Qantas names its Airbus A380 fleet after famous Australians (in aviation)

Qantas Airlines named its future fleet of 20 Airbus A380 aircrafts after famous Australians in aviation.
From Asia Travel Tips -
The full list of people who will have an A380 named after them are:
• Nancy-Bird Walton – the first woman to fly a commercial aviation service in Australia.• Hudson Fysh – one of the founders [...]

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Glenn Tilton still beats Geoff Dixon on Airline CEO pay!

Qantas’ chief Geoff Dixon will step down next month with US $8.5 million (Australian $11.92 million) package this year which is still less than $10.3 million that United’s Glen Tilton received in 2007. But it does make Mr Dixon the second highest paid airline head! It is interesting to note that his compensation is much [...]

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V Australia postpones Launch

V Australia, Virgin Blue’s long-haul offshoot, was supposed to launch its service from Sydney to Los Angeles on December 15th, but due to the strike at Boeing headquarters has forced the launch until February of next year!
The airline has suspended advanced sale of tickets for travel December 15 2008 to February 28th 2009.
The strike is [...]

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Good News Everyone: Qantas receives its first Airbus A380 (with Video)

September 21st 2008, Sydney got its first landing by an Airbus A380 with Qantas’ first A380 delivery.
Some highlights of the event -

Like Father like son – Captain Peter Probert flew the plane (his father flew the first Boeing 747 into Australia in 1971)
Flight – Flew from Toulouse, France (Friday night) and landed in Sydney about [...]

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Second Qantas plane makes emergency landing!

Another Qantas jet (Boeing 737-800) had to make an emergency landing. The plane made an emergency landing at Adelaide Airport (37 minutes after taking off from the airport) after a door opened during flight to Melbourne. The airline did announce that “the door covering the wheel bay was not closed properly during take-off“.
This is the [...]

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Qantas 747 lands with a hole in fuselage

A Qantas 747-400 (QF 30 from London to Melbourne) was cruising at 29,000 feet when there was a loud boom. The boom was because of a hole which grew with a time extending from cargo hold into the passenger cabin. The cabin lost pressure and the aircraft started losing altitude (quickly descended 10,000 feet). The [...]

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Good news everyone: More flights to Thailand/brazil from Australia

Brazil is the most popular South American destination for Australian travelers and Thailand is Australia’s 6th largest destination.
Under a new federal government (Australian) agreement, flights to/from Thailand will immediately increase from 35 per week to 40 per week and 45 per week starting March next year. Also flights to/from Brazil will increase from 7 to [...]

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Quantas announces cost cutting measures

Earlier last week, Virgin Blue announced cost cutting measures. Friday, Quantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) Airways, largest Australian airline and Australia’s national airline, announced their own measures -

Cut 1,500 jobs by Dec 31 2008 – 20% management and head-office support positions to be slashed
Cancel plans to hire additional 1,200 employees
Cancel a planned 8% [...]

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Virgin Blue: Cost cutting measures announced

Rising gas prices have lead airlines around the world to try every kind of cost cutting measures like capacity reductions and new travel fees. Virgin Blue, Australian low cost airlines and Australia’s second biggest airline, announced today some new cost cutting measures -

Capacity reduction – Removing 2 Boeing 737 from service by October 2008. Also [...]

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Australia signs deals with South Africa and Kenya for better airspace

Australia has signed a deal with South Africa and Kenya to open up their airspace for the countries’ airlines allowing more flights between the South Africa – Kenya and Australia.
From Dispatch Online -
“Under the deal,
the number of weekly services Australian airlines can fly to South
Africa will immediately double to 10, rising to 14 in October [...]

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