Qantas Project Sunrise goes ahead, 12 new A350-1000s ordered

[Daver6]

I've only just joined this thread (the other day). I've been reading back looking for info on how QF will staff the new 350s but nothing jumped out.

Where will the pilots come from?

When mummy and daddy pilot love each other very much....

At least some, if not all, will come from existing QF pilots looking to move to a new aircraft type.

 

[Quickstatus]

will the pilots come from?

Initial 40 from senior QF A330 training in the A350 Sim in SYD and secondments to BA in UK. I assume there rest will come from within their cohort plus external recruitments?.

Apparently they are looking at 360 pilots for the 12x -1000ULR

 

[Melburnian1]

Apparently they are looking at 360 pilots for the 12x -1000ULR

At face value for a small number of planes, that seems excessive, but there must be all sorts of considerations including the 100 hours in every 30 days maximum duty limit, annual and other types of leave, four pilots per one-way flight, the requirement to have mandated time off before and after a flight...list goes on.

 

[justinbrett]

At face value for a small number of planes, that seems excessive, but there must be all sorts of considerations including the 100 hours in every 30 days maximum duty limit, annual and other types of leave, four pilots per one-way flight, the requirement to have mandated time off before and after a flight...list goes on.

360 pilots for 12 aircraft with 4 crew - that’s 7.5 pilots per crew position - or 22.4 hours per pilot per week to keep it flying 24:7.

I’d say that’s actually on the low side.

 

[Quickstatus]

Apparently at least 1200 cabin crew according to some media reports
No idea about cabin crew usual domicile

 

[Quickstatus]

that seems excessive, but there must be all sorts of considerations including the 100 hours in every 30 days maximum duty

Not sure if QF a350 pilots will be operating to the standard CASA pilot operational limits.

Remember Qf and CASA have a separate customised Fatigue Risk Management System vis a vis ULR operations exceeding 20 hrs.

Also I think the annual limit is 1000hrs in 365 days

 

[AuSammy]

Not sure if QF a350 pilots will be operating to the standard CASA pilot operational limits.

Remember Qf and CASA have a separate customised Fatigue Risk Management System vis a vis ULR operations exceeding 20 hrs.

I have no knowledge of the agreement but understand the hours are increased for a single duty or shift however would be very surprised if the overall hours per week/month have increased.

 

[Quickstatus]

would be very surprised if the overall hours per week/month have increased.

FRMS relating to PS has not been published by CASA
Dunno why would it be increased? , maybe reduced?

There is also a mandatory layover of 48-72 hrs after a PS sector.
2 days for return flight
2-3 days rest at outstation
2-3 days rest back home.

So one mission would cost a pilot 7 days or so
22+20 hrs equates to 23 PS round trips per year. At most 1 PS return trips per fortnight
However it would be less as they have annual leave and recurrent training and sick leave.

 

[Scarlett]

I wonder if it will be a dedicated PS cohort of pilots and cabin crew or will all A350 qualified staff alternate between the PS flights and ‘regular’ long haul flying?

I can see the cases for both sides; primarily dedicated crews v spreading the fatigue load.

Based on @justinbrett and @Quickstatus numbers above it really does look like a dedicated ULR staff cohort would be flying one flight a week or four a month on average, which looks a lot like week on / week off kind of roster. For that reason I imagine they’ll be interspersed with the broader A350 crew. Either that or there will need to be plenty of sim sessions just to maintain currency for takeoff and landings.

 

[Quickstatus]

dedicated ULR staff cohort would be flying one flight a week or four a month on average,

4 sectors a month would be the max or 2 round trips a month.
Then take out annual leave, sim training.

On a round trip each pilot could get either 1 landing OR 1 takeoff.
So maybe 12 landings and 12 takeoffs per year.

But it is all speculative. Perhaps some of the A350 will be deployed on other shorter routes where only 2 pilots in the flight deck.

 

[mviy]

If higher passenger load without the extra fuel tank A350 is used for SIN-LHR (assuming QF continues to fly that over the medium to long term) eventually presumably they could easily rotate the crews between the different routes very easily.

 

[Melburnian1]

But it is all speculative. Perhaps some of the A350 will be deployed on other shorter routes where only 2 pilots in the flight deck.

With the lower seating capacity ultra long range A350 version, wouldn't that be uneconomic?

 

[milehighclub]

I wonder if it will be a dedicated PS cohort of pilots and cabin crew or will all A350 qualified staff alternate between the PS flights and ‘regular’ long haul flying?

I can’t speak to the pilots but the 350/330 are the same type rating but don’t know how it will work for them rostering wise.

As for crew, the 350 will be an additional aircraft type so they will mix

 

[Quickstatus]

With the lower seating capacity ultra long range A350 version, wouldn't that be uneconomic?

Sure but apparently QF may be getting non ULR A350 to replace the older A330

 

[mviy]

I think non-ULR was a possibility to replace A380. Maybe A330 too, I guess. It would be more capacity than A330 but less than A380 so in-between.