The pilot of the Pel-Air Westwind that crashed off Norfolk Island on Wednesday apparently took off with inadequate fuel supplies. He, and his airline, must be prosecuted.
Australian aviation industry
Attention all media: an Australian jet crashed last night
Jet crashes are rare in Australia, but one happened last night at Norfolk Island and no-one in the media noticed. All six people on board the CareFlight medical evacuation jet have survived
Did a cosmic ray zap the Airbus?
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is now considering the remote possibility that a rogue cosmic ray or solar particle caused a Qantas plane to twice dive out of control over Western Australia in October last year, says Ben Sandilands.
Violent plunges of QF72 remain a mystery
Heads hit the roof when a Qantas A300 dipped and dived off Western Australia last year. But a second interim report released today holds no certain answers.
Credibility of Qantas on line over “unusual vibrations” aka a flaming engine
The scorched engine at the centre of the latest allegations about safety standards at Qantas is now being examined by the independent air safety investigator, and the credibility of two unions, the airline’s management and the air safety regulation enforce are all on the line.
Virgin’s Velocity Gold blue
Personalising a free upgrade in writing and then rescinding it entirely is just a “douche-bag move”, writes a Crikey reader angered at Friday’s Virgin Blue stuff up.
Qantas unveils its “Airport of the Future”
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has unveiled the company’s vision for the “Airport of the Future”, a strategy he claims will halve check-in times and allow passengers to check themselves and their baggage in electronically, avoiding the long airport queues.
Jetstar creates a jet stir in Vietnam
The $A53.9 million Qantas investment in Jetstar Pacific has flown into an ideological chasm in the ranks of the Communist Party and government in Vietnam, and it isn’t clear how it can escape.
Tiger bites Roo with Melbourne-Brisbane flights
Another Qantas Cityflyer route is being munched on by Tiger, reports Ben Sandilands: this time, it’s the Melbourne to Brisbane route, with the low-fare airline offering flights up to three times daily from 28 March.
Safety screwed over wrong washer
The aircraft engineers union is pursuing claims that Qantas avoided a detailed safety investigation of a 747 last year, which could have caused some of its engines to fall off in flight.
Tiger bares its teeth at Cityflyer
Low fare airline Tiger Airways continues its assault on Qantas’ Cityflyer operation with the announcement of even more Sydney flights, says Ben Sandilands. Yep: not low fare Jetstar, nor middle market Virgin Blue, but high fare Qantas. Grr.
Memo CASA chief: an uncritical media is not your friend
The underlying managerial culture of modern enterprises is to push productivity to within a millimetre of breaking the people or the equipment, and to lift output year in year out. Unfortunately in the airline game, that can kill hundreds of people at once.
Time for Tiger Airways to stop pussy-footing around compensation
There is no justification for Tiger Airways taking up to two months to compensate hundreds of passengers for the expenses they had to meet after being stranded in Hobart for three days last week, says Ben Sandilands
Qantas report stands like a beacon of poor corporate governance
The Qantas 2009 Remuneration Report stands out like a beacon of poor corporate governance. That a majority of institutional shareholders could actually vote in favour of the resolution makes you wonder: exactly who is watching the watchers?
Chilling out on Jetstar: cash grab or coincidence?
Flying Jetstar? Pack a pashima, because if one Crikey reader’s complaint is correct, they may try and freeze the loose change out of your pockets.
Questions by the plane load for Qantas AGM
The most urgent question for shareholders at next week’s Qantas AGM in Perth isn’t the lavish reward to former CEO Geoff Dixon, but whether the group’s toxic management culture will destroy his replacement Alan Joyce and cripple the carrier.
Qantas: The chance for answers goes west
Qantas shareholders meet next week in faraway Perth — well away from where the majority of shareholders actually live. What is Qantas hiding from?
Four airlines, two cities, and a big cat fight
Qantas and Virgin Blue lose a significant amount of control over domestic fares and scheduling from today when Tiger lifts its frequency on the Sydney-Melbourne route to nine times daily each way. The fur will fly, says Ben Sandilands.
How Geoff Dixon’s millions grounded
Qantas
For eight years, former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon was the highest paid airline executive in the world, despite a pretty mediocre performance in the job. The irony hasn’t been lost on the company’s embattled workforce.
Airlines nosedive overseas while Oz planes defy gravity
Australian airlines continue to defy gravity, despite the sharp dives into quarterly losses posted overnight by Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa.
Sydney airport at Richmond? So funny it might not be serious
The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia has to be kidding if it really, truly, wants the Federal Government to build a second Sydney airport at the RAAF base at Richmond.
Boeing drops hints of a new super green 737
Boeing may be close to launching a major upgrade to its 737 single aisle jet family.
Oz vs NZ: Qantas attack
While the rest of the world’s air transport market goes into shock, Qantas has gone after the struggling Air New Zealand with massive force, writes Ben Sandilands.
The airbus beast emerges French style
The real beast within the giant Airbus A380 airliner emerged overnight with plans for an obscure French colonial carrier to buy two of them, writes Ben Sandilands.
Out of control: The air traffic staffing crisis
Months after airliners began to lose a reliable air traffic control system in Australia, the air safety regulator has done nothing to enforce rules about staffing levels, writes Ben Sandilands.
