Qantas Announces Direct Flights to China
(APW_ENG_19950221.0110)
1) Qantas plans to begin direct weekly flights between Beijing and Sydney on March 29, the Australian airline announced on Tuesday.
2) ``We are very encouraged by the economic indicators and growth in demand for travel, both into and out of China,'' Qantas regional manager Rick Coyle said in a statement.
3) ``There is already a steady flow of leisure travelers between the two countries but we see steady future expansion of the business market,'' he said.
Australia Launches Qantas Airline Share Sale
(APW_ENG_19950621.1416)
1) Australia's largest privatization took off Thursday with the prospectus launch for the long-awaited float of the national flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd.
2) The government set the asking price for its 75 percent stake in Qantas at US dlrs 1.30 to 1.50 (1.80 to 2.10 Australian dollars) a share for institutions.
3) It said for retail investors the application price will be US dlrs 1.40 (2 Australian dollars) for the first 20,000 shares and US dlrs 1.51 (2.10 Australian dollars) for any further shares.
4) The minimum application is for 1,000 shares.
5) The government is expecting up to US dlrs 1.4 billion (2 billion Australian dollars) from the float.
6) Fund managers said it won't all be smooth flying for the government with many local institutions indicating they are concerned there will be some turbulence, stemming mainly from route instability and ignorance about the industry.
7) The float has already been delayed by several years because of problems with the merger of Australian Airlines and weak equity markets, but the government has listed the help of a host of Australian celebrities to promote interest in the float.
8) Qantas is currently embroiled in a tussle with the Hong Kong government over the number of passengers it can pick up in the colony on flights to other Asian capitals, a dispute which could cut its revenue by an estimated US dlrs 38 million (53 million Australian dollars) annually.
9) In addition, the possibility of the government allowing Air New Zealand domestic access through changes to its trans-Tasman aviation policy continues to hang over Qantas, although the prospectus is expected to rule out any such moves for at least 12 months.
10) Of the entire airline, some 24 percent can be taken up by overseas investors for a maximum 49 percent foreign holding including the 25 percent stake already held by British Airways.
11) The remaining 51 percent can be taken up by local institutions and private investors.
Qantas Announces First Profit After Privatization
(APW_ENG_19950824.0096)
1) Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways, Thursday announced a dlrs 180.1 million (dlrs U.S. 133.2 million) after tax profit _ its first result as a listed public company.
2) The figure for the fiscal year ended June 30 represents a 16 percent increase on last year's result and is in line with earlier forecasts.
3) Qantas was previously owned by the Australian government.
4) The airline, which flies within Australia as well as internationally, was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange last month when the government sold its 75 percent stake through a public stock offer.
5) The remaining 25 percent of Qantas is held by British Airways.
Malaysian Airlines Criticizes Australia For Denying Routes
(APW_ENG_19950828.0133)
1) Malaysia Airlines on Monday criticized the Australian government and Qantas for failing to grant the carrier daily flights to all Australian capitals.
2) The airline also accused Qantas of deliberately blocking attempts to increase daily direct flights to Australia.
3) Speaking at the Ansett Travel and Transport Writers Conference on Hayman Island, Malaysia Airlines commercial director Bashir Ahmad said his airline was utilizing all air rights it had been given, but this was not enough.
4) ``Over the past 10 years we have been trying to increase our frequencies to Australia, but our requests have always been met with a negative response from the Australian Government, and we believe that's largely due to the position taken by Qantas,'' he said.
5) ``We strongly believe that air services between any two countries should not be dictated by the marketing policies of the national carrier.''
6) Ahmad said he believed Qantas was hiding behind the excuse that there was not enough traffic between Malaysia and Australia to warrant the increased services.
7) He believed Qantas was only interested in increasing flight numbers to Singapore and was not interested in operating services to Kuala Lumpur.
8) ``Because they're not interested in operating services to Kuala Lumpur, they say there is not enough traffic between Malaysia and Australia, and therefore Malaysia Airlines should not be given the frequencies that we are seeking,'' he said.
9) ``If Qantas is not interested in operating services to Kuala Lumpur, we are.
10) ``We believe there is a market for it, we believe there is a demand to meet passengers' requirements to operate daily frequencies to all (major cities), and we are prepared to do that, and why should we be denied the ability to do that simply because Qantas doesn't share the same philosophy with us?''
11) Currently Malaysia Airlines each week operates five flights to Sydney and Melbourne combined, two to Adelaide, five to Perth, two to Brisbane and one to Darwin and Cairns.
Australia and Hong Kong Resolve Airline Dispute Eds: Adds in 4th graf that agreement was signed in Hong Kong.
(APW_ENG_19951214.0010)
1) Australia and Hong Kong signed an air services agreement Thursday, ending nine-month dispute over the right of Qantas airlines to serve Singapore and Bangkok from Hong Kong's airport.
2) Transport Minister Laurie Brereton said in a statement there will be some limits on the numbers of passengers Qantas Airways Ltd. can carry from Asian cities.
3) However, Qantas' current Boeing 767 services operating on the Singapore-Hong Kong or Hong Kong-Bangkok routes won't be affected.
4) Nor, Brereton said, should the agreement signed Thursday in Hong Kong affect Qantas if it takes up substantial unused rights that were agreed with Hong Kong in 1991, provided it doesn't introduce larger aircraft such as the Boeing 747.
5) He said further talks will be held in the next six months to negotiate arrangements to expand capacity on routes between Australia and Hong Kong, and to give Qantas and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. greater commercial flexibility.
6) At present Qantas, Cathay and Ansett Australia airline operate around 50 services a week between Australia and Hong Kong.
7) ``Today's agreement is a sound outcome both for Hong Kong and Australia,'' Brereton said.
8) The dispute flared in April when Hong Kong announced a 50 percent ceiling on the local traffic Qantas could carry to Hong Kong from Bangkok or Singapore.
9) Then in a tit-for-tat move, Australia said it also would limit passenger numbers.
10) These restrictions were suspended before taking effect, with negotiations under way since.
Qantas Will Divert Flights Away From China's Missile Tests
(APW_ENG_19960305.1192)
1) Qantas does not plan to divert flights from Taiwan despite plans by China to conduct guided missile tests in nearby waters beginning Friday, an airline spokesman said.
2) Taiwanese authorities said some of the air routes connecting it with Japan, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong would be within or very close to the test areas.
3) However a Qantas spokesman said Wednesday that at this stage none of the missile test times coincided with a Qantas flight.
4) The spokesman said flights would continue as normal unless the test times changed. ``We would then take the necessary diversions.''
5) Qantas currently flies from Sydney to Taiwan five times a week. Flights from Brisbane and Cairns also go to Taiwan.
6) The Chinese government had also asked that ships and aircraft not enter the area during the eight days of military exercises.
7) The drills are the fourth and potentially most provocative in an 8-month-old campaign by the communist mainland to intimidate its nationalist rival ahead of the March 23 Taiwanese presidential elections.
Qantas, British Airways Merging Asian Services
(APW_ENG_19960318.0089)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. on Monday announced plans to merge its operations in Bangkok and Singapore with British Airways Ltd. in a cost-cutting move.
2) The new arrangements involved the establishment of joint offices in both cities, with sales, marketing and operational activities to be merged.
3) Qantas' regional general manager for Southeast Asia, Roger Lindeman, and British Airways area manager Peter Woodrow described the merged operations as a logical development in the alliance between the two airlines.
4) British Airways owns 25 percent of Qantas, which was floated last year when the Australian government sold its 75 percent interest.
5) ``While maintaining our individual brands and identities, we believe our partnership has created the strongest overseas airline presence in the region and will provide coordinated services and better value for our customers,'' Lindeman said.
6) Qantas would also benefit from a significant reduction in costs, an airline spokeswoman said.
7) The airlines said new First Class and Business Class lounges were currently under construction in Singapore and Bangkok to service both Qantas and British Airways.
8) Qantas and British Airways already operate joint lounges in Hong Kong and Manila.
9) A Qantas-British Airways route-sharing alliance on the ``Kangaroo route'' -- Australia through Asia to Britain -- was initially blocked last year by Australia's Trade Practices Commission.
10) However, the deal was later approved after the two airlines guaranteed not to raise prices by more than the Australian inflation rate for the next three years.
11) Asked if the move signalled the start of a wider alliance, the spokeswoman said: ``If you look at our two independent networks, the only place that we actually compete for market share head-on is the Kangaroo route ... and that's why this is really confined to that area.
12) ``It won't happen further around the world -- it's really only where we compete one-on-one.''
13) Qantas and British Airways offer a total of five 747-700 flights daily, linking Australia and Britain through Singapore and Bangkok.
Australia's Qantas Airways To Expand Service To China
(APW_ENG_19960403.0671)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. of Australia said Wednesday it plans to seek government approval to increase the frequency of its service to China.
2) Increased capacity is available on the route between Australia and China as a result of recent negotiations between the two governments, Qantas said in a statement.
3) James Strong, chief executive of the airline, said the first phase of the planned expansion is the start of twice-weekly service from Sydney to Shanghai beginning late August.
4) Qantas will seek approval to operate another two weekly services to China by the middle of 1997. The eventual aim is to service daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai.
5) The expansion reflects developing business, leisure and family ties between China and Australia, Strong added. Qantas currently operates 228-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft on the Sydney-Beijing route.
Qantas Takes Steps To Win Back Japanese Market
(APW_ENG_19961023.1206)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. has taken its first steps in reducing air fares in a bid to win back the company's falling share of the Japanese tourism market.
2) Qantas announced the Australian tourism industry needed to ``take urgent action'' to revitalize the country's appeal as a major holiday destination for the Japanese.
3) Group executive commercial general manager Geoff Dixon said Wednesday that Australia's share of the rapidly expanding Japanese outbound market was declining against the trend.
4) Australia's share slipped to 5 percent in 1995/96, from 5.5 percent in 1994/95.
5) ``Australia appears to have gone off the boil, which means we have to pool our resources -- in particular our marketing dollars and expertise -- to ensure that we can compete effectively with our rivals for the Japanese business,'' Dixon said.
6) ``While there has been some criticism of air fare levels from Japan, this is a wider issue and relates more strongly to marketing, promotion and packaging of the Australian product.''
7) A Qantas spokesman said he ``could not quantify'' the possible price reduction on air fares.
8) ``We've just pointed out that action is needed quickly,'' he said. ``The bottom line is that we obviously see a need to push for the reduction of air fares.''
9) A new advertising campaign would also be developed, due to be launched later this year.
10) ``We need to sell Australia as a vacation destination which attracts repeat business rather than just as a one visit tourism experience,'' Dixon said.
11) Australia's main rivals in the Japanese market are Hawaii, the mainland United States and Europe.
12) The United States recently spent about US dlrs 16 million on a promotional campaign in Japan.
Singapore Airlines Denies Speculation of Air New Zealand Purchase
(APW_ENG_19961203.1228)
1) Singapore Airlines Wednesday denied speculation that it might buy Qantas' 19.9 percent stake in Air New Zealand.
2) Boon Khim Ong said there had been no discussion with Qantas.
3) ``It is not something we are considering at this time,'' he said.
4) Air New Zealand announced on Tuesday that it had formed a code-sharing partnership with United Airlines and signalled that further alliances were likely.
Qantas/British Airways to extend commercial alliance
(APW_ENG_19970813.1169)
1) Qantas and British Airways will expand their commercial alliance with the introduction of codeshare flights between Brisbane, Singapore and London.
2) The Australian carrier also said it was expanding its services to Asia with the introduction of two more weekly services to China beginning Thursday and a fifth weekly service to the Philippines from Aug. 17.
3) The codeshare flights to Brisbane, Singapore and London come into effect Oct. 26 and include:
4) --Five non-stop BA flights each week between Brisbane and London via Singapore carrying the Qantas flight designator;
5) --Three Qantas services each week between Brisbane and Singapore carrying the BA codeshare flight designator;
6) --Significantly reduced transit times in Singapore for Qantas passengers on flights to London; and
7) --Improved connections in Singapore with Qantas services to Frankfurt and London each Monday and Wednesday.
8) Separately, Qantas said it would increase capacity to Asia due to growing demand on routes between Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
9) The introduction of new flights to China and the Philippines will consolidate Qantas as the major airline between Australia and Asia, Qantas group executive general manager-commercial Geoff Dixon said.
Qantas expands fleet by three 747s
(APW_ENG_19971021.0126)
1) Australian airline operator Qantas Airways Ltd. said Tuesday it bought three 747 400 aircraft from Boeing Co. of the U.S. for about US dlrs 485 million (Australian dlrs 650 million).
2) The purchases are part of a fleet expansion to meet forecast increases in customer demand, Qantas said.
3) Delivery of the aircraft is expected in 1999 and the year 2000.
4) Chief Executive James Strong said the decision to acquire the aircraft followed the first stage of a comprehensive review of future route development programs for the Qantas international network.
5) ``The additional aircraft will meet anticipated increases in passenger traffic and also enable some possible new services,'' Strong said.
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Qantas and Pacific Airlines sign ten-year strategic deal
(APW_ENG_19971106.1394)
1) Australian airline Qantas and Fiji national carrier Air Pacific signed an agreement Thursday for a 10-year strategic commercial alliance.
2) Air Pacific acting chief executive Ramendra Narayan said the agreement will give it access to Qantas' strategic alliance partners, including British Airways, American Airlines, Canadian, Japan Airlines and Asiana.
3) Qantas executive general manager Geoff Dixon said the agreement covered network development, fleet utilization and code share agreements as well as engineering resources, facilities and purchasing, frequent flyer programs, catering and ground handling, fuel purchasing and freight cooperation.
4) Qantas has a 17.5 percent share of Air Pacific, which is 79 percent owned by the Fiji government.
5) Fiji's Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister David Pickering said the government had appointed advisors to help it reduce its share holding in Air Pacific. The government intends to retain 51 percent of the company.
6) Qantas has already stated an interest in buying all available government shares.
7) In a separate ceremony Thursday, Pickering broke ground for a 300-room resort to be developed jointly by Air Pacific and the Hyatt Hotel Corp. at the Denarau Island resort near Nadi International Airport.
8) Air Pacific chairman Gerald Barrack said the resort would cost about Fiji dollars 90 million (U.S. dlrs 62 million) and would open in the first quarter of 2000 as a Grand Hyatt five star property.
9) Air Pacific and Hyatt would jointly control more than 51 percent of the hotel with other local and overseas investors to participate, Pickering said.
Emerging Markets Datafile
(APW_ENG_19971219.0879)
1) December 19, 1997
2) BUSINESS DAILY
3) PHILIPPINES
4) ENGLISH
5) Qantas-Travel
6) ASIA
7) WorldSources Online, Inc.
8) 201 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, S.E., 2nd Floor
9) WASHINGTON, D.C. 20003
10) Tel: 202-547-4512
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14) USED IN ANY MEDIA WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES ONLINE, INC.
15) This month marks Qantas Airways' 50th anniversary of full service on the ``Kangaroo Route'' between Australia and the UK and regular service to Japan.
16) To celebrate the occasion, Qantas Chief Executive James Strong launched The Longest Hop, a 192-page book that chronicles the development of the world's longest regular air route between Sydney and London. Commemorative dinners were also held in Sydney and London.
17) Qantas commenced operations on the route on the evening of Dec. 1, 1947 with the departure of the Lockheed L749 Constellation Charles Kingford Smith from Sydney's Mascot Airport.Climbing out into the light rain of a sultry summer night, the aircraft had four nights and 12,000 miles to travel on its historic journey. It was carrying 29 passengers and 11 crew.
18) From Sydney, the Constellation flew to Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo and Tripoli before arriving in London after some 55 hours in the air, with three overnight stops.
19) More than two weeks later, on Dec. 18, Qantas established the first regular air link between Australia and Japan when its Avro Lancastrian VH-EAU, a converted World War II bomber, landed at Bofu, southern Honshu. Carrying six passengers, six crew, and 1,200 pounds of mail, the aircraft traveled 27 hours and 21 minutes from Sydney via Melbourne, Darwin, and Clark Field in Manila. It was also the first Qantas flight to the Philippines.
20) ``Qantas is recognized as one of the world's leading airlines. The celebration of our 50th anniversary flying between Australia and the UK commemorates that first flight when Australia was brought closer to the rest of the world,'' Strong said. ``It also enables us to reflect on the important role Qantas has played over the past 50 years, helping to create a vital international business and tourism link which today form the basis of the nation's economy.''
21) The successful development of the ``Kangaroo Route'' was the foundation of the airline's reputation as a leader in long distance international air travel, he added.
22) The ``Kangaroo Route'' was initially established as a link between Australia and ``the mother country'', providing essential mail and passenger services.
23) Symbolic of the relationship between Australia and England at the time was the 2,000 pounds of food parcels donated by Qantas staff for Britain, which was experiencing postwar shortages during a bitterly cold winter.
24) New generation aircraft such as the Lockheed Constellation turned the tide on the liners, which traditionally plied the waters between Australia and England. The 60-seat aircraft set new standards of comfort and service, with the introduction of the world's first pressurized cabin on commercial; services, and its powerful engines reduced the journey from Sydney to London to four days.
25) Having brought Australia a quantum leap closer to the world, the Constellations in turn became obsolete as the jets arrived. For Qantas passengers, the time taken to travel between Australia and London was reduced from a nine-and-a-half day flying boat journey in the late 1930s to a little under 30 hours. The Qantas Boeing 707 ``V-jets'', which were used by the airline from 1959, became a familiar sight around the world.
26) Working closely with Boeing, Qantas developed an improved version of the mighty ``Jumbo Jet'', the 747B. The 400-seat aircraft were placed on the ``Kangaroo Route'' in1971, vastly improving the accessibility of air travel between Asutralia and England.
27) In 1989, the first Qantas 747-400 Longreach aircraft, City of Canberra, made a record-breaking non-stop from London to Sydney in 20 hours and nine minutes.
28) Today, the ``Kangaroo Route'' still provides a vital link for business and leisure passengers. Qantas and alliance partner British Airways now fly more than 80 services a week between Australia and England on one of the world's most historic air services.
Qantas suspending its service to South Korea Eds: Updates with Australian Tourist Commission criticizing
(APW_ENG_19980102.0007)
1) Qantas Airways will suspend its four weekly flights to South Korea from Feb. 1 because of economic conditions in Asia and the sharp decline in travel to Australia.
2) Qantas planned to code-share with South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines on four flights each week between Seoul and Sydney, Qantas executive general manager Geoff Dixon said Friday.
3) ``In the past month, Qantas has experienced a drop in nearly 65 percent in demand for seats on the route, compared with the same period last year,'' Dixon said.
4) ``We are receiving widespread cancellations from tour groups and individuals. Other airlines have also encountered a severe decrease in passenger numbers and have adjusted their schedules.''
5) Dixon said Qantas did not expect travel between South Korea and Australia to pick up in the short to medium term.
6) Australia's peak tourism marketing body, the Australian Tourist Commission, attacked Qantas' decision as short-sighted.
7) Commission chief John Morse said tourist operators had put huge amounts of money into developing the South Korean market, which until recently was Australia's largest growing tourist market.
8) ``I think this is a short-sighted decision,'' Morse said.
9) ``We have all put a lot of money and effort into developing this market which until a couple of months ago was the star of Asia and the world,'' he said.
10) ``It's cyclical, the economy will come back and they (tourists) will start traveling again,'' Morse said.
11) pjs
Report: Australia's Qantas planning to cut back on Asian flights
(APW_ENG_19980114.1689)
1) Australian air carrier Qantas has decided to cut flights to Asian destinations in the coming weeks because of plummeting passenger numbers in the wake of a regional economic and currency crisis, a newspaper reported Thursday.
2) The Australian newspaper quoted Qantas chief executive James Strong as saying flight service to Indonesia from cities outside Sydney -- including Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth -- would be the first routes affected.
3) Flights to other Asian nations affected by the currency crisis, including Thailand and Malaysia, will also likely be suspended or rerouted through Sydney within weeks, the report said.
4) Australia's other main carrier to Asian destinations, Ansett International, was also monitoring demand for seats on its international routes ``day by day,'' a spokesman was reported to have said.
5) ``The Qantas move is likely to spark an angry reaction from state governments that have lobbied hard for direct services into Asia, particularly the Victorian, West Australian and Queensland governments,'' the paper said.
Airlines battle for business as Asian meltdown bites
(APW_ENG_19980127.0174)
1) An airline war has erupted in Australia, with carriers on Tuesday announcing slashed fares to Europe as they battle for business amid Asia's economic meltdown.
2) Asians, hit hard by plunging currencies, are dramatically cutting back on travel in response to the economic crisis.
3) Scrambling to offset the fallout of business on Asian routes, airlines have launched an all out assault on the so-called ``kangaroo route'' between Australia and Europe.
4) Qantas Airways Ltd. and its code-share partner British Airways announced deals starting at Australian dollars 1,599 (about U.S. dlrs 1,060) return to Europe with a domestic flight included.
5) The conditional offer closes at the end of the week and the discount does not include first class and business class travel.
6) Qantas standard fares for the flight are usually between Australian dollars 2,500 (U.S. dlrs 1,650) and Australian dollars 3,000 (U.S. dlrs 2,000).
7) Other airlines are matching the discount. All Nippon is offering the trip for Australian dollars 1,410 (about U.S. dlrs 930); KLM Royal Dutch for Australian dollars 1,530 (about U.S. dlrs 1,000); and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific for Australian dollars 1,710 (about U.S. dlrs 1,100).
8) Qantas recently announced it would reduce its capacity on its Asian routes and suspended its flights to South Korea.
9) Cathay Pacific has sacked nearly 5 percent of its worldwide work force, blaming the Asian financial crisis for reducing traffic growth.
Emerging Markets Datafile
(APW_ENG_19980205.1439)
1) February 05, 1998
2) BUSINESS TIMES
3) MALAYSIA
4) ENGLISH
5) Qantas, BA confident of quick recovery in region's economies
6) Hamisah Hamid
7) ASIA
8) WorldSources, Inc.
9) 201 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, S.E., 2nd Floor
10) WASHINGTON, D.C. 20003
11) Tel: 202-547-4512
12) Fax: 202-546-4194
13) COPYRIGHT 1998 BY WORLDSOURCES, INC., A JOINT VENTURE OF FDCH, INC. AND WORLD TIMES, INC. NO PORTION OF THE MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE USED
14) IN ANY MEDIA WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES, INC.
15) THE region' economic problems have slightly affected Qantas Airways and British Airways (BA) in terms of passenger load and revenue but both companies are optimistic of the future.
16) Qantas/BA commercial manager (Malaysia and Brunei) Chong Meng Kee acknowledged that the regional economic problems have a ``marginal effect on the companies' revenue and passenger load'' but he believes the impending economic recovery of the countries, especially Malaysia, will bring back the good track record.
17) Speaking to reporters after witnessing a Lion Dance held at Qantas/BA new office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, he said: ``The number of Malaysians travelling worldwide has registered a growth of between 5 to 10 per cent increase.
18) ``We want to see that vibrant trend when the economy recovers, and when travelling becomes part and parcel of Malaysians' way of life.''
19) The load factor for the airlines previously was about 70 per cent. With the economic problem affecting the region, the load factor dropped to between 60 per cent and 65 per cent.
20) To balance the loss in revenue and a drop in outbound passengers, Chong said both airlines are taking steps to promote inbound visitors by coming out with ``value-for-money'' holiday packages in Malaysia.
21) He said BA and Qantas are undertaking aggressive marketing campaigns in Europe and Australia for their holiday packages in Malaysia.
22) Meanwhile, Qantas/BA manager (Malaysia and Brunei) Judy Watkins said BA will increase the frequency of direct flight between Kuala Lumpur and London from the current five times a week to six times a week in April.
23) The frequency of the flights will be increased further to seven times a week in October, she said.
24) To cater to the increase in flight frequency, additional aircraft will be flown in and the number of the cabin crew will be increased from the current 30 to 40 or 42 people.
25) Both Chong and Watkins said the companies' holiday package campaign has started to show positive results as the number of tourists from Europe and Australia, particularly Sydney, is growing.
26) The success or failure of the holiday package campaign can be gauged within the next six to 12 months.
27) The airlines also have ``Commonwealth Games packages'' to be offered to sport-lovers from Europe and Australia, which include an extended stay in Malaysia after the duration of the Games.
28) Chong said the airlines foresee a more efficient operations when the companies move into their new shared office at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang.
29) ``The opening of the KLIA will provide great opportunity for us.
30) ``We will have state-of-the art computer system, an efficient customer service as well as the biggest lounge there,'' he said. The airlines have formed a strategic alliance in terms of marketing, sales, promotion and customer service since BA bought 25 per cent of Qantas' stake in 1992.
31) Watkins said the alliance has been fruitful and adds strength to both BA and Qantas. ``We have plans together up into the next millennium,'' she added.
Qantas to run daily flights between Australia and India
(APW_ENG_19980213.1320)
1) Qantas will almost double its flights between Australia and India by August in the search for new markets untouched by the crippling Asian financial crisis.
2) This move comes barely a month after Qantas suspended a number of services between Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in the wake of the Asian economic crisis.
3) The airline has also cut all flights to South Korea.
4) Qantas plans daily flights between Sydney and Bombay, up from the current four flights a week, to boost business and tourism ties with India, the airline announced Friday.
5) In a joint statement with Tourism Minister Andrew Thomson, it said two new flights would leave Bombay on Monday and Tuesday nights from March 30, with the third departing each Thursday from August 6.
6) This will add nearly 700 seats a week on the route.
7) Thomson, in India to talk to tourism leaders, said the flights would provide extra support to the growing tourism market.
8) Qantas' India manager Khursheed Lam said the airline was working closely with the Australian Tourist Commission to develop greater awareness of Australia in the Indian market.
9) Qantas will also appoint a Bombay-based public relations consultant.
Qantas profits up, but airline warns Asian fallout will have future
(APW_ENG_19980218.1744)
1) Australian airline Qantas Airways Ltd. Thursday reported a 9.4 percent rise in net profit for the half-year to Dec. 31, 1997, but warned Asia's economic problems may slow its performance in the second half of the fiscal year.
2) Qantas posted net profit of U.S. dollars 111 million (Australian dlrs 165.8 million), backed by a healthy 5.6 percent increase in sales.
3) Pretax profit was also higher, rising to U.S. dollars 200 million (Australian dlrs 299 million) from U.S. dollars 166 million (Australian dlrs 248 million). The company maintained its interim dividend at 6.5 Australian cents.
4) Sales rose to U.S. dollars 2.8 billion (Australian dlrs 4.19 billion) from U.S. dollars 2.65 billion (Australian dlrs 3.97 billion).
5) Despite the result, Qantas chairman Gary Pemberton said the results reflected softening trading conditions towards the end of the half-year.
6) The airline has recently cut back on some services to Asia due to a substantial fall in demand.
7) ``We are now experiencing the adverse impact of economic conditions in Asia and expect the rate of performance improvement to slow over the next 12 to 18 months,'' Pemberton said.
8) ``We expect difficult trading conditions to continue and the impact of the Asian economic problems to be more significant in the second half of the year.''
9) The worst-affected areas of Asia for Qantas have been South Korea, where services have been cut completely, Thailand and Indonesia.
10) Investors initially warmed to the report, with shares in Qantas strengthening by 4.4 percent, or 10 Australian cents, to U.S. dollars 1.58 (Australian dlrs 2.37).
Qantas/BA in local tourism drive,BUSINESS TIMES
(APW_ENG_19980219.1488)
1) xfdws QANTAS-BA-IN-LOCAL-DRIVE sked
2) Emerging Markets Datafile
3) February 19, 1998
4) BUSINESS TIMES
5) MALAYSIA
6) ENGLISH
7) Qantas/BA in local tourism drive,BUSINESS TIMES
8) Kang Siew Li
9) ASIA
10) WorldSources, Inc.
11) 201 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, S.E., 2nd Floor
12) WASHINGTON, D.C. 20003
13) Tel: 202-547-4512
14) Fax: 202-546-4194
15) COPYRIGHT 1998 BY WORLDSOURCES, INC., A JOINT VENTURE OF FDCH, INC. AND WORLD TIMES, INC. NO PORTION OF THE MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE USED
16) IN ANY MEDIA WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES, INC.
17) QANTAS/British Airways is encouraging more foreign tourists to come to Malaysia to cushion the drop in local passenger volume during the country's economic situation.
18) Since September last year, the two airlines - known as such following British Airways' acquisition of 25 per cent of Qantas in 1993 - saw the number of Malaysians travelling abroad dwindling.
19) ``We hope we are able to fill the seats (by wooing tourists to visit Malaysia),'' its commercial manager (Malaysia and Brunei) Mr Chong Meng Kee told Business Times.
20) He attributed the drop in local passenger traffic mainly to a tightening of Malaysians' travel expenses during the period.
21) Qantas/British Airways experienced a drop of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent in local demand for seats on the Kuala Lumpur-Sydney and Kuala Lumpur-London routes, respectively.
22) Chong, however, described it as ``quite normal'' in the industry.
23) The decline in local demand mainly comes from the leisure market ``because people are now re-arranging their priorities and many have shelved their holiday plans in view of the current economic situation.'' For Qantas/British Airways, he said, holidaymakers, visiting friends and relatives market, and students account for 60 per cent of total passengers, while business travellers account for the remaining 40 per cent.
24) He said the two airlines have come up with a variety of travel packages highlighting popular local destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu to entice foreign tourists to Malaysia.
25) ``With the help of our sales offices in Australia and the UK as well as through our own sales and marketing efforts overseas, we hope to drum up interest among Australians and the British,'' he added.
26) He said it is also taking advantage of the favourable exchange rates to facilitate the promotion of the travel packages in Australia and the UK by drawing up a pricing list of items that tourists are likely to come across when they go on holiday in Malaysia.
27) ``We listed the prices of about 15 items such as the price of a cup of coffee, a glass of beer and a basic meal in ringgit. Alongside them, we quoted prices of the same items in the Australian dollar as well as the British pound.
28) ``This is to show them how cheap a holiday in Malaysia is,'' he said.
29) Chong said since the launch of its travel packages, demand for seats on Qantas and British Airways has improved.
30) ``We are happy to say that more and more foreign tourists are coming on board our flights and spending money in Malaysia. I don't know exactly how much but I know the numbers are growing,'' he said.
31) Chong said although Malaysia is small in size, ``its contribution to both carriers' earnings is reasonably good.'' He declined to reveal the company's earnings, maintaining that both airlines are ``in the black.'' ``We may not have fared very well in the cost factor, but the growth of the country and our participation in Malaysia have been very positive.
32) What we have to do now is to maintain and keep our operational costs under reasonable control and move together with the growth of the country,'' he said.
33) Chong said the growth of the airline industry is very much dependent on the country's economy. ``If businesses are booming, then there would be a lot of activities for the industry as well.'' Qantas/British Airways manager (Malaysia and Brunei) Ms Judy Watkins said although the outlook for the local airline industry this year is expected to be gloomy, the two national carriers remain ``quite positive.'' She still expects to see tremendous business opportunities from the Malaysian market.
34) ``The clearest sign of our positiveness is that we are still maintaining our previous route expansion plans. British Airways, for example, is choosing to proceed with the introduction of its sixth service between Kuala Lumpur and London in April even with the current economic situation.
35) ``This will be followed by its seventh direct service in late October,'' she said.
36) Currently, British Airways flies five times a week from Kuala Lumpur to London.
37) As for Qantas, she said the carrier is maintaining its thrice weekly direct services between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney.
38) However, it will suspend its flights from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne via Jakarta from February 15 this year due to a deteriorating demand for seats in Indonesia. ``But we hope to resume services by the middle of the year,'' she said.
39) Watkins said Qantas and British Airways' passenger load factor in Asia has been adversely affected by the region's economic downturn. This includes Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Hong Kong.
40) ``The only market that is still holding up is India, where the majority of its passengers comprise business travellers and the VFR traffic,'' she added.
41) Despite the current economic situation, Qantas/British Airways sees only opportunities in Malaysia.
42) The Malaysian unit has already invested some RM2 million for a new office in Kuala Lumpur and another RM4 million for a VIP lounge at the new KL International Airport at Sepang.
43) ``We will be capitalising on the new airport and its facilities to expand our market here. We will do so by increasing our frequencies in existing routes and re-arranging our flight schedules.
44) ``All these demonstrate our commitment to Malaysia,'' she said.
45) And instead of reducing its staff size, she said the local unit will increase its present number of local cabin crew from 31 to some 40 over the next few months. This is to cater to British Airways' increased frequencies between Kuala Lumpur and London.
46) Watkins said in its decision to proceed with its plans, both Qantas and British Airways would be better positioned to ride the next wave of economic growth when the country's economy recovers and that puts them ahead of their competitors.
Qantas out to pamper 1st Class passengers, BUSINESS TIMES
(APW_ENG_19980409.0574)
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16) QANTAS First Class passengers will soon be flying and be sleeping in one of the world's most advanced full length, bed-style sleeper seats.
17) The sleek, stylish, ultra-comfortable seats will be installed in First Class cabins of the airline's B747-400 aircraft in the first stage of the reconfiguration of its international fleet.
18) They will begin taking to the skies progressively from late June as the aircraft start to roll out of the workshops at Avalon Airport in Victoria.
19) Qantas publicly displayed two of the new seats on Thursday at the unveiling of its new first class food and service at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Sydney.
20) Designed by Britax Rumbold in Britain, the sleeper seats - 14 of which will be installed in each First Class cabin - are finished in supple leather and fabric, and feature, among other things, a touch pad control which converts the seat into a 198cm-long bed, an individual ottoman footrest and cocktail table.
21) Qantas executive general manager (commercial) Geoff Dixon said the sleeper seat will set a new standard for First Class international air travel.
22) ``Our decision to instal the seat, developed from the British Airways First Class seat, was based on market research which showed a preference for individual seats that provide more privacy and the luxury of stretching out to sleep comfortably on long flights,'' he said.
23) He added that together with other initiatives the airline has introduced in First Class, passengers will be flying in ``unparalleled comfort, with enhanced service levels which we are confident will become an industry benchmark.''
24) The First Class seats heads a line-up of new aircraft seats to be installed in all classes in the Qantas international fleet from May.
25) Business Class passengers will have added comfort with electrically-controlled seats, while economy passengers will benefit from the latest design in high comfort, ergonomically advanced seats.
26) The seats will be fitted to Qantas aircraft at engineering facilities by the airline at Avalon Airport in Victoria.
27) In a separate statement issued in Kuala Lumpur, Qantas also recently unveiled its new international First Class - with restaurant-style inflight cuisine and dedicated cabin crew - at a preview for domestic and international media in Sydney.
28) The airline also put on display its luxurious new full-length sleeper seat.
29) Chief executive James Strong described the new First Class as the harbinger of sweeping changes to the Qantas international fleet.
30) Strong said Qantas had begun with First Class, working together with restaurateur and chef Neil Perry to redefine the parameters of inflight cuisine and with a group of 350 specially selected cabin crew.
31) ``This development is the standard bearer of changes reflecting the airline's commitment to providing quality dining, service, comfort and style,'' he said.
32) ``Qantas will now extend progressively the same philosophy through the Business and Economy Class cabins.''
33) He added that the new First Class is characterised by a new approach to inflight cuisine, more personalised service, the introduction of the full- length sleeper bed technology and new interior cabin design.
34) Strong said Qantas has been fortunate to Perry to work with the airline's inflight services, catering and cabin crew personnel in creating and effectively introducing changes.
35) According to him, Qantas has selected 350 First Class flight attendants from existing long-haul ranks on merit for their commitment and ability to deliver individualised service.
Airline asks for censored newscasts
(APW_ENG_19980623.1323)
1) Qantas has asked Australia's Nine television network, which produces the airline's in-flight news programs, to censor stories about Pauline Hanson and her right-wing political party, it was reported Wednesday.
2) Qantas spokesman Bernard Shirley told The Sydney Morning Herald that a staff member of the airline's in-flight entertainment office wrote to Channel Nine asking the network to cut references to Hanson or her One Nation party in bulletins supplied to Qantas.
3) Shirley said the letter was written after a Qantas staffer complained about an inflight news item he found unacceptable.
4) The newspaper reported that the staffer may have been a Qantas manager returning from Indonesia who felt news items about Hanson were offensive to Indonesian passengers.
5) Nine news director Paul Fenn replied to the request on Monday saying the ban would make it impossible for the network to provide any stories on federal politics or the federal election, the newspaper reported.
6) Shirley later said that Qantas did not want valid political stories excluded, just reports containing material offensive to any particular ethnic group.
7) Hanson adviser David Oldfield told the newspaper that ``people should have the right to judge for themselves whether something matters or doesn't.''
8) Hanson has been criticized as racist for claiming Australia is in danger of being ``swamped by Asians'' and opposing immigration. She also opposes special welfare benefits for Aborigines and advocates protectionist economics.
9) Hanson's One Nation party won 11 seats in the Queensland state election held June 13.
Qantas defies Asia turmoil with record profit
(APW_ENG_19980819.1271)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. has defied the economic turmoil in Asia to post a record U.S. dlrs 182.8 million (304.8 million Australian dollars) net profit for 1997-98, up 20.6 percent.
2) However, Qantas chairman Gary Pemberton warned Thursday that the economic situation in Asia will affect future profitability and said indications are it will be hard to match the record result in 1998-99.
