Qantas quiet over Jetstar merger report

Qantas Airways Ltd, which ended merger talks with British Airways last week, declined to comment on reports that its budget subsidiary Jetstar was in merger discussions with low-cost carrier AirAsia Bhd.”We talk to airlines all the time about possible partnerships, relationships and cooperative agreements,” a Qantas spokesperson said.A report in Malaysia’s The Star newspaper, citing an unnamed source, said Jetstar and AirAsia were in merger talks, possibly involving a shareswap, to cope with the slowing worldwide demand for air travel.

British Airways-Qantas merger talks still up in the air

THE prospect of an $8 billion merger between Qantas and British Airways is fading.While Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford is keen to tie the knot with BA early next year senior managers at head office are playing down the likelihood of it going ahead, The Courier-Mail reports.It is understood differences are emerging between what Mr Clifford and the board want and what management actually see as do-able.Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said two weeks ago that BA was not the only merger option open to the airline but last week he described the proposal as a possible deal.

Qantas takes Delivery of Second Airbus A380

Qantas has taken delivery of its second Airbus A380 super jumbo. The new aircraft arrived in Sydney early this morning (Wednesday, 17 December), and will begin operating services between Melbourne and Los Angeles and Sydney and Los Angeles from 22 December 2008.Qantas’ third aircraft is scheduled to be delivered on 27 December. Its arrival will allow the airline to commence A380 services between Sydney and London via Singapore on 16 January 2009.

Qantas slashes fuel surcharges for domestic flights

QANTAS is to cut its fuel surcharge on all domestic flights to reflect falls in jet fuel prices, the airline has announced.The surcharge will fall by up to $5 to $21 on all Qantas and QantasLink flights and will apply to tickets issued on or after November 28, 2008.The discounting follows reductions last month to the airline’s international surcharges and domestic fares.The Executive General Manager of Qantas, Mr John Borghetti, said the airline had recently reduced its international surcharges and domestic fares in response to falls in oil and jet fuel prices.

Failed Qantas sale was a blessing

THE collapse of last year’s $11billion takeover offer for Qantas was a near miss for the national airline, which today would be struggling to remain competitive if its private equity predators had succeeded in their debt-funded bid.The bid for Qantas, driven by the ailing Allco Finance Group at the peak of private equity takeovers in Australia, would have increased the airline’s bank debt more than four-fold to $10.7billion.Analysts said that, at best, Qantas would now be drawing on cash reserves to pay weekly interest bills of $20million and would have embarked on a massive cost-cutting and asset-sale drive to cope with the economic downturn striking all airlines.At worst, one said, the national icon could have become “a crippled airline that a cynic might suggest would end up in government hands”, the Weekend Australian reports.

Qantas crew flew blind, says passenger

A PASSENGER onboard the Qantas flight that suffered radar failure mid-flight said crew were forced to “fly blind”.Qantas flight QF12 from Los Angeles spent about 10 hours under the guardianship of the Air New Zealand jet and was diverted to Auckland for repairs to a faulty weather radar.Passenger Sean Lygo photographed the latest blot on Qantas’s safety record, as the rare sight unfolded off the aircraft’s port wing.”A few hours out of Los Angeles they lost the radar, the antenna gave up, and the captain had to fly blind for a little while,” Mr Lygo, of Cremorne Point, Sydney, said yesterday.”It was incredible how they could fly blind and then pick up an Air New Zealand flight to guide them in.The Qantas flight crew realised only three hours out of Los Angeles that the weather antenna wasn’t “working to their full satisfaction”.

Faulty equipment downs Qantas jets

QANTAS has been forced to bring down two planes in one day after they suffered equipment failure in mid-flight.The first incident saw a Qantas flight “piggyback” an Air New Zealand plane and divert to Auckland after its weather antenna stopped working three hours out of Los Angeles.In a rare and extraordinary sight, passengers awoke to a high-altitude dawn with a close-up view of the Air New Zealand jet off their left wing.Over 280 passengers on board flight QF12 arrived in Sydney four hours late after repairs to the aircraft in New Zealand.

Mid-flight fist fight traumatises crew

A VIRGIN Blue plane had to turn around mid-flight after two rowdy passengers got into a fist fight and one pretended he was carrying a bomb.The flight from Brisbane to Darwin had to be cancelled after two passengers caused a disruption shortly after boarding.Witnesses said the men had been drinking and began fighting before one of the men started running down the aisle screaming: “I’ve got a bomb.”The flight had to be stopped and the plane flown back to Brisbane. The cabin crew were said to have been traumatised by the incident.Australian Federal Police officers were called to Brisbane airport where they arrested a 54-year-old man.Passengers on board Virgin Blue flight 449 to Darwin last Thursday evening were put up in hotels for the night and flown to Darwin the next day.

Many passengers were inconvenienced by the flight’s cancellation, including the mother of a Darwin Digger.Gunner Nathan Wallace’s Brisbane-based mother had planned to get into Darwin just before her son arrived home from a 12-month tour of duty including five months in Afghanistan.But she missed her son’s homecoming after being stuck in Brisbane.Virgin Blue spokeswoman Heather Jeffery said there were 138 passengers on board the plane.”During the flight a male passenger became extremely verbally aggressive and appeared to be intoxicated,” she said.”At our Captain’s discretion mid-flight we returned the aircraft to Brisbane and the offender was arrested by the Australian Federal Police.”"Overnight accommodation was provided for all guests and a flight was arranged they redeparted the following morning.”

Ms Jeffery said safety was the airline’s first priority.”We simply will not tolerate any behaviour like that on board our aircraft and we believe our other passengers would understand and support that,” she said.

Qantas just unlucky, say mechanics

QANTAS’ series of mechanical problems are due to bad luck not scrimping on maintenance, the head of Malaysia Airlines’ engineering and maintenance (E&M) arm says.Malaysia Airlines’ E&M division, which has done maintenance work for Qantas, said the recent spate of safety incidents to plague the Australian carrier could happen to any airline.They were not related to Qantas increasing its offshore maintenance work, Malaysia Airlines E&M senior general manager Mohd Roslan Ismali said.”It can happen to anybody,” Mr Ismali said. “It is just pure bad luck, nothing more.”Qantas uses its own facilities in Australia as well as a variety of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) organisations in Asia to maintain its planes.

Air fares will stay cheap, says Qantas boss at A380 launch

THE financial crisis has cut demand for air travel and will keep air fares low, says Qantas chief Geoff Dixon.Speaking at Melbourne airport  today before before Qantas’s first A380 took off on its maiden Melbourne-LA flight, Mr Dixon said the world’s financial troubles could be a boon for flyers.Asked whether he thought the financial meltdown would end the days of discount flights, Mr Dixon predicted it would be “quite the opposite”, the Herald Sun reported.“If the economic crisis does have a major impact on travel, the only way you’ll be able to encourage people is to have discounts.”Mr Dixon said passenger demand had fallen in all travel classes.”There is a lessening in demand in all classes, Qantas has held up better than most airlines,” Reuters reported.Worries about the impact of the global economic slowdown on international travel have hit airline shares in recent weeks, with Qantas shares down 14 per cent since the start of October compared with an 11 per cent slide for the broader market.