Qantas 747 to evacuate Australians from Cairo

[jakeseven7]

Just announced, Qantas will be operating at least one charter flight to assist Australians trapped in Egypt....

Wonder if they'll get QFF points ?!

 

[nlagalle]

Just announced, Qantas will be operating at least one charter flight to assist Australians trapped in Egypt....

Wonder if they'll get QFF points ?!

I wonder what Kudos QF will get for it..

 

[jakeseven7]

I wonder what Kudos QF will get for it..

Haha no news will find some way to damn their involvement I'm sure

 

[VHOEJ]

I wonder what Kudos QF will get for it..

None - the media will easily ignore the fact (e.g not showing it depart, land etc) and no doubt they have anoher delay or 'emergency' story ready to go.

Oh wait, 747's - those Rolls Royce ones are a death trap because of the maintainence (that is done here).

 

[Mal]

I believe the charter is being paid for by the Govt (no idea what rate they'd be paying), so it's not just a gift from Qantas.

And once again like usual, the "Woe Me. Why isn't my Government saving me" type stories are coming out:

Government-organised charter flight to evacuate Aussies from Egypt | The Australian

Waaah. Waaah. Emegency supply of bibs required in Egypt.

PS - Hasn't Egypt been on the "Do Not Travel" recommendation list for a while???

 

[dk4]

I wonder what Kudos QF will get for it..

Are Qantas operating this service free of charge? Or is it a commercial transaction, with someone else picking up the tab? If so, then zero kudos seems reasonable IMO.

 

[Hvr]

I wonder what Kudos QF will get for it..

Sadly, probably none. I was evacuated from BKK in Dec 08 when the yellow shirts occupied BKK AP. QF bussed us from BKK to HKT and then flew he us to SIN and home.

Extremely well organised and the staff were magnificent, At the same time QF were also evacuating people from a far more dangerous situation in Mumbai..

The only press I saw was a channel 7 person who was desperate for pax to denigrate QF. A disgraceful effort and one I am pleased to say virtually everybody refused to participate in.

 

[k_sheep]

PS - Hasn't Egypt been on the "Do Not Travel" recommendation list for a while???

It was at the 3rd level when I was looking in November ... don't know about after that.

 

[VHOEJ]

The only press I saw was a channel 7 person who was desperate for pax to denigrate QF. A disgraceful effort and one I am pleased to say virtually everybody refused to participate in.

Typical - and if the media were stuck, they would take a QF flight without hestiation (and probably still complain).

99% of passengers are grateful for the actions of the airline in this situation - you just hope the media realise that QF does help out the country in these situations without any hesitation. It is not expected, but they always do it. So while the media bad mouths our national carrier, they take this sort of thing for granted.

 

[dk4]

...you just hope the media realise that QF does help out the country in these situations without any hesitation. It is not expected, but they always do it. So while the media bad mouths our national carrier, they take this sort of thing for granted.

First up, Qantas spin doctors aside, I think the first question the media should be asking, assuming that the goverment is funnelling tax payer money towards this endeavour is -

Would Etihad, Emirates, Singapore Airlines... have done the job for a better price? (Or weren't they even asked? :shock

And as for this "national carrier" business; isn't Qantas a sharemarket listed company, operating for the profit of its private shareholders?

 

[pauly7]

Couldn't care less how much the government is paying for the charter, they have a long standing process, relationship and no doubt rate card for this sort if thing with Qantas. I'm sure it is appropriate.

I would love to see some pics of the 747 in Cairo though that would be great

 

[docjames]

Would love to know how the crew are assigned to this sort of "operation" (irrespective of who pays / on what commercial terms between QF and Aust Gov.).

 

[Mal]

Would love to know how the crew are assigned to this sort of "operation" (irrespective of who pays / on what commercial terms between QF and Aust Gov.).

It is planned to be an extension of travel from either LHR or FRA. (Rather than a full charter from Australia), so will probably be done during some "down time" after arrival into LHR or FRA.

As for who goes ... now that is an interesting question. I assume staff wouldn't be "forced" to go, but rather they would volunteer and be paid. Qantas does have a big staff base in LHR, so surely there would be an appropriate number of staff who would volunteer.

 

[NM]

My understanding is that it will be the aircraft that operates QF5 SYD-SIN-FRA will do a FRA-CAI-FRA during its usual "down-time". So if necessary they could do it daily for a few days. I assume they will take the evacuees to FRA and they can make their own arrangements from there.

QF has crews based at LHR as well as crews on rest breaks at FRA so it should not be hard to get a crew to op the FRA-CAI-FRA turn-around.

Its the ground ops at CAI that will be interesting. Obviously QF won't have staff there to handle check-in. They may be able to leverage whatever BA do in CAI.

 

[Kendall Roy]

My understanding is that it will be the aircraft that operates QF5 SYD-SIN-FRA will do a FRA-CAI-FRA during its usual "down-time". So if necessary they could do it daily for a few days. I assume they will take the evacuees to FRA and they can make their own arrangements from there.

QF has crews based at LHR as well as crews on rest breaks at FRA so it should not be hard to get a crew to op the FRA-CAI-FRA turn-around.

Its the ground ops at CAI that will be interesting. Obviously QF won't have staff there to handle check-in. They may be able to leverage whatever BA do in CAI.

Another board is saying ops LHR-CAI-LHR

BA @ CAI are subbies who are far below par in the customer service area!

 

[Mal]

BA @ CAI are subbies who are far below par in the customer service area!

I'm sure the 'grateful' Australian citizens who are rescued won't mind ...

Then again, I'm sure I will see the whining idiots (amongst the crowd) complaining to News Ltd that they weren't looked after.

 

[anat0l]

Awww, geez. Why couldn't the government have chosen VA to do the operation? I thought they would have been much cheaper and more "Australian"...

 

[pauly7]

Awww, geez. Why couldn't the government have chosen VA to do the operation? I thought they would have been much cheaper and more "Australian"...

I think you are joking right lol....!!

I guess because QF has bases and aircraft over there and already services the ports most appropriate to evac Aussies to. Easier. VA don't have a presence in Europe. 747 can carry more bodies... Etc etc

 

[markis10]

I would love to see some pics of the 747 in Cairo though that would be great

QF have had a 747 in there at least once every few years lately as part of the Captains choice tour, last one was Sept 2010, from memory an AFF member did a trip report a few years back, or maybe it was on FT!

 

[anat0l]

I think you are joking right lol....!!

I guess because QF has bases and aircraft over there and already services the ports most appropriate to evac Aussies to. Easier. VA don't have a presence in Europe. 747 can carry more bodies... Etc etc

Facetious comments aside....

Well you have to remember that VA do fly to AUH, which is useful since it will be much less used than LON or FRA if evacuations of this type are happening frequently. And those 777s have a capacity which is comparable to a fair degree of the QF fleet.


In any case, good on QF for doing the job, although in the end it's going to be stressful all around - QF, government, people being evacuated, staff: on the ground, in the air - everywhere. It's probably not something worth giving kudos to QF since really it was a government initiative.