A330 Reliability Issues

[AIRwin]

It was the Asian scenic route...

Surprised no refuelling?

 

[RB001]

Surprised no refuelling?

Tokyo-Brisbane via Brunei is around 10,000km.
LA-Brisbane is about 11,500km.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

They could land in any friendly country, would be costly for all involved and I am sure international agreements eould be in place if an emegency was declared.
Hey didnt they even land in Baku few months ago.

 

[Harrison_133]

VH-EBD back in the air today on a BNE-BNE test flight after many months in the shop.

Hopefully that will allow the remaining 332s to have inflight internet added, and then start on the refurbs.

VH-EBD finally returned to service yesterday on QF781 MEL-PER.

 

[AIRwin]

Most of my flying involves the A330 and yes I am being hit on a regular basis...the highlight was the 14hr NRT-BNE because the radio was broken so our route had to go via land the long round Asia back home! The tired cabins, terrible toilets and old tech doesn't help...

Looks like it happened again last night?

 

[AIRwin]

VH-QPD operating a daytime DPS-SYD flight this morning after the inbound QF43 was delayed around 6 hours last night... Glad I flew on QF43 the previous day and it even arrived early!

 

[Saab34]

Seems to be at least half dozen A330s at the BNE engineering facility.

 

[moa999]

Seems to be at least half dozen A330s at the BNE engineering facility.

Two of them will be the recently painted AY aircraft yet to commence dry lease.

But four others sounds excessive.

 

[Saab34]

Two of them will be the recently painted AY aircraft yet to commence dry lease.

But four others sounds excessive.

Perhaps it’s just Saturday downtime but it’s definitely a fleet with ongoing issues by the looks.

They certainly would be in a spot of bother if they never had access to these AY 330s.

One appears to be stuck in Darwin for unknown reasons.

 

[SJF211]

One appears to be stuck in Darwin for unknown reasons.

VH-EBD diverted to DRW due to engine issues.

 

[Harrison_133]

Two of them will be the recently painted AY aircraft yet to commence dry lease.

But four others sounds excessive.

Six in BNE is plausible.

EBB - hasn't flown since yesterday morning
EBG - hasn't flown since arriving early this morning
EBR - hasn't flown since 21 October
QPJ - hasn't flown since August
QPK - AY aircraft
QPL - AY aircraft

And elsewhere:

EBA - in MEL since 26 October
EBD - in DRW per the above posts
EBM - in AUH since 15 October

 

[elanshin]

Two of them will be the recently painted AY aircraft yet to commence dry lease.

But four others sounds excessive.

2 OH, QPJ which has been there for major maintenance for a while

EBB came in 38h ago and is still there. (Came in as QF52). Today's QF52 is also here still (EBG) and EBR has been there for 11 days.

Do any of those need wifi domes?

 

[moa999]

EBM in AUH is one of the three 332s without wifi - others EBP EBQ.

Suspect QPJ will be getting the hump (QPH QPI already have it of the 333s).

And not sure what they will do with QPK and QPL - while the AY aircraft have a hump believe they use a Ku band antenna, so that would need to be altered

 

[Steve994]

PER-MEL is one of the highest revenue routes in the world (10th). Qantas currently charge $5,577 for a return business fare. Obviously there is a massive difference in comfort between lie flat business (A330) and recliner (B737), however Qantas price them the same.


VA have more flights, QF have the better (bigger) planes. QF are balancing the larger number of seats on the A330 with fewer flights, which works well until there's a cancellation or substitution with a 737.



I'd think that having no seats to sell on one of the highest revenue routes wouldn't be optimal.

But yes, QF might feel like they don't need to improve their offering. At the moment there are regular fliers like myself who choose QF simply because they run A330s. Lie flat business, and comfortable 2-4-2 economy.

Once you take that away there's really no reason to pay a premium for QF over VA/JQ.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's going to get worse. I just did a comparison of PER - MEL flights on random week days this month then looked ahead to April/May next year. 5 flights a day this month are A330's. In April/May next year some days 1 and some days 2.

 

[moa999]

Agreed. As the 332s get refurbed and others leave the fleet, plus QF get more 321XLRs think the narrowbodies will become more and more common, even on PER-SYD.

If we go back a decade or so QF had just gotten delivery of 332s with 2x3x2 in J and then Borghetti changed the game over at VA.