didn’t end there. A string of safety, technical and maintenance incidents ensued, sometimes more than one a day.However, Mr Dixon said the media’s focus on Qantas meant minor incidents, that would normally go unreported, were now being covered.“There’s a perception now being created of a lot more problems with Qantas than there is in reality,” he said.Mr Dixon insisted the travelling public could still trust Qantas.“I think you can trust us,” he said.“We undergo as an airline close to 150 audits a year.”

Qantas’ A380 takes off for first test flight

The Qantas Airbus took off from Hamburg, carrying the airline’s new four-class cabin for the first time.

Designed and built by European Aerospace company Airbus, the A380 is capable of carrying up to 600 passengers when carrying only economy passengers.

Qantas has bought 20 A380s.”The airline will take delivery of this first aircraft from Airbus in Toulouse, France on 19 September,” said a Qantas spokesman.

“It will arrive in Sydney, Australia on 21 September before operating its first passenger flight, between Melbourne and Los Angles, on 20 October.” Offering greater levels of space and state-of-the-art interiors, the airline’s new flagship will operate two return services, one from Melbourne and Sydney, each week to Los Angeles from October 24.Passengers will be able travel in style and luxury on a fully-flat next generation Skybed in Business, while the airline’s Premium Economy cabin boasts extra wide Recaro seats and self-service refreshment bars in Economy. Other perks include an entertainment system with over 1000 entertainment options and onboard connectivity.

AirAsia X direct to Melbourne

Long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X has announced the launch of direct services between KL and Melbourne. Services will start in November, initially with four return flights per week, however daily services are expected to be launched in the future.

Qantas jet forced down by loo emergency

QANTAS continues to be plagued by a run of misfortune with a plane overnight forced to make an unscheduled stop because its toilets were too full to flush.

The fully laden 737-300 was forced to divert to Adelaide one hour into a flight from Sydney to Perth because staff had forgotten to empy the toilets after the plane’s last trip from  Honolulu and consequently four of the seven weren’t working, Fairfax reported.”Four out of seven toilets were not flushing so for the comfort of our passengers we diverted to Adelaide,” a Qantas spokeswoman said. Yesterday Qantas had to delay a flight from London to Sydney for more than 12 hours due to a rudder problem.

Passengers who were forced to spend an extra night in London while the aircraft was repaired were given hotel rooms, a Qantas spokeswoman said.Qantas has been suffering a series of mechanical issues in recent weeks, the most serious of which was an explosion that ripped a hole in the fuselage of a jet en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne on July 25, forcing an emergency landing at Manila.

Two days ago, Qantas confirmed a small access panel had fallen from a jet between Singapore and Melbourne.The problem was discovered during routine checks on the aircraft after it arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport.Last Wednesday a hydraulic failure in a Qantas Boeing 767 from Melbourne affected the plane’s steering as it landed at Sydney airport.

The fluid leaked on the runway, which had to be closed while the spill was cleaned up.On August 2, a Qantas Boeing 767 flight turned back for an emergency landing at Sydney airport after a hydraulic fluid leak was discovered.A domestic flight was forced to return to Adelaide after a wheel bay door failed to close on July 29.

Qantas launches website for iPhone

The mobile version of its qantas.com site would allow iPhone-users to view the timetables of Qantas and Jetstar flights, Qantas spokeswoman Jamila Gordon said in a statement today.

‘These technological enhancements are part of Qantas’ broader mobile strategy, giving customers access to information and services via portable devices,” she said.

Qantas is the third airline in the world and the first in Australia to introduce the initiative.

Ms Gordon said Qantas aimed to expand the site to allow customers to book flights, search for fares and select seats.

She said the site would soon be available on other mobile devices such as the BlackBerry.

Virgin hits flyers with $20 baggage slug

VIRGIN Blue will slug passengers $20 from today if they fail to pay new baggage fees before they get to the airport.

Discount ticket holders will be charged $8 to check in up to 23kg of baggage when they book online or through the airline’s call centre.

But those who fail to pay the new fee before arriving at the airport will pay a penalty rate of $20.

And passengers with bags over 23kg will be charged $8 for every extra kilogram, as the airline tries to offset soaring fuel and security costs.

Passenger Adrian Leary estimated the usual four bags for himself, his wife and their young son would cost $64 pre-paid, and $160 if he waited until the airport to pay.

“You would have to shop around for a good price and see what you could get. Even if it meant $20 or $30 each way we would certainly look at flying with a different airline,” he said.

The airline said the baggage fee was a fairer way to recoup costs than raising fares across the board.

“We are reluctantly introducing modest baggage fees due to ever rising costs to all airlines associated with baggage security screening and extreme rises in the cost of jet fuel,” spokeswoman Amanda Bolger said.

“Today, due to increased security screening, which is a necessary fact of life, it costs us more to process a bag than its owner.”

The new fee is levied on bookings made from today for flights taken from September 1.

Previously, passengers could check in 20kg of luggage free.

Prams, portable cots, children’s car seats, medical equipment, wheelchairs and other mobility aids are exempt, as is up to 5kg of sports equipment such as bikes, surfboards and skis.

The baggage fee is part of a package unveiled last month to offset the crippling cost of fuel. The price of jet kerosene has doubled in the past year, blowing out budgets.

Lisa Kelly, from Dunalley in Tasmania, said she often travelled to Melbourne to shop and the new charge would make her think twice.

“It’s a bit hard when you are going somewhere and you don’t know how much you want to bring back,” she said.

“I would probably still come here. I would just take in as much hand luggage as possible.”

Although his family often flew between their Hobart home and Melbourne to holiday or visit relatives, Mr Leary said their travel habits could change if costs kept rising.

