Qantas says it is being forced to park a further two Boeing 767-300s from next Monday due to the backlog of maintenance work caused by industrial action by its maintenance engineers, and has warned more aircraft groundings may be necessary. The airline says removing the two 767s from its fleet will mean a further 80
China Eastern has cancelled an order for 24 Boeing 787s, and will instead order 45 Boeing 737s. China’s second largest airline says it will also order 15 Airbus A330s and trade back to Airbus four A340-300s. The new A330s will be delivered from 2013 to 2015, the 737s from 2014 to 2016.
Piper has appointed its VP of operations, Simon Caldecott, as its new interim president and CEO, with immediate effect, and has announced it is reviewing the future of its Altaire (formerly PiperJet) very light jet program. Caldecott replaces Geoff Berger, who was appointed interim CEO in mid 2010, while also departing the company is executive
Qantas has launched its new, most exclusive Qantas Frequent Flyer program level, ‘Platinum One’, which it says will “only be available for a select group of the airline’s most loyal customers”. Features of the new level include a ‘Platinum One Special Service Team’, which will “monitor, support and enhance [Platinum One member’s] travel experience; assistance
Virgin Australia’s first ATR 72 RPT flight departed Brisbane for Gladstone this morning, signaling the start of the airline’s new regional turboprop operations. Virgin Australia flight DJ 1711 departed Brisbane for Gladstone at 10.30am. The airline is using the 68-seat ATRs, which are operated by Skywest on Virgin Australia’s behalf, for the new twice daily Brisbane-Gladstone
Qantas has detailed plans to operate almost 400 fewer domestic flights – capacity equivalent to around 60,000 seats – over the next month as industrial action by its engineers takes effect on its backlog of maintenance work. Qantas says that the cumulative effect of industrial action by ALAEA members, including work stoppages, a ban on