3) Revenue for Qantas, which has responded to the Asian crisis by focusing services away from the region, fell slightly to U.S. dlrs 4.8 billion (8.13 billion Australian dollars) from U.S. dlrs 5.28 billion (8.8 billion Australian dollars).
4) Pemberton described the result as an excellent achievement in difficult trading conditions.
5) ``The timely rationalization of our Asian services together with the reallocation of capacity to stronger routes has reduced the adverse impact during the year,'' Pemberton said.
6) However, he warned the region would impact future profitability.
7) ``The reactions by other carriers in terms of prices and capacity as a result of conditions in Asia have been well documented and will lead to more volatility and uncertainty in market conditions in 1998-99,'' he said.
8) Pemberton said the airline's response included the continuation of planned investment in new product, services and aircraft and entry into new markets in America and Europe.
9) Qantas chief executive James Strong said net passenger revenue increased by 3 percent in 1997-98 and included a favorable impact of movements in foreign exchange rates.
10) Passenger yield improved by 4 percent overall.
Cathay expected to join Qantas alliance Eds: Adds in 3rd graf that United, Varig and Air Canada are also in
(APW_ENG_19980918.0574)
1) Cathay Pacific Airways is expected to end months of speculation by joining Qantas Airways, British Airways and American Airlines in a global alliance, a report said Friday.
2) An announcement by the chief executives of the airlines is expected to be made Monday in London, the domestic news agency Australian Associated Press said.
3) The new force would create a fierce competitor to the emerging Singapore Airlines-Lufthansa led Star alliance, which also includes Ansett, Air New Zealand, United Airlines, Brazil's Varig and Air Canada.
4) The new alliance would prove important to Qantas and British Airways for their plans to strengthen their operations into China.
5) The new alliance would control about 17 percent of world air traffic.
6) Meanwhile, Qantas announced Friday that it had entered a codeshare agreement with Swissair that would see shared services between Australia and Switzerland, via Singapore.
7) The agreement would see Swissair codeshare on three Qantas flights a week between Sydney and Singapore, departing Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Oct. 27.
8) Qantas would codeshare on the three nonstop Swissair flights each week between Singapore and Zurich.
9) ``The total number of people traveling between Australia and Switzerland has increased by an average 6.7 percent over each of the last four years, while the number of inbound visitors from Switzerland has increased by an average 10 percent in the same period,'' said Geoff Dixon, executive general manager.
10) He added that demand between Europe and Australia was forecast to increase at an average annual rate of 5.1 percent until 2007.
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Cuts to rest time could increase danger on South Africa flight: Pilots
(APW_ENG_19981012.0115)
1) Roster changes proposed by Qantas Airways for its Australia to South Africa route cut into pilots' rest time and could increase the safety risk, the Australian and International Pilots Association said Monday.
2) Qantas is proposing in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission a new roster on its Perth to South Africa route which would cut pilots rest time between flights from 34 to 21 hours.
3) The association has opposed the new roster as profit-driven and possibly dangerous.
4) A Qantas spokeswoman said the proposed 21 hour turnaround period was in accordance with Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations.
5) Association president Colin Adams said the 21-hour rest period in South Africa was not enough before the return trip. In most ports, pilots receive more than 48 hours to rest, Adams told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
6) ``It's the middle of the night and you leave again in the middle of the night so your body isn't ready to sleep when you arrive there and nor just before you leave,'' he said.
7) Negotiations between Qantas and the pilots broke down in the commission late Monday.
Report: Qantas pilot suspended for letting passengers fly jets
(APW_ENG_19981211.1527)
1) A Qantas airline captain has been suspended over allegations that he let passengers take the controls of jet planes during international flights, an Australian newspaper reported Saturday.
2) Sydney's Daily Telegraph said the country's Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Bureau of Air Safety Investigation have launched an inquiry into the allegations.
3) The newspaper also reported that Qantas confirmed the pilot has been suspended with pay pending the conclusion of an internal investigation.
4) Government authorities have obtained statements from two male passengers, one of whom said he was allowed to fly a Qantas 767 aircraft and another who said he flew one of the airline's 747 jets, the report said.
5) Both men were qualified pilots, but were only rated to fly much smaller aircraft with no more than 10 seats, it said.
6) One incident allegedly took place in mid-1990 on a regular scheduled commercial flight from Sydney to Manila.
7) A man who was a part-time officer in the Australian air force told authorities that he and another air cadet officer were allowed to fly a Qantas jet, which was almost full with passengers, for twenty minutes each.
8) The Telegraph said the man claimed that at one point his friend, who has since died, banked the plane so sharply it caused cabin crew to contact the flight deck to see if there was a problem.
9) The second case being investigated allegedly took place on a flight from Sydney to New Zealand in September 1996, the paper said.
Report: Jet carrying former U.S. president involved in security
(APW_ENG_19981222.1135)
1) A Qantas Airways airliner carrying former U.S. President George Bush was involved in a security breach when it took off with three pieces of unaccompanied baggage earlier this month, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
2) The Age said Qantas only discovered the breach two hours after the Boeing 747 had left Melbourne bound for Los Angeles via Auckland on Dec. 13.
3) The report said Qantas and most other airlines had strict rules that luggage belonging to passengers who fail to board a flight must be removed before departure.
4) Two passengers who had checked in luggage on the flight failed to board because they missed a boarding call, the paper said.
5) Bush had been in Melbourne to attend the Presidents Cup golf tournament.
6) The Age said it was not known whether any one in Bush's party, including his wife Barbara, was aware of the security breach.
7) A Qantas spokesman said the airline had taken steps ``to avoid a recurrence of the situation,'' The Age reported.
Cutbacks on Asian routes keep Australian airlines flying high
(APW_ENG_19990217.1510)
1) Service cutbacks to crisis-struck Asia have helped keep aloft Australia's two biggest airlines, which both reported increased half-yearly profits Thursday.
2) Ansett Holdings Ltd. reported an after-tax net profit of Australian dollars 61.6 million (U.S. dlrs 38.8 million) for the six months to Dec. 31, against Australian dollars 41.7 million (U.S. dlrs 26 million) the year before. That represented a 48 percent increase in profits.
3) Competitor Qantas Airways Ltd., of which British Airways PLC owns a 25 percent stake, posted a 34 percent lift in net profit for the same period, to Australian dollars 222.9 million (U.S. dlrs 140 million).
4) Ansett, which is equally owned by News Corp. and Air New Zealand Ltd., said revenue fell to Australian dollars 1.66 billion (U.S. dlrs 1.04 billion) from Australian dollars 1.68 billion (U.S. dlrs 1.06 billion) in the corresponding period.
5) Ansett said a strong Australian economy helped deliver an Australian dollars 37.8 million (U.S. dlrs 23.8 million) increase in profits in the domestic market.
6) International operations posted a pretax loss of Australian dollars 6.8 million (U.S. dlrs 4.2 million), against an Australian dollars 26.7 million (U.S. dlrs 16.8 million) loss previously. The company cut its losses after closing routes to Asia.
7) ``Higher (Australian) domestic load factors and yields, lower unit costs, and reduced international airline losses contributed to a solid improvement in Ansett Holdings profitability,'' Ansett said.
8) Qantas' profit in the first half of 1998-99 was boosted Australian dollars 25 million (U.S. dlrs 15.7 million) from disposal of aircraft.
9) Qantas' domestic operations contributed Australian dollars 148.8 million (U.S. dlrs 93.7 million) in pretax earnings. International operations contributed Australian dollars 194.3 million (U.S. dlrs 122 million).
10) Chairman Gary Pemberton said the first half result reflected better-than-expected revenue in the last three months of 1998. Profitability was ``clearly enhanced'' by Qantas' switch from loss-making routes last year to better performing markets.
11) ``In these very competitive conditions, it remains difficult to predict future profitability. However, on the back of the first half result, we are now confident of achieving our target for the year ended 30 June 1999, which is to at least match last year's profit,'' he said.
12) Qantas chief executive James Strong said there had been no visible recovery in the Asian market.
13) Qantas' share price jumped after the release of the results, reaching Australian dollars 3.92 (U.S. dlrs 2.46) at about midday local time (0100 GMT).
14) Ansett isn't listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and isn't obliged to report its earnings, which appeared in the accounts of Air New Zealand.
Qantas boss will not board a plane on New Year's Eve
(APW_ENG_19990408.0032)
1) The boss of Qantas airlines on Thursday ruled out having himself or other key Qantas executives board one of his company's planes next New Year's Eve to test the millennium bug theory.
2) Qantas chief executive officer James Strong also rejected reports that the British Airways board required its management team to be in the air at midnight at the start of 2000 to demonstrate its certainty that the millennium bug would not cause its planes to crash.
3) ``I will be at our headquarters stone cold sober watching what happens and ready to take quick actions,'' Strong told a national meeting of accountants.
4) ``The last place I'd want a key executive to be is in the air, I think that would be the same with most businesses, we will have all our key people there making decisions.''
5) Strong said he was certain Qantas itself had no Y2K compliance concerns but he could not vouch for international airports and air traffic controllers.
6) ``Our business, like just about every other one, will need on New Year's Eve as much preparation as possible, but then to have key people together ready to make decisions according to circumstances around the world,'' he said.
7) ``We'll have to see how air traffic systems are operating, how airports are operating, we will have plans and then we'll make adjustments to those as necessary.''
8) Strong said he did not expect much disruption to the normal flight schedule but Qantas would cancel flights if there were any doubts about safety.
9) Strong said the story of British Airways requiring its management to board a flight on New Year's Eve was incorrect.
10) ``This is a ... press invention, that the board of British Airways requires all their management to be on board a flight,'' he said.
11) ``The board didn't meet on the day mentioned in the article, there were people mentioned who weren't on the board and there was no such decision taken.''
British Airways' head won't speculate on bigger chunk of Qantas
(APW_ENG_19990620.0006)
1) The chairman of British Airways Ltd. declined to speculate Sunday if his airline wants a larger slice of Qantas Ltd., saying BA's current 25 percent stake in the Australian carrier remains a ``strategic investment.''
2) ``It is core business, the airline is the core business and therefore it does constitute a strategic investment on our part,'' said British Airways chairman Lord Colin Marshall.
3) Marshall said there was some disappointment at the Australian government's 25 percent ownership limit on Qantas for any foreign airline, while allowing for up to 50 percent foreign ownership in domestic rival Ansett.
4) ``Ideally we do believe that there should be a level playing field for all, and that there shouldn't be one rule for one and a different rule for another,'' Marshall said on the Nine television network's Business Sunday program.
5) Asked if British Airways would want more than 25 percent of Qantas if allowed, Marshall said: ``I'm not going to speculate on anything that British Airways might want to do.''
6) He went on to say: ``We're very satisfied with the holding that we have in Qantas at the present time.''
7) Marshall said British Airways was happy with Qantas' performance.
8) ``They have of course the benefits of the strong economy in Australia _ recognizing a significant proportion of their total passenger traffic is Australian-based _ and a very strong domestic operation within Australia,'' he said.
Strut Collapses on Qantas Plane
(APW_ENG_20000422.0033)
1) The landing gear of a Qantas Airways Ltd. jet collapsed as it was preparing to take off from Rome's international airport, the company said Saturday.
2) A Qantas spokeswoman said all 303 passengers and 19 crew aboard Qantas flight 16 disembarked safely after the landing gear failed.
3) The Boeing 747, bound for Melbourne, was moving down the runway when the strut gave way, causing one of its four engines to slam into the tarmac, according to a passenger who described the accident to Sydney's 2UE Radio network.
4) The Qantas spokeswoman said the passengers were evacuated after fuel leaked to the ground.
5) She said the company would send a team to Rome to investigate.
6) The malfunction is the latest in a series of minor mishaps for Qantas. In the most serious, a Qantas jet carrying 391 passengers and 16 crew overshot the runway during a landing at Bangkok airport on Sept. 23. No one was injured.
Qantas Prepares To Upgrade Its Fleet
(APW_ENG_20001129.0226)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia's largest airline, announced Wednesday it would buy 31 new aircraft to replace existing planes and meet growing demand.
2) Qantas said it will take delivery of 12 A3XX model aircraft from Airbus Industrie between 2006 and 2011, as well as seven Airbus A330-200 and six A330-300 between 2002 and 2005.
3) Qantas will also order six long-range 747-400 aircraft between 2002 and 2006 from Boeing Co.
4) ``The total cost of these announcements, including start up expenses, infrastructure, engines and parts, is approximately $4.6 billion over the next ten years,'' Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson said.
5) The upgrade would be funded by ``a mixture of operating cash flow, debt and equity in order to maintain existing targeting gearing levels,'' Jackson said.
6) Qantas expected to retire its Boeing 747 Classic aircraft from its international fleet, as well as B767-200 aircraft from its domestic fleet.
7) Sydney-based Qantas has been under pressure to modernize its fleet following a series of safety incidents that became front page news in September when a Boeing 747 overshot the runway at Bangkok airport.
8) The A3XX will hold 555 passengers and fly 9,010 miles without stopping. It will overtake Boeing's 413-seat 747 jumbo jet as the largest passenger plane.
9) ``We selected the A3XX for a variety of reasons, including its payload capacity, operation and economic advantages and its developmental potential as the start of a new aircraft job,'' said chief executive-designate Geoff Dixon in a statement.
10) Boeing's new 747-400 will be the same size as the 416-passenger 747-400 already in use, but will be able to fly 500 miles farther _ about 8,900 miles _ or carry an extra 7 1/2 tons of payload.
11) Boeing has said there is little market for Airbus' gigantic, 555-passenger A3XXs.
12) Alan Mulally, president of Boeing Commercial Airlines, said the Qantas order was not a setback for the company. It shows a market trend toward bigger planes with better range, he said, and Boeing believes most of that demand will be in the range of Boeing's 520-passenger 747X Stretch, expected to be available in 2005, or the new, long-range 777-200ER.
13) ``Some airlines will need airplanes bigger than the four-seven,'' Mulally said. ``We wish them the best of luck with the A3XX.''
14) Qantas shares fell after the announcement and were down 2.5 percent.
Qantas Looking at Low-Cost Airline
(APW_ENG_20010225.0508)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia's largest carrier, said Sunday it is considering launching a budget airline to serve routes in Asia that it had abandoned because of financial factors.
2) Incoming chief executive Geoff Dixon said the proposed low-cost airline could provide service from Australia to points such as South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and Tahiti. Qantas announced last week it was cutting services to China and Canada
3) ``We could get an airline that could apply to all those routes out of Australia ... but we can't do it with our current cost structure and that's obvious, because we've pulled out of these routes over a period of seven or eight years,'' Dixon said on Nine Network television.
4) Qantas is struggling because of high fuel prices, the weak Australian dollar and strong competition from domestic budget airlines, Virgin and Impulse. Qantas last week posted a 22 percent slump in profits in the first half of the current financial year and said it would eliminate 1,500 jobs.
5) Dixon said a new airline with lower costs could operate on Asian routes that Qantas had abandoned. He said Qantas would consider a share issue to fund a new international carrier, but it could also possibly be a full subsidiary of Qantas or involve a partner, he said.
6) ``There's no reason why we can't do this provided our unions and our people are willing to do something like this,'' Dixon said.
7) The proposal will be considered as Qantas reviews all aspects of its business over the next few months, Dixon said.
8) Dixon indicated Sunday that some Qantas routes to Indonesia, particularly Denpasar, would be the next to go.
Maintenance Workers Strike Qantas
(APW_ENG_20010305.0421)
1) Some 800 maintenance workers at Qantas Airways staged a 24-hour strike at Sydney airport Monday to protest possible job losses, union officials said.
2) The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the workers from four different unions staged the action at the nation's largest airline because of company labor practices.
3) ``They (the maintenance workers) continually see work contracted out (to nonunion workers) by Qantas management and in our view Qantas has failed to allay those fears,'' union state secretary Paul Bastian said. ``We don't like to resort to this kind of action but had no choice.''
4) Bastian said the strike was the first time in 10 years that maintenance workers from all sections of the Qantas Sydney base had walked off the job, indicating the level of frustration with management.
5) Workers are also concerned about a recent announcement from Qantas that it plans to slash 1,500 management and administrative jobs, Bastian said.
6) ``Those losses aren't in maintenance, but our workers are saying if you're really serious about working with employers and unions you should be serious about dealing with these issues once and for all,'' he said.
Qantas Plans to Buy Domestic Rival
(APW_ENG_20010501.0666)
1) Qantas Airways announced Monday it would take over fledgling domestic rival Impulse Airlines and launch its own domestic service next month in New Zealand.
2) Impulse executive chairman Gerry McGowan said intense competition in world aviation markets was forcing consolidation in the domestic market.
3) ``The reality is none of the domestic airlines are making money,'' McGowan said.
4) There has been intense competition in the Australian domestic aviation market since the recent start up of Impulse and Virgin Blue as cut rate airlines, challenging the longtime ascendancy of Qantas and Ansett.
5) Under the deal Impulse will withdraw its brand from major domestic routes but will contract out its eight Boeing 717 and 13 Beechcraft 1900D aircraft along with pilots and crew to Qantas, Australia's largest airline.
6) Qantas will also lend money to Impulse to provide working capital and buy out institutional shareholders which hold about 65 percent of the company. Terms were not disclosed.
7) The deal is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The commission gave no indication of how it might rule.
8) ``We will be considering the implications of the proposed restructuring, especially in light of possible alternative scenarios,'' ACCC chairman Alan Fels told reporters.
9) The alternatives ranged from the complete collapse and withdrawal of Impulse from the market to whether there were other buyers willing to make the investment to keep Impulse going, Fels said.
10) Fels said in light of Impulse's commercial situation the commission will begin assessing the deal immediately and seek information from other market participants.
11) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the new Qantas service in New Zealand would feature Boeing 737 aircraft flying 10 round trips each day between Auckland and Wellington and eight round trips per day between Auckland and Christchurch.
12) Qantas' move into New Zealand follows the collapse earlier this month of its franchise operator there, Tasman Pacific Airlines.
13) Qantas expects to begin full New Zealand service on June 1.
Australian airline Qantas blames price war for profit slump
(APW_ENG_20010815.1546)
1) Net profit at Australia's largest airline, Qantas, slumped 20 percent to 415.4 million Australian dollars (dlrs 220 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, the airline said Thursday. It blamed a domestic price war for the drop.
2) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the carrier, which is 25 percent owned by British Airways, made a profit in what was a difficult year.
3) ``In particular, Qantas was affected by significant price discounting in the Australian domestic market that placed pressure on yields, the weakness of the Australian dollar, an overall slowing in the Australian and international economies and continued high jet fuel prices,'' Dixon said in the company's earnings report.
4) Discount carriers Virgin Blue and Impulse sparked a domestic airline price war in Australia this year, hurting Qantas and its major competitor Ansett Australia.
5) The same factors will continue to weigh on business in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. Fuel costs are expected to stay high and the Australian dollar is expected to remain weak, Chairman Margaret Jackson said.
6) The company's expenditure on fuel rose 54 percent to 466.6 million Australian dollars (dlrs 247.3 million) during the 2000-2001 fiscal year.
7) Revenue rose to 10.2 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 5.4 billion) from 9.11 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 4.8 billion) in the previous year.
8) Dixon said the company will decide by October whether to establish a low-cost international airline to service the Asia-Pacific region.
9) Speaking at a press conference in Sydney, Dixon also said the airline is still actively in talks with the New Zealand government about taking a 25 percent stake in Air New Zealand and expects a decision within a few weeks.
10) Just before midday (0150 GMT), Qantas shares were down 4 Australian cents (2 U.S. cents), or 1.2 percent, at 3.20 Australian dollars (dlrs 1.69). The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9 percent.
Qantas more optimistic about taking over Air New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20010819.0008)
1) Qantas said Sunday it is more confident it will be able to take over part of Air New Zealand despite opposition from Singapore Air, claiming that it has inside support in New Zealand.
2) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said that some members of Air New Zealand's board were sympathetic to the Australian airline's proposal to take over Singapore Air's 25 percent stake in the New Zealand carrier.
3) ``We have said to them that we would be a good partner and we have had indications from certain members of the Air New Zealand board that they regard Qantas as a good partner,'' Dixon told Channel Nine television's Business Sunday program.
4) ``As a matter of fact, I think many of the independent board members would welcome the proposal but I can't speak for that and they probably would have to deny that, but I believe they would.''
5) The New Zealand government is considering an alternate proposal to let Singapore Air increase its 25 percent stake in Air New Zealand. Local law bans foreign carriers from holding more than 25 percent of the airline.
6) Air New Zealand management supports the Singapore bid, saying it is the only way to provide major new financing. The government, which appears less than enthusiastic about easing the cap on foreign stakes, says it will make a decision in a few weeks.
7) Qantas has countered with a proposal that it take over Singapore Air's 25 percent stake in Air New Zealand with the Singapore carrier taking over Air New Zealand's Australian wing, Ansett Australia.
8) Singapore Air says it has no interest in the Qantas proposal.
9) Qantas, with the support of some Australian officials, has been urging the New Zealand government to support its proposal.
10) On the domestic aviation front, Dixon said Qantas would be interested in buying discount carrier Virgin Blue. Qantas has been hit by competition from low budget airlines.
11) ``I'd love to talk to them, I mean, I'd love to take them over,'' Dixon said.
12) Qantas last week posted a 20 percent fall in annual earnings to 415.4 million Australian dollars (dlrs 205 million), citing increasing competition in international and domestic markets and soaring fuel costs. Dixon said Sunday there had been signs of improvement in recent weeks.
13) ``It's still tough, it's a very tough industry,'' he said.
Qantas to replace six aircraft with three new planes
(APW_ENG_20010824.0141)
1) Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways, said Friday it will take six of its aging Boeing 747 aircraft out of service at year's end and bring in six new planes by 2003.
2) The move is part of Qantas' 10-year fleet renewal plan unveiled in November which will see the company spend dlrs 4.6 billion on 31 new aircraft.
3) Qantas chief Geoff Dixon said six planes used on international routes will be axed at the end of the year, reducing maintenance costs.
4) ``The B747-SPs are among the oldest aircraft in the Qantas fleet and require a considerable amount of maintenance,'' Dixon said. ``The early retirement of these aircraft will also allow for capacity reductions at a time when the global economy is slowing.''
5) The company will retire two 747-SP aircraft in November and December this year, and drop four 747-200s from service in 2003.
6) Qantas also said it will bring forward three Boeing 747-400ER aircraft for use on their routes from 2003. Three 747-400ERs will also begin operation in late 2002 and early 2003.
7) ``These actions will significantly increase the efficiency of our network,'' Dixon said.
8) Qantas shares closed trading 10 Australian cents (5 U.S. cents) higher Friday at 3 Australian dollars (dlrs 1.60).
Qantas given green light to launch takeover talks to save rival Ansett
(APW_ENG_20010910.1537)
1) In a last-ditch bid to keep loss making Australian airline Ansett in the sky, the nation's competition watchdog on Tuesday gave the green light to its main competitor Qantas to begin takeover talks.
2) Qantas would gain a virtual monopoly on domestic flights were it to agree to take over its struggling rival, which is losing about 1.3 million Australian dollars (dlrs 676,000) per day.
3) Ansett's parent company, Air New Zealand, has said it plans to offload Ansett as part of its own survival strategy.
4) With an election looming and 16,000 Ansett jobs on the line if the airline folds, the federal government late Monday pleaded with Qantas to help save Ansett.
5) Such a move would normally be rejected out of hand as anticompetitive by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, but that organization also has approved Ansett-Qantas merger talks as possibly the only hope for Ansett to keep flying.
6) Ansett operates a major network of domestic routes as well as flying to destinations in Asia. It is second only to Qantas in its share of the Australian market.
7) ACCC chairman Prof. Allan Fels said he was still looking for other airlines to put in a bid for Ansett while allowing negotiations to begin between Qantas and Air New Zealand over Ansett.
8) ``The ACCC has not given Qantas the go-ahead to acquire any of Ansett's assets but the ACCC will consider any proposals, from any parties, that are brought forward,'' Fels said.
9) ``The interests of the various parties involved are very much on the ACCC's mind, including consumers who hold current tickets and the employees and suppliers of Ansett,'' Fels said in a statement.
10) ``Today's action by the ACCC should allow Ansett to continue to operate in the immediate future, including honoring its tickets.''
11) Fels also said the ACCC would question Air New Zealand about why it did not look harder for other buyers to take over Ansett before it turned to Qantas.
12) Fels said any merger between Qantas and Ansett would have to be proven not to lessen competition in the airline market, compared to any alternative options.
13) The federal government has ruled out a tax payer-funded bail out for Ansett, which needs to upgrade its aging fleet at an estimated cost of 4 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 2.1 billion).
14) ``We don't see why the taxpayer should come to the rescue of the airline when in reality, if we can find one, a commercial solution is a better solution,'' deputy Prime Minister John Anderson told television's Seven Sunrise program.
15) ``In its current form it is unlikely to survive (but) that doesn't mean to say we can't find a way forward for it in a different form, or if you like in different parts,'' he added.