Virgin Blue also announced it would mothball aircraft, reduce some services, delay the delivery of five new jets bound for regional routes and lift some business class fares by up to 5 per cent.

At the same time, Qantas axed 1500 staff and said it would retire up to 22 aircraft.

Virgin jet forced to make high-speed landing

A VIRGIN Blue jet with 55 passengers on board was forced to make a high-speed landing at Melbourne airport in what air safety investigators are treating as a serious incident.

The scare follows a host of safety issues with Australian planes that began three weeks ago when an explosion on a Qantas 747 blew a hole in the fuselage.

The 78-seat Virgin Blue Embraer jet from Sydney was close to landing at 8.50pm on Sunday when the pilot experienced problems extending the flaps and the slats.

Emergency services were immediately put on standby as the Brazilian-built plane approached, The Australian reports.

The flaps, at the rear of the wing, and the slats, on the front, deploy to increase the wing’s surface area and slow the plane when landing.

A Virgin Blue spokesman said Sunday’s problems involved a sensor controlling the slats.

He said the pilot followed set guidelines with the flaps only partially extended and the slats not extended at all.”As a matter of practice, the flight crew notified air traffic control that alternate procedures were being adopted for landing,” he said.”Then air traffic control, in turn, as a safety precaution put emergency services at the airport on standby.”

Qantas voted World’s No.3 airline

Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific were named ahead of the national carrier in the independent Skytrax 2008 World Airline Awards.

Qantas jumped from fifth place last year to score a place in the top three, and claimed the award for best first class lounge.

The news follows a string of bad publicity for the airline which began last month when an explosion ripped a hole in the fuselage of a jet en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne, forcing an emergency landing at Manila.

Since then, a domestic flight was forced to return to Adelaide after a wheel bay door failed to close and another flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney after a hydraulic fluid leak was discovered.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon admitted last week that the airline’s reputation had been tainted by the incidents and said Qantas had to work hard to retrieve its good name.

But Skytrax chief executive Edward Plaisted said local scrutiny did not affect an airline’s international reputation.

“We found that Qantas comes under fire from some media that clearly contradicts a more widespread view of Qantas customers that voted for the airline in the survey,” Mr Plaisted said.

“We do find that many countries’ flag-carrier airlines suffer fairly vitriolic levels of reporting in their local regions, and the airline industry remains a business that some areas of the press seem to love to hate.”

The Skytrax voting closed before any of the recent dramas that have plagued the carrier.

Between August last year and June this year, more than 15 million people around the world were part of the awards survey measuring some 35 aspects of passenger satisfaction for product and service standards.

Qantas was commended in the categories of first class lounge and economy class catering.

The top 10 2008 Skytrax World Airline Award rankings (last year’s rankings in brackets):

1 Singapore Airlines (1)
2 Cathay Pacific (3)
3 Qantas (5)
4 Thai Airways (2)
5 Asiana Airlines (12)
6 Malaysia Airlines (6)
7 Qatar Airways (4)
8 Air New Zealand (7)
9 Emirates (9)
10 Etihad Airways (23)

Two Qantas planes grounded for checks

A LIGHTNING strike and severe turbulence grounded two more Qantas flights out of Melbourne yesterday, as the airline denied mechanical problems were forcing it to halt overseas maintenance of planes.

Flight QF2285 to Launceston and QF444 to Sydney were due to depart Melbourne airport at 3.20pm and 3.30pm, but were delayed and then cancelled.

Both planes were grounded for inspections after incidents as they flew into Melbourne.

A Devonport-to-Melbourne flight hit turbulence over Bass Strait. It was to have turned around as QF2285, but Qantas said it required a standard safety inspection after being shaken around.

The Sydney flight was to have been by a plane that had just arrived from Queenstown, New Zealand, but that aircraft was hit by lightning on its way to Melbourne.

Again, Qantas cancelled the Sydney flight as a precaution for safety checks.

Qantas spokeswoman Kristy McSweeney said nobody aboard either plane was injured by the turbulence or the lightning strike, and all passengers on the cancelled flights were put on to other flights.

The groundings followed news that two Qantas planes will be serviced at Tullamarine instead of in Malaysia, as the airline deals with a series of recent incidents.

Qantas denied that concerns about safety prompted the latest move but said it had no future plans for maintenance work in Malaysia.

Ms McSweeney said the decision to keep two 737 planes in Australia was simply due to a schedule change.

“We only have overflow heavy maintenance work undertaken overseas,” she said.

“We did explore options for two of the 737s to be checked in Malaysia, however, as a space became available at Tullamarine, a decision was taken to have the work done there.”

Last Thursday a Qantas jet was grounded in Melbourne because of noise from an air-conditioning fault.

It was reportedly the plane that returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia two months ago with 95 defects.

But Ms McSweeney said no changes were prompted by concerns with Malaysian maintenance systems, adding that all overseas maintenance work was overseen on-site by Qantas’ Australian engineers.

Malaysian Airlines has also defended its maintenance of Qantas aircraft, saying experts from the Australian carrier signed off on all repairs.

The decision to keep the two 737s in Australia was made as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigates the airline over a series of incidents, including the emergency landing of a Melbourne-bound 747, after a hole 4m by 2m was blown in its fuselage.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Dave Oliver said the decision to do the work on the two 737s locally was a “good start”, and called for an end to overseas maintenance.

“Now is the time Qantas should sit down with us to commit now to maintaining maintenance operations onshore,” Mr Oliver said.

“(And) to move off the path of cost-cutting and any further possibilities of further job reductions in their maintenance and engineering area.”