Tiger’s operations in Australia and throughout South-East Asia have seen a shrinkage of the pool of cash from forward sales.
Australian aviation industry
How to score the best seats on the newest Qantas Cityflyer
Are you tired, crushed, and demoralised with the tight fit cabins on planes now that the bean counters have banned business class? Ben Sandilands scans Qantas’ new Cityflyer seating plans to find the best seats: it’s all happening in rows 23 and 44.
How Jetstar is devouring Qantas
Forget any hope of a quick revival in business demand for those nice big “full service” Qantas seats — the company has posted figures showing poor yields for the first quarter of its current financial year, while its low-fare arm Jetstar more than doubled in customers.
Flying every Australian airline in one day
Angus Kidman flies all of Australia’s four domestic airlines — Jetstar, Qantas, Tiger and Virgin Blue — in one day. Which is the best? The worst? Who has the least disgusting in-flight meals?
Virgin Blue flies into black
Virgin Blue is making money this financial year, but is trying to keep a lid on major pending announcements about its brand and new cabin arrangements, says Ben Sandilands.
CASA must act now to prosecute over Pel-Air crash
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.
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.