16) Senior Qantas officials were in New Zealand on Tuesday for talks with Air New Zealand while another team from Qantas was reportedly heading to Melbourne to examine Ansett's books. Qantas is expected to decide by Wednesday whether it wants to help save Ansett.
17) Virgin Blue, the Australian-based no frills carrier that is Qantas and Ansett's only competitor on many domestic routes, has said it has very serious concerns about the possibility of Qantas taking over all or parts of Ansett.
18) Virgin Blue spokesman David Huttner says while protecting jobs should be a strong consideration, the government must also guarantee competition in the aviation industry.
19) Virgin Blue Chief Executive Brett Godfrey said the airline was interested in buying regional airlines owned by Ansett.
20) But Godfrey said his carrier is currently locked out of negotiations between Air New Zealand and Qantas over a possible Qantas purchase of all or parts of Ansett.
21) ``One of the problems we are facing is getting to the table,'' Godfrey told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.
22) ``The deliberations are simply between Qantas and Air New Zealand,'' he said. ``Qantas did call us but we can't make any decisions without getting substantive access to the books and records.''
Australia's sporting teams left stranded by airline demise
(APW_ENG_20010914.0126)
1) They are among the world leaders in their sports _ Australia's test cricket team, the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League featuring Australian Rules football.
2) But all three sports _ and athletics and the national basketball competition _ found themselves without a major sponsor Friday when domestic airline Ansett collapsed into the control of an administrator.
3) While sport's powerbrokers refused to give up on Ansett, most are likely to approach Qantas, which is already picking up the luggage of several sporting teams ahead of AFL and NRL playoffs this weekend.
4) ``I just think it's too early to tell but, if Ansett's not there, we'd have to do some sort of deal with another airline, and Qantas would be obvious there,'' National Rugby League chief executive David Moffett said.
5) ``We've always had a very amicable relationship with Qantas. They weren't our sponsor. But they are an Australian company and I feel confident we would be able to reach some sort of agreement with Qantas.''
6) Australian Cricket Board corporate boss Brendan McClements said ``clearly the situation is not ideal.''
7) ``But we believe we have one of the best sponsorship opportunities that may be opening up if Ansett can't continue,'' he said. ``We're confident we can find a partner to work with and be associated with cricket.''
8) Athletics Australia, whose official carrier also was Ansett, hoped something will ``come out of the rubble.''
9) The National Basketball League also has a problem after recently switching allegiance from Qantas to Ansett.
10) Qantas remained diplomatic about its likely emergence as Australian sport's new major airline sponsor.
11) ``We'll be happy to consider requests for additional sponsorships in conjunction with our existing commitments,'' Qantas spokesman Des O'Sullivan said.
Government says no to foreign planes as solution to air industry
(APW_ENG_20010919.0414)
1) The government said Wednesday it didn't want foreign planes and crews brought into Australia to help the industry restore air links after the nation's second largest airline collapsed last week.
2) Grounded on Friday by its voluntary administrator, Ansett Airlines accounted for 38 percent of Australia's domestic airline industry.
3) Amid frantic negotiations between the administrator, the government and flagship carrier Qantas Airways, Qantas said it would bring in foreign planes and crews needed to transport thousands of stranded passengers.
4) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said his carrier was looking to lease two Boeing 767s from Air Canada.
5) ``The only way you can get aircraft very, very quickly is to bring them in short term, flown by foreign crews while we can then gear up, buy aircraft to put Australian crews in them,'' Dixon said.
6) Qantas has been negotiating for days to lease Ansett planes and crew but the talks have bogged down over how much the carrier should pay.
7) The government and unions slammed the announcement.
8) Prime Minister John Howard said he had told Qantas he was opposed to a deal that would bring in planes and crew from foreign airlines.
9) ``We do not want additional foreign aircraft and crew brought into this country while there are aircraft and crews ready and willing to operate,'' Howard said.
10) Unions accused Qantas of trying to profit from the collapse of its main domestic rival.
11) Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharon Burrow said Qantas was looking for the cheapest deal instead of employing some of the 16,000 Ansett staff who lost their jobs last week.
12) ``There are Ansett jobs going begging. People are without income they're worried about paying their bills, buying food for next week,'' she said.
13) Mark Mentha, the voluntary administrator now in charge of Ansett, said Qantas was not willing to pay the full price to lease Ansett aircraft and help the collapsed airline restart its cash flow.
14) Mentha told Melbourne radio station 3AW that a proposed deal whereby Qantas would lease up to 20 Ansett aircraft had a less than 50 percent chance of being closed.
15) ``They are wanting the 20 best aircraft. To give them up (without a good price) would clearly have an impact on the long-term viability'' of Ansett, he said.
16) The government said it would assist the local industry with insurance costs if that would stop foreign planes from being brought in.
17) Quantas' Dixon said he would abandon any leasing deal with Ansett if an agreement was not reached by the close of business Wednesday.
18) As the operator of more than 34 regional routes, Ansett's grounding initially left dozens of remote Australian cities virtually isolated.
19) Federal Transport Minister John Anderson said Wednesday that air transport had already been restored to all but five of the unserviced routes. (poc/kh)
Australian carrier to shed 10 percent of executives
(APW_ENG_20011008.0490)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas will shed 10 percent of its executive staff and cut international flights, including some to the United States, as it faces a downturn in the global aviation industry, according to an internal memo.
2) With no increase in demand for its international services expected for another six months, Australia's largest airline was forced to slash costs immediately, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon told staff in an internal memo obtained Monday by media in Australia.
3) ``While the impact is not yet as severe for Qantas as for other overseas carriers ... it is prudent we act now!'' Dixon said.
4) The Qantas measures follow massive job cuts at a number of U.S. and international airlines as ticket sales plummeted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings in the United States that left more than 5,000 people dead.
5) The attacks were expected to add ``hundreds of millions of dollars'' (dlrs) in extra costs such as higher insurance premiums and heightened security to Qantas' bottom line, the memo said.
6) Dixon said there would be an overall reduction of Qantas' international services led by the cancellation of two daily flights to the United States.
7) It was not immediately clear how many executives would lose their jobs _ most job losses would be by attrition, Dixon said.
8) The latest cutbacks come after Qantas slashed 1,500 jobs and suspended some international routes in February to combat spiraling fuel costs, a weak currency and increased competition.
9) Underperforming international routes including some to China and Canada were axed then and about 220 of the 1,500 jobs cuts affected executive and middle management staff.
10) Dixon warned Monday that worse may be to come if the global aviation downturn deepened.
11) ``We may have to extend these measures if the current circumstances deteriorate further,'' he wrote.
Australian airline says it may fast-track launch of cut-price
(APW_ENG_20011010.1893)
1) Australian airline Qantas said Thursday it could fast-track the launch of its planned new low cost international carrier, Australian Airlines, despite the global slump in air travel since the Sept. 11 U.S. terror attacks.
2) ``The global situation is very fluid but it is possible it may be brought forward a little bit,'' a Qantas spokesman said.
3) Qantas, which is 25 percent owned by British Airways, originally planned to launch the new carrier in the second half of 2002 but the demise of domestic rival Ansett has provided an opportunity for Qantas to accelerate its arrival.
4) Analysts expect the airline to target some of Ansett's international tourist and leisure routes including Japan and the popular Indonesian island resort of Bali.
5) Ansett was Australia's second-largest airline and Qantas' only major domestic rival until it was grounded Sept. 14 due to a surging debt bill.
6) With 17,000 employees and a 65-year history, Ansett had about 38 percent of the Australian market, compared with Qantas' 55 percent share. Qantas is now estimated to control about 90 percent of the domestic aviation market.
7) Australian Airlines chief executive Denis Adams is working on a business plan for the international airline, the Qantas spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires on customary condition of anonymity.
8) ``Obviously things have changed globally, and they'll have to take all those things into account. But they are still moving forward with their plans,'' he said.
Qantas chooses Boeing for fleet expansion, signs alliance with American Airlines
(APW_ENG_20011028.1019)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas has told Boeing it wants to buy 15 new aircraft and take options on another 60 as part of domestic expansion and fleet upgrade plans.
2) The decision is part of a new 10-year strategic alliance with American Airlines, the world's largest airline.
3) A Qantas spokesman said Monday the company had chosen Boeing over European rival Airbus.
4) ``The company looked for many weeks, there were many factors but in the end it was a close decision in favor of Boeing,'' said spokesman Michael Sharp.
5) Qantas has placed an initial order for 15 new generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft as part of a 1.5 billion Australian dollar (dlrs 750 million) domestic expansion announced last month.
6) The options on another 60 aircraft are to progressively replace its existing fleet of Boeing 737-300 and 737-400 aircraft.
7) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said that thanks to the new alliance with American Airlines the first of the new batch of aircraft would be in service as early as January next year.
8) The aircraft will come from existing orders that American Airlines had in place with Boeing.
9) ``American Airlines will assist Qantas with technical advice, simulator training for pilots, spare parts and engines,'' he said.
10) The new aircraft will enable Qantas to meet demand created by the collapse of Ansett Airlines in September, formerly Australia's second largest domestic carrier until it was grounded under the weight of unsustainable debt.
11) The remainder of the 15 aircraft would be progressively introduced between February and July 2002.
12) Following the demise of Ansett, Qantas is hoping to secure about 70 percent of the domestic market, against a smaller version of Ansett salvaged from the collapse, and Virgin Blue, a discount carrier which entered the market late last year.
13) Dixon said the Boeing 737-800s would form the cornerstone of the airline's revamped domestic operations.
14) Details of the new alliance with American Airlines would be finalized in the next few weeks.
15) Dixon said it would involve joint purchasing arrangements and Qantas would use American Airlines specifications as the standard for replacing the Qantas single aisle fleet, such as in Boeing 737s.
16) That would enable the carriers to do short-term leasing deals to cater for peaks and troughs in demand.
17) Qantas would progressively relocate to the American Airlines terminal at Los Angeles airport and expand the codeshare and frequent flyer agreements between the two carriers.
18) Qantas would also begin Auckland-Dallas-Auckland nonstop services when the new, long range Boeing 747-400 is delivered in late 2002.
19) Dixon said Dallas was a major worldwide hub for American Airlines, particularly to all major North American and South American cities.
Qantas maintenance workers to strike next week over pay freeze
(APW_ENG_20011112.0120)
1) Maintenance workers with Qantas Airways Ltd. said Monday they will strike for 48 hours next week after the airline called on them to agree to an 18-month freeze in pay rise or face job losses.
2) The plan was announced last month by Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon, but despite weeks of talks airline unions remain opposed to the scheme.
3) Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) assistant national secretary Dave Oliver said 3,000 maintenance workers voted to stop work from midnight next Monday. Oliver said the strike would be followed by rolling stoppages and work bans.
4) Qantas staff working in administration, freight, catering and engineering are also considering joining the stop work.
5) A Qantas spokesman said the company was negotiating with 13 unions who represent 31,000 workers in order to avoid a larger strike.
6) He said the AMWU represented only 800 of 4,000 maintenance workers and their strike was unlikely to cause a major disruption to services.
7) The members work on planned maintenance in the hangars, not aircraft operating on a day-to-day basis, the spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
8) et-ep
Australian flag carrier to cut up to 2,000 staff Eds: RECAPS, UPDATES with union reaction
(APW_ENG_20011115.0021)
1) Qantas, Australia's biggest airline, announced Thursday it will cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs _ about six percent of its staff _ blaming the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for the decision.
2) Unions accused the airline of announcing the cuts in an attempt to force workers to accept a proposed freeze in their wages.
3) Qantas chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline also would pare back its international flight schedule _ including ending all flights to New York _ because of sliding demand since the attacks on New York and Washington.
4) The airline has cut its international flights by about 11 percent since Sept. 11.
5) The Sydney-based carrier also said it will retire its fleet of five Boeing 747-200 aircraft beginning in April. The aircraft had been scheduled to be phased out from late 2003.
6) Qantas said it will also make ``extensive internal changes'' by moving a significant number of staff from its international operations to its domestic operations.
7) In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Qantas said all flights to New York will be cut from Nov. 25, and flights would be reduced to Rome, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Manila and Buenos Aires.
8) Dixon said the moves were designed to ``bolster decisions made last month to respond to the international aviation downturn resulting from the terrorist attack, to lower its cost base and to put it in a strong position to take advantage of the inevitable recovery of the international aviation market.''
9) Qantas already is seeking a staff wage freeze for 12 to 18 months and substantial changes to domestic operations. Unions have threatened strike action over the proposed wage freeze.
10) Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron told reporters in Sydney he was cynical about the timing of the job cut announcement, which came as unions were fighting against planned wage cuts.
