Qantas' Impending Change to Tokyo Flight Schedule

[docjames]

Slightly OTT.. Was going to fly HND-SYD-MEL the other and my SYD-MEL flight got cancelled. The online system provided me this scenic detour. I was tempted, but the flight to BNE was from NRT and I was almost at HND.
It was CR ticket, I probably wouldn't have earned any SC on FJ (as points club) for all that effort.
View attachment 464915

In J it would be “why go direct when you can connect”, but in Y…….pass.

 

[markis10]

Given the commission have set Nov 30 as the deadline we must be close to seeing changes?

 

[evanb]

Given the commission have set Nov 30 as the deadline we must be close to seeing changes?

Yes, no, maybe! Jokes aside, on the presumption that Qantas will seek another extension, we'll know relatively soon. Last time they wrote to the IASC on 17 February when their deadline was 30 April. They have likely already written to the IASC but will only be published if/when finalised. This is different to normal applications which are published immediately due to being subject to public comment.

 

[markis10]

It’s a pity Haneda slots are not open to wet lease ops, if they were it might make things easier for QF and at the same time make it harder should VA be interested in reviving ops using QR planes, cest la vie.

 

[evanb]

It’s a pity Haneda slots are not open to wet lease ops, if they were it might make things easier for QF and at the same time make it harder should VA be interested in reviving ops using QR planes, cest la vie.

Why would it make it easier for Qantas? If they wanted to take on more wet-lease capacity they could and utilise it on a route where it's possible and shift that capacity to Haneda. Aircraft are fairly fungible across the fleet. The Haneda delay has nothing to do with fleet shortage as they were planning to switch the Narita flights to Haneda. Doesn't require more aircraft per se.

 

[markis10]

The Haneda delay has nothing to do with fleet shortage as they were planning to switch the Narita flights to Haneda. Doesn't require more aircraft per se.

Indeed you have speculated the same in the past, with the context solely on HND without regard to unconfirmed future services to NRT. Qantas requested the delay due to operational requirements, aircraft and crew availability at the time was hardly fungible, as many an A330 customer has experienced, especially on the HKG services.

 

[evanb]

Indeed you have speculated the same in the past, with the context solely on HND without regard to unconfirmed future services to NRT. Qantas requested the delay due to operational requirements, aircraft and crew availability at the time was hardly fungible, as many an A330 customer has experienced, especially on the HKG services.

Per Qantas's statements to the media, they've indicated that Melbourne and Brisbane will both shift from Narita to Haneda and Sydney's two Haneda flights will be switched to one each to Haneda and Narita. So it's just a reconfiguration of their existing four daily Tokyo flights. This has seen reported in multiple articles, see AFR. Obviously can't vouch for accuracy, but Ayesha de Kretser has a pretty solid reputation: Qantas eyes downtown Tokyo flights as Virgin waits for new planes

Qantas's extension request to IASC refereed to "operational requirements". It didn't say anything regarding aircraft, crewing, etc. Suspect you're reading operational requirements for what you'd like it to be.

Point regarding fungibility is a seperate one. If they wanted additional wetlease capacity they could deploy this on a range of other A330 routes to free up more aircraft for Japan, if it so wished, just like they're doing to Sydney-Sapporo.