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Sounds like the newspaper is making a mountain out a molehill....
Jetstar plan for new planes runs into a spot of trouble
By Scott Rochfort
June 28, 2004
Jetstar may face delays with the launch of its fleet of Airbus 320s after the aviation safety regulator "failed" the Jetstar crew delivering the first of the aircraft from France.
Casting doubts on Jetstar's ability to bring its first A320 into service on July 20, Civil Aviation Safety Authority inspectors questioned the expertise of the budget airline's crew after it was flown from the Airbus factory to Melbourne on Monday.
"There were certain issues raised by us in relation to the operation of that flight which Jetstar are addressing," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
CASA would not specify the problems, only to say they were not "show stoppers".
Despite Jetstar still being without the necessary air operators certificate (AOC) to put its A320s into commercial service, Mr Gibson said: "The process of upgrading the certificate to include the A320s is progressing satisfactorily."
Jetstar's present AOC only allows it to operate Boeing 717s.
Set to take delivery of 23 A320s by mid-2006, the 177-seat aircraft will gradually replace Jetstar's fleet of 14 125-seat Boeing 717s over the next two years and will form the backbone of the airline's plans to eventually expand beyond the east coast of Australia.
The airline's corporate relations manager, Simon Westaway, said he was confident the first Jetstar A320s would enter service by July 20.
When asked about the Jetstar crew being failed on the delivery flight, Mr Westaway said: "We think it's inappropriate to comment on matters between the regulator and the licence holder."
Jetstar is set to hold a series of "proving" flights for the aircraft out of Sydney this week. In order to obtain an AOC, Jetstar must prove it can carry out all the necessary procedures to safely operate a fleet of A320s; from flying, maintenance, keeping records and having adequately trained crew.
Virgin Blue encountered similar problems with its own launch four years ago, when it was forced to resubmit its AOC papers.
The first Jetstar A320 is slated for services from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, and Sunshine Coast to Avalon airport near Geelong. Jetstar plans to add one A320 to its fleet each month, before using the aircraft to expand westward later in the year.
Already operating on 14 destinations along the east coast, Jetstar plans to use the A320 to open up new destinations such as Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Darwin, Broome, Townsville and Adelaide after November.
There are suspicions Jetstar will eventually replace Qantas domestic services on lower yielding non-capital city routes dominated by holiday travellers. The launch of Jetstar one month ago has already seen Qantas pull out services to Hamilton Island, Proserpine and the Sunshine Coast.
Amid talk Qantas could one day just concentrate on routes with higher yielding business traffic (Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne), the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's managing director, Peter Harbison, said: "Whether or not it comes [down to] capital city routes will be just a matter of playing it day by day."
But Mr Harbison predicted more cheap airfares, given Qantas's desire to claw back some of the 34 per cent market share Virgin has snared since the collapse of Ansett.
"I'm quite sure that Qantas has got the real intention to get their market share back to 80 per cent, or 75 per cent at least," he said.
Added to the huge amount of capacity coming into the market with the delivery of Jetstar's A320 fleet, Mr Harbison said there was no doubt the Qantas offshoot would need to offer discount fares to attract passengers.
Jetstar plan for new planes runs into a spot of trouble
By Scott Rochfort
June 28, 2004
Jetstar may face delays with the launch of its fleet of Airbus 320s after the aviation safety regulator "failed" the Jetstar crew delivering the first of the aircraft from France.
Casting doubts on Jetstar's ability to bring its first A320 into service on July 20, Civil Aviation Safety Authority inspectors questioned the expertise of the budget airline's crew after it was flown from the Airbus factory to Melbourne on Monday.
"There were certain issues raised by us in relation to the operation of that flight which Jetstar are addressing," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
CASA would not specify the problems, only to say they were not "show stoppers".
Despite Jetstar still being without the necessary air operators certificate (AOC) to put its A320s into commercial service, Mr Gibson said: "The process of upgrading the certificate to include the A320s is progressing satisfactorily."
Jetstar's present AOC only allows it to operate Boeing 717s.
Set to take delivery of 23 A320s by mid-2006, the 177-seat aircraft will gradually replace Jetstar's fleet of 14 125-seat Boeing 717s over the next two years and will form the backbone of the airline's plans to eventually expand beyond the east coast of Australia.
The airline's corporate relations manager, Simon Westaway, said he was confident the first Jetstar A320s would enter service by July 20.
When asked about the Jetstar crew being failed on the delivery flight, Mr Westaway said: "We think it's inappropriate to comment on matters between the regulator and the licence holder."
Jetstar is set to hold a series of "proving" flights for the aircraft out of Sydney this week. In order to obtain an AOC, Jetstar must prove it can carry out all the necessary procedures to safely operate a fleet of A320s; from flying, maintenance, keeping records and having adequately trained crew.
Virgin Blue encountered similar problems with its own launch four years ago, when it was forced to resubmit its AOC papers.
The first Jetstar A320 is slated for services from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, and Sunshine Coast to Avalon airport near Geelong. Jetstar plans to add one A320 to its fleet each month, before using the aircraft to expand westward later in the year.
Already operating on 14 destinations along the east coast, Jetstar plans to use the A320 to open up new destinations such as Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Darwin, Broome, Townsville and Adelaide after November.
There are suspicions Jetstar will eventually replace Qantas domestic services on lower yielding non-capital city routes dominated by holiday travellers. The launch of Jetstar one month ago has already seen Qantas pull out services to Hamilton Island, Proserpine and the Sunshine Coast.
Amid talk Qantas could one day just concentrate on routes with higher yielding business traffic (Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne), the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's managing director, Peter Harbison, said: "Whether or not it comes [down to] capital city routes will be just a matter of playing it day by day."
But Mr Harbison predicted more cheap airfares, given Qantas's desire to claw back some of the 34 per cent market share Virgin has snared since the collapse of Ansett.
"I'm quite sure that Qantas has got the real intention to get their market share back to 80 per cent, or 75 per cent at least," he said.
Added to the huge amount of capacity coming into the market with the delivery of Jetstar's A320 fleet, Mr Harbison said there was no doubt the Qantas offshoot would need to offer discount fares to attract passengers.
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