Crikey’s political podcast with Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane joining Crikey editor Sophie Black to analyse the political and economic fallout stemming from Qantas’s historic decision to ground their national and international fleet.
Aviation
podcast Canberra Calling: The Qantas quagmire podcast
The remorseless logic and profound disdain of Alan Joyce
Qantas is prepared to threaten the Australian economy and thus has the government over a barrel. But it’s confirming Australians’ growing resentment of corporations.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The Australian Literary Review
Crikey readers have their say.
Virgin at a loss, but it’s more Australian than Qantas
While this morning’s reported net loss after tax of $67.8 million by Virgin Australia in the year to June 30 was within its guidance after the Queensland floods and cyclone, it comes a day after Qantas reported a doubling of group profits.
Jetconnect incident raises question of where Qantas calls home
Will the Qantas anthem continue to be “I still call Australia home” when the public increasingly realise that the plot is to call Auckland or Singapore home?
Pilot training, air safety inquiry to recall industry heavyweights
fter the shocks that emerged in a Senate committee hearing last Friday concerning pilot training and airline safety in Australia, the inquiry has been extended to May 4.
Coming to an airport near you…
Memo Canberra and regional sky warriors: the Virgin Blue buzz box, or turbo-prop, is on its way to an airport near you.
ACCC does u-turn on airline competition
It’s been a big morning in airline competition in Australia with the ACCC backtracked on its earlier opposition to Virgin Blue enjoying the same sort of price-fixing deals that Qantas enjoys.
How close did Qantas and Virgin Blue get in their near miss?
The WebTrak site shows the vertical separation of the Virgin Blue 737 and a Qantas 767 during Sunday afternoon’s near miss while climbing away from Melbourne Airport as being as little as 28 metres, reports Ben Sandilands.
aviation industry Crikey aviation reporter Ben Sandilands reflects on a half century in journalism
When Ben Sandilands became a reporter in 1960, great ocean liners still sailed regularly to Europe and North America. Half a century later Sandliands is still filing copy, and is one of Australia’s leading aviation journalists. These are his reflections.
Catch 22 for Jetstar over sacked pilot’s safety concerns
Jetstar has been struggling all morning to reconcile its claims that pilots are encouraged to raise safety issues after sacking a first officer, Joe Eakins, who did just that, in an opinion piece published by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in October.
Qantaslink’s pilot training to come under Senate inquiry scrutiny
Serious deficiencies in Qantaslink are understood to have been drawn to the attention of the forthcoming Senate Inquiry into pilot training and standards.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Why Federalism is stuffed
One Crikey reader writes that all the brouhaha, posturing, chest beating, and COAGulation, shows what is wrong with federalism. Plus, readers weigh in on the GST, the ABC and human rights.
The ash clears to reveal sky high prices
In the wake of the volcano travel freeze, airlines are charging rip-off economy-class fares to London. But could the backlash ultimately lead to a discounting frenzy?
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Tales from a volcano
Crikey readers weigh in on airlines and volcanos. Is it so bad that aeroplane transport has stopped? Plus, thoughts on COAG, states and the death of Carl Williams. Oh, and the Pirate Party.
The flight ban isn’t about volcanic ash — it’s about negative thinking
Airlines aren’t worried about their pilots’ safety — they’re worried about the survival of the species. Sociologist Frank Furedi explains why Europe’s flight ban is based far more on our “worst-case thinking” than level-headed risk assessment.
A380 vs. the volcano: who are the crazy pilots who fly into the ash?
Both Airbus and Boeing have a hardcore cadre of test pilots who are paid very, very well to deliberately do insanely dangerous things to passenger aircraft — like, say, fly through volcanic ash…
Crikey Says: Gallows humour? Hang the expense
As volcano ash from the Eyjafjallajokull glacier drifts across Europe, we were struck by the gallows humour of this email that gives a nice simple perspective to inconvenienced air travellers.
Sydney left in Melbourne’s wake as Avalon and Tiger do business
It looks like game, set and match for Melbourne when it comes to taking the title of the growth centre for Australia, as Tiger announce that Avalon will become its second Melbourne airport.
Eyjafjallajokull: Ashes and angst as airlines navigate holes in the clouds
The pyro-electrical storm that is raging over the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland is getting upstaged by an outbreak of greed versus caution, airlines versus authorities, pilots versus pilots and passengers versus travel insurance companies.
Imagining a world without planes
With air-traffic at a standstill across Europe, writer and author Alain de Botton imagines a world without the flying machines about which we constantly bitch and moan. Maybe they’re not so bad after all…
The media miss the mark on the real problems with Qantas
The media is engaged in a Qantas disaster frenzy and it’s all a shallow media sham. None of these incidents matter two cents, but a lazy media is chasing after problems which Qantas has dealt in the safest possible manner.
Regulatory capture, American Airlines style
There has been some ugly reporting lately of a problem largely hushed up in Australia, which is the regulatory capture of air safety authorities by the airlines they are supposed to regulate. Ben Sandilands explains.
Rocket waves captured on video
Amateur videos captured visible rings of rippling shock waves from a rocket launch in Florida last week, when completely unexpected, the Solar Dynamics Observatory blasted past a ’sundog’ caused by suspended ice particles in the air.
Crikey Clarifier: Will a fat tax for airline passengers work?
Will airlines be forced to charge excess baggage for beer guts, love handles and other bits on the cellulite-infused porkers? There’s no “fat controllers” yet, but how do we battle the bulge and the budget carrier?