11) ``You have to be a cynic when you're dealing with Qantas,'' Cameron said. ``I think the timing is designed to put pressure on the unions who have refused to accept wage cuts at Qantas.''
12) Unions plan a two-day strike next week to protest plans by Qantas to ax all pay rises for the next 18 months.
13) Dixon said bookings from Japan are down 25 percent, while bookings from the United Kingdom have slumped 23 percent.
14) Overall traffic levels have declined between 10 percent and 20 percent, Qantas said.
15) ``While we need to continue to monitor the international situation closely, every effort will be made to resume withdrawn services as quickly as possible to help arrest the downturn in inbound tourism,'' Dixon said.
Qantas says maintenance strike won't delay flights as more walkouts
(APW_ENG_20011119.1359)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Tuesday that a two-day strike by maintenance workers would not disrupt domestic or international flights.
2) The strike, called by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), began overnight at Australia's three largest domestic and international airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
3) The workers are protesting a Qantas proposal to freeze wages for 12-18 months.
4) Qantas management is also talking to officials from the Australian Services Union who are threatening a walkout later this week by 8,500 members over jobs, after the airline last week announced it wanted to eliminate 2,000 jobs by Christmas.
5) Qantas Executive General Manager Human Resources, Kevin Brown, said Tuesday that customers were advised to arrive at the airport at the usual time, as it did not expect any schedule disruptions.
6) However, AMWU Assistant Secretary Dave Oliver said the strike could delay flights over the year-end holiday season.
7) ``Today's action will have an impact on Qantas' maintenance schedule which could affect flights a few weeks down the track _ right in the middle of Christmas,'' Oliver said.
8) The union said about 2,800 staff had walked off the job.
9) Brown said less than 2,000 of Qantas' 5,800 maintenance staff were involved in the strike.
10) ``Members of other engineering unions are not participating and will continue to provide aircraft maintenance, ensuring full compliance with all safety regulations,'' he said.
11) Brown said the plan for a wages freeze also included incentive payments for staff if company profit targets were met.
12) He said the proposal had gained in principle approval from eight of 13 unions involved in enterprise bargaining negotiations, representing more than half the total work force.
13) A delegation from the ASU, the airline's biggest union which represents call center, ticketing and administrative staff has been meeting with Qantas executives since Sunday over job security for its members.
14) ASU official Helja Svendsen said industrial action was almost certain if workers weren't satisfied by the offer.
15) ``If they're being asked to take a wage freeze to produce some security then they need to have that security,'' said Svendsen. (poc/et)
Qantas defies global trend with new cut-price international
(APW_ENG_20011211.0021)
1) Flying in the face of a global bout of airline downsizing, Qantas Airways announced Tuesday it will launch its new cut-price international carrier next year linking Australia with six Asian destinations.
2) But while the launch of Australian Airlines is bucking one global trend, it could be setting another, a senior analyst said.
3) Peter Harbison, managing director of independent consultancy, the Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation, said other carriers will likely copy Qantas.
4) ``We're entering a whole new era in aviation ... and we're learning from the experience of these cheap, cut-price operations which have a very simple framework,'' Harbison told The Associated Press.
5) ``In the medium to long term it's inevitable'' that most airlines will follow Qantas' lead toward operating budget services, he added.
6) Australian Airlines will initially provide nonstop return flights from the northeastern tourist city of Cairns to Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka in Japan as well as to Singapore, Taipei in Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
7) Australian Airlines chief executive Denis Adams said once its cost structure had been signed off by Qantas chief Geoff Dixon, the first four of the carrier's Boeing 767-300 aircraft should be in the air by August, 2002.
8) ``The simplicity of the Australian Airlines model enables us to save significant costs compared to more traditional airlines,'' he said. ``We have one aircraft type and one class of service.''
9) The announcement came at a volatile time for the aviation industry in Australia and internationally, with the Sept. 11 terror attacks triggering a drop in passenger numbers and rise in security and insurance costs.
10) Some airlines have been forced out of business and others have laid off thousands of workers to survive.
11) In Australia, one small budget airline was taken over earlier this year and in September the nation's second largest carrier, Ansett, collapsed under the weight of massive debts and fierce competition.
12) The government has provided support to keep some Ansett planes flying while new investors work out a plan to return it full-time to the skies.
13) Shawn Burns, aviation analyst with investment group Zurich Scudder, said Qantas was taking a cautious approach to its new venture.
14) ``It's not an enormous bet _ there's only four aircraft immediately _ so they'll start up slow and see how it goes,'' Burns said. ``If it works they'll probably keep expanding it to cover more of Southeast Asia and the (Pacific) islands.''
15) Dixon said Qantas was originally planning to have Australian Airlines in the air by April, but board members had decided the industry would still be shaky and delayed the launch date.
16) ``The industry itself is probably in its greatest crisis since its inception and we just wanted to wait a little bit longer to see how some of the Asian markets in particular responded,'' Dixon said.
17) ``We feel that around about August will be a time _ if everything settles down and there's no other major incidents such as the Sept. 11 one _ that people will be back flying and it will be a good time to launch it,'' he added.
Qantas restores air services to New York canceled after terror
(APW_ENG_20011212.1774)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Thursday it would resume flights to New York via Los Angeles from early next year in response to an improving aviation market.
2) The carrier's chief executive Geoff Dixon said the New York service, which was cut after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, would resume from Feb. 27.
3) ``The aviation and tourism industries within Australia and around the world have been through an extremely tumultuous period over the past few months. These adjustments reflect the fact that travel on some international routes is showing signs of improvement,'' Dixon said in a statement.
4) The service will fly each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday out of Sydney, with return services operating the same days from New York.
5) Qantas said it will also increase its services to Hong Kong, with three additional flights each week operating from Sydney on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
6) In addition to those changes, Qantas will operate all of its services between Australia and Frankfurt, Paris and Rome via Singapore from March 31, 2002.
7) ``Singapore is one of the key hubs in the Qantas network, linking Australian cities with Kangaroo route services to Europe and flights to other parts of Asia,'' Dixon said.
Qantas says no disruption to flights over Christmas if unions take
(APW_ENG_20011217.0089)
1) Passengers with Australian flag carrier Qantas would not suffer disruptions to flights over Christmas, despite threats of industrial action by unions, the airline said Monday.
2) ``There would be no disruption to Qantas flights over the Christmas period, even if some unions carried out their threat of industrial action,'' Qantas said in a statement.
3) Two maintenance unions have refused to accept an 18-month wage freeze proposed by the airline and have not ruled out taking industrial action over Christmas.
4) The unions involved, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) and the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), said any action would not be intended to disrupt flights.
5) ``It isn't the aim of the AWU to ground aircraft and I really don't see that as a big likelihood in the slightest,'' AWU national secretary Bill Shorten said.
6) Members of both unions took part in a secret ballot Monday ordered by the nation's labor court, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), but voted overwhelmingly to reject the wage freeze.
7) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said he was disappointed members of the two unions had voted against the Qantas package but negotiations were still taking place.
8) ``Qantas is continuing to negotiate with the AMWU and AWU before the Industrial Relations (Commission),'' he said.
9) He said the airline had offered a new job classification structure, improved career opportunities with more higher level positions and bonus payments for staff who acquire additional qualifications.
10) Bonus payments would be made to staff if Qantas exceeds last year's profit, he said.
11) Dixon said nine of the airline's unions representing some 92 percent of the carrier's work force had agreed to the wage freeze and incentive plan.
French soldier stopped at Singapore airport carrying ammunition Eds: UPDATES with quotes from Sydney airport grafs 8 to 10. UPDATES
(APW_ENG_20011224.0231)
1) A French soldier, who was on his way to Paris after military exercises in New Caledonia last week, was detained by security at Singapore's Changi Airport for carrying ammunition in his hand luggage.
2) Qantas Airlines told the Associated Press on Monday that ``a single round of ammunition was detected on a passenger'' who was in transit at Changi Airport on Dec. 17.
3) A passenger, who witnessed the incident, said airport officials noticed the bullet as the soldier passed through the security x-ray check to reboard Qantas flight 17. The flight had also stopped at Sydney airport, but the ammunition had escaped detection.
4) Security at Singapore's Changi Airport was bolstered soon after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Since then, policemen and soldiers have patrolled Changi Airport, and security checks on luggage have been upgraded.
5) The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldier was allowed to resume his journey after the plane's captain agreed to allow him back on board.
6) In a statement Monday, Singapore police confirmed that they ``seized the bullet and the passenger continued on his journey after a warning was given.''
7) Qantas said in a statement that the incident involving the French soldier didn't mean that the company's aircraft or passengers were at risk. ``Qantas has addressed this issue with screening authorities in Sydney and Noumea,'' it said.
8) Peter Gibbs, a spokesman for Sydney Airport said that the airport had received a report from Qantas.
9) ``He must have gone through the transit screening process that is administered by Qantas,'' said Gibbs. The incident is being looked at seriously, he added.
10) Australia's government increased security alert levels and issued a general warning Monday, citing a possible threat of terrorism against U.S. or British targets.
11) Attorney-General Daryl Williams said Monday aviation security was increased and ``security at key sites is also being reviewed.''
12) About 80 french paratroopers were aboard Qantas Flight 17, after having completed training in New Caledonia, a French territory in the Pacific.
13) New Caledonia is about 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) northeast of Sydney, Australia. (hp-kh)
Sydney workers vote against pay deal agreed between union and Qantas
(APW_ENG_20020116.0055)
1) Qantas maintenance workers in Sydney voted against a pay deal agreed last week between their union leadership and airline management, reopening the possibility of industrial action at the carrier, Australia's largest.
2) The vote Wednesday against the offer by members of the Australian Workers Union follows a similar rejection by fellow workers in Melbourne on Tuesday.
3) AWU national secretary Bill Shorten said workers were unhappy with the offer because it had too many conditions.
4) ``I think this is a fairly convincing rejection of the Qantas proposal to only provide wage rises with strings attached,'' he said.
5) Shorten said the union would continue negotiations with Qantas and attempt to work toward a mutually acceptable deal.
6) Qantas general manager for aircraft operations David Forsyth said the airline would not cave in to demands for higher pay without trade-offs from staff.
7) ``This deal was put up in good faith by the airline and unions and if this deal wasn't able to float I wouldn't like to guess where it's going to go,'' he said.
8) Forsyth said Qantas was still considering its next step.
9) Last Thursday officials from the AWU and another maintenance union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Unions, agreed to a Qantas demand that maintenance staff receive no wage rises until June 2002.
10) In return Qantas agreed to wage increases of 6 percent over 18 months following the freeze and a 3 percent bonus if productivity targets were met.
11) Qantas had wanted an 18-month pay freeze and unions a 4 percent pay rise over two years.
12) Maintenance workers had threatened strike action if the four-month old dispute was not resolved.
13) Qantas said last week that acceptance of the agreement would mean that all of the carrier's 33,000 staff whose employment contracts were up for negotiation had agreed to the wage freeze, including company executives.
Dispute between Qantas, maintenance workers worsens
(APW_ENG_20020201.0051)
1) A dispute between Qantas Airways and airline maintenance workers worsened Friday, as Australia's flag carrier refused to pay hundreds of staff who said they would not work overtime.
2) A Qantas spokesman said some 300 workers at the company's operations in Melbourne had been told to go home without pay after they refused to work extra hours over the weekend.
3) The spokesman said on usual condition of anonymity that a number of workers in Sydney would also be refused their regular wages _ known in Australia as being ``stood down.''
4) The Australian Workers' Union said 170 workers in Sydney had been told by Qantas they would not be paid.
5) The action led to a 24-hour work stoppage and rally at Sydney airport by more than 800 maintenance workers early Friday. Some 600 workers in Sydney went on a 24-hour strike Thursday for the same reason.
6) Workers in Melbourne held a stop-work meeting early Friday, but returned to their jobs an hour later.
7) The AWU has said Qantas' request for overtime would breach union overtime bans which had been in place since September.
8) The bans, authorized by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, are part of a long-running wage dispute by maintenance workers at Qantas who refuse to accept a temporary wage freeze.
9) Qantas told the AIRC in Melbourne on Friday that the overtime bans were beginning to have an impact on the company's operations, but has denied that it is affecting flight arrivals and departures.
10) ``There has been a buildup over the last few months of overtime bans,'' Qantas lawyer Richard Dalton said. ``This (Qantas action) is a last resort.''
11) The hearing was adjourned until Feb.6.
12) et-kgo
Airline's profits plummet after post-Sept. 11 drop in passengers Eds: ADDS Wednesday share price in last graf
(APW_ENG_20020220.1833)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Thursday its half-year net profit plummeted 41.6 percent largely due to fewer passengers after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.
2) Qantas also blamed higher fuel costs for the fall in net profit in the six months to Dec. 31 to 153.5 million Australian dollars (dlrs 78 million).
3) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said business so far in 2002 indicated that the airline was on track to deliver a full year profit before tax in line with last year's result of 550 million Australian dollars (dlrs 280 million).
4) ``However this could prove difficult if there is further volatility in the market,'' he warned.
5) Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson said the carrier's performance in the most tumultuous period in the history of aviation had been outstanding.
6) ''... we have performed better than just about any airline in the world,'' she said.
7) Qantas' position has been strengthened by the collapse last September of its major domestic rival, Ansett.
8) Dixon noted that after Sept. 11, demand for international travel fell by up to 30 percent on some routes.
9) International operations, which account for 75 percent of Qantas' business, slumped to a pretax loss of 15.5 million Australian dollars (dlrs 7.9 million) compared to pretax profits of 285.9 million Australian dollars (dlrs 145.8 million) in the previous corresponding period, Dixon said.
10) ``The sharp decline in the profitability of our international operations far outweighed the increased profitability of our domestic operations after the collapse of Ansett,'' Dixon said.
11) Domestic operations contributed 180.1 million Australian dollars (dlrs 91.8 million) to pretax earnings, an increase of 62 million Australian dollars (dlrs 31.6 million).
12) Qantas said half year sales totaled 5.7 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 2.9 billion), a rise of 566 million Australian dollars (dlrs 288.6 million).
13) Qantas shares fell as low as 3.78 Australian dollars (dlrs 1.95) after the earnings news Thursday from its closing price Wednesday of 3.94 Australian dollars (dlrs 2.03).
Qantas chief says British Airways promises not to sell Qantas
(APW_ENG_20020224.0046)
1) British Airways has promised not to sell its 22 percent stake in the Australian flag carrier, Qantas Airways, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said Sunday.
2) ``They're telling us they don't want to get out and we take them on their word,'' Dixon told Nine Network television.
3) He said he welcomed British Airways as a stockholder, but if it wanted to sell out, Qantas would assist them in offloading the stock.
4) ``We have said to them, `if you do want to get out, please talk to us about it because we would like to at least take part so we can do it in an orderly fashion','' he said.
5) Speculation about a a possible sellout surfaced in December when The Times newspaper in London reported that British Airways could reap STG400 million (dlrs 580 million) from a sale.
6) The sale was reportedly being considered as part of plans to reorganize the airline giant, which could also see British Airways drop loss-making European routes and scale back operations at London's Gatwick airport.
7) Like other major international carriers, British Airways, has been hit by the fallout from the global economic slowdown, the U.S. terrorist attacks and growing popularity of discount competitors.
8) Last week, Qantas announced a half year profit result of 153.5 million Australian dollars (dlrs 79.5 million) to the year ended Dec. 31, 2001 _ a 42 percent drop from the previous year.
9) Dixon said the international market is showing signs of recovery since Sept. 11.
10) poc/gs
Qantas workers strike over stalled salary negotiations
(APW_ENG_20020304.0091)
1) Aircraft maintenance workers at Qantas Airways' Sydney base went on strike Monday in a salary dispute.
2) A Qantas spokesman said its schedule would be unaffected.
3) The 24-hour strike by some 900 workers was called after Qantas management declined to take part in private arbitration, said Tim Ayres of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. He warned more strikes could follow.
4) et-gs
700 maintenance workers at Qantas strike for second day
(APW_ENG_20020305.0104)
1) About 700 Qantas Airways maintenance workers went on strike for the second consecutive day Tuesday to protest the company's plans to temporarily freeze wages.
2) As a snap 24-hour strike by workers at Sydney airport finished early Tuesday, 300 workers in the heavy maintenance division laid down tools for a second day. About 400 workers at Melbourne airport also walked off the job.
3) A Qantas spokeswoman said the industrial action ``would have no effect on services.''
4) ``The unions involved in this action cover less than half our total maintenance work force,'' she said on usual condition of anonymity.
5) Maintenance unions have been striking on and off since October when Qantas first put forward its plan to refuse all wage rises for 18 months.
6) Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said the dispute should be arbitrated in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. However, he said Qantas had refused to take negotiations forward.
7) Unions have also warned Qantas to expect more strikes this week.
8) et/mp
Qantas' new international carrier not a low-fare airline, says
(APW_ENG_20020410.0042)
1) Qantas Airways' new no-frills international carrier, Australian Airlines, will not be a low-fare airline nor compete directly with its parent on routes, the company's chief said Wednesday.
2) Australian Airlines will begin flying on Oct. 27 between Cairns in northeastern Australia to Osaka, Fukora and Nagoya in Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore, and Hong Kong. The airline will also fly between the Australian resort cities of Cairns _ on the Great Barrier Reef _ and the Gold Coast, but will only carry international travelers on that route.
3) Australian Airlines chief executive officer Denis Adams said the carrier would not offer cheap seats, but could still keep its cost base 30 percent lower than Qantas by simplifying operations, such as offering economy class seats only. Such a plan would add an additional 40 seats, he said.
4) The Qantas offshoot was confident of turning a ``small profit'' in its first year, with 90 percent of its initial business coming from inbound international tourists, Adams told tourism industry officials in Brisbane.
5) The carrier initially will operate four Boeing 767-300s, and plans to grow to a fleet of 12 while expanding services next year to other Asian destinations, including Phuket, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
6) Separately, some 200 Qantas maintenance workers on Wednesday marched on the airline's Sydney domestic terminal and threatened to disrupt flights and cause delays by going on strike, unless the national flag carrier offers a pay raise.
7) The airline's maintenance workers have for eight months been fighting Qantas' plans to freeze wages for a year, and have staged strikes and protests in Sydney and Melbourne.
Competition watchdog launches legal action against Qantas Airways By EMMA TINKLER
(APW_ENG_20020507.0083)
1) Australia's competition watchdog launched legal action Tuesday against Qantas Airways, alleging the flag carrier slashed fares and increased seat numbers on a domestic route to try to eliminate new rival airline Virgin Blue.
2) Qantas ``substantially'' increased the number of seats available on its Brisbane-Adelaide route and matched or undercut Virgin Blue's fares to ``eliminate or substantially damage Virgin Blue, or to deter or prevent Virgin Blue from engaging in competitive conduct in the market,'' the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement.
3) The commission was seeking to fine Qantas 10 million Australian dollars (U.S. dlrs 5.4 million) for the breach, and to gain an injunction restraining Qantas from again misusing its market power in a similar way.
4) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon rejected the commission's allegations, and said the company would ``vigorously defend this action.''
5) ``The competitive response by Qantas has clearly been supported by and benefited consumers as it has resulted in more services, greater choice and cheaper fares,'' Dixon said in a statement.
6) Cut-price carrier Virgin Blue, which is owned by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, began flying twice daily between the northeastern city of Brisbane and Adelaide, capital of South Australia state, in December 2000.
7) Prior to that, Qantas and collapsed airline Ansett were the only carriers operating direct flights between the two cities. The route is not well patronized compared to flights between Australia's largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
8) The ACCC said the number of seats on the route was almost doubled after Virgin Blue's entry. Part of this was to do with Qantas adding another daily flight, increasing its own capacity by 50 percent.
9) Qantas ``knew that the effect of adding substantial capacity between Adelaide and Brisbane and offering fares at or below those of Virgin Blue would be that all competitors on the route would operate at a loss'' and one would eventually withdraw from it, the ACCC said.
10) ``Qantas had the financial resources and strength to sustain the losses on the route longer than its competitors,'' the commission said.
11) Preliminary hearings will begin in the Federal Court in Sydney on June 11.
Qantas workers end 10-month pay dispute
(APW_ENG_20020508.0211)
1) A 10-month dispute over pay between maintenance workers and management at Qantas Airways ended Wednesday after the majority of staff voted in favor of a union-brokered wage deal.
2) Workers at Qantas' Sydney operations accepted an agreement that gives workers a 3 percent pay increase from July 1, plus another 1.5 percent increase from July 1, 2003, union officials said.
3) The deal _ which was backed by staff in Melbourne on Tuesday _ has yet to be approved by staff in Brisbane and Perth, but enough workers have already voted in its favor that it cannot be overturned.
4) ``I'm confident that this now resolves this dispute for another 15 to 18 months,'' said Doug Cameron, national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
5) The Australian Workers Union said the deal is better than earlier management proposals because it gives guaranteed pay increases that are not contingent on productivity gains.
6) The vote ends a protracted dispute in which maintenance unions have gone on strike on and off since October, when Qantas first put forward its plan to refuse all wage increases for 18 months.
7) Qantas was not immediately available for comment.
Qantas on track to meet U.S. deadline to install extra security
(APW_ENG_20020620.0032)
1) Qantas Airways said Thursday it is on track to meet a U.S.-imposed deadline to install grenade-resistant cockpit doors on its Boeing 747 fleet that flies to America.
2) The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set an April 2003 deadline for all aircraft flying within and to the United States to be equipped with armored cockpit doors and bulkheads.
3) A Qantas spokeswoman said Thursday the airline was likely to meet the deadline.
4) Some 30 Qantas aircraft will require modification.
5) The FAA estimated that more than 1,900 planes owned by foreign carriers would have to get the new doors, at a cost of between dlrs 41 million and dlrs 80 million. More than 6,000 U.S. airplanes also are getting the stronger doors.
6) No decisions have been made about whether similar modifications would be made to the Qantas domestic fleet, the spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity.
7) ``We're continually looking at changing security requirements and our assessment of security measures but we don't have details on that at the moment,'' she said.
Qantas staff plan strike, threatening delays for air passengers
(APW_ENG_20020730.0028)
1) Air passengers across Australia were likely to face delays but no flight cancellations due to a strike planned for Friday by Qantas check-in and reservations staff, the airline said Tuesday.
2) The planned 12-hour strike was called after talks over a wage increase and better working conditions broke down Monday, the Australian Services Union said.
3) Union assistant secretary Linda White said it was likely Qantas' head office in Sydney would close because of the strike, but it was ``hard to know'' what the disruptions would be at airports.
4) ``But any day at Qantas is a busy day,'' White added.
5) Qantas condemned the proposed strike.
6) ``We're disappointed that the ASU has chosen to hold our customers hostage in the hope of a better pay deal,'' said Kevin Brown, the airline's executive general manager of human resources.
7) ``We are expecting some delays in processing people and potentially some delays in flight departures but we have not canceled any flights for Friday,'' he added.
8) The union and Qantas have been in talks since May, with the union seeking a 5 percent wage increase per year for two years.
9) The airline has offered 3 percent and has rejected all of the workers' other claims, including a 100 percent increase in the amount paid during maternity leave, White said.
10) White said the wage demand was reasonable given that workers had accepted a temporary wage freeze after Sept. 11, and with Qantas expected to announce record profits in August.
11) ``It's time to pay us back. The executives are paying themselves between 10 percent and 50 percent of their salary in bonuses this year, recognizing how well the airlines have done,'' she said.
12) White said a strike would only be averted if Qantas showed some movement in accepting some of the union's claims before Friday.
13) But Qantas appeared unlikely to budge.
14) ``We currently have on the table with the ASU _ having met with them over 20 times in the last 14 weeks _ a 3 percent pay deal each year for the next two years, and that comes on top of a bonus payment of 3 percent to 4 percent in September,'' Brown said.
15) ``Our view is that is a fair and reasonable offer given the turmoil of the industry,'' he added.
Qantas braces for national strike by clerical and engineering staff on Friday
(APW_ENG_20020731.0044)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas was bracing for heavy flight disruptions later this week after workers agreed Wednesday to a national strike following a deadlock in wage talks.
2) Check-in, freight, telephone sales, information technology and engineering staff are among the Qantas workers planning a 12-hour strike Friday after wage talks between airline management and the Australian Services Union broke down Monday.
3) The union's assistant national secretary, Linda White, said it was unlikely the strike could be averted unless the airline showed flexibility in addressing the union's demands.
4) ``We are sitting around saying, 'why won't they call?''' said White. ``If they are serious, they'd be on the phone.''
5) The union is seeking a 5 percent wage increase each year for the next two years. Qantas has offered 3 percent each year for the next two years.
6) It was not clear how many of the airline's 30,000 staff were expected to join the strike.
7) A spokesman for Qantas confirmed negotiations had stalled and that Qantas management was looking at how to minimize disruption for travelers.
8) ``We are working on contingency plans for Friday to minimize disruption to services,'' a Qantas spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
9) The spokesman said it was not possible to estimate the number of staff who might strike or the effect on flights until contingency plans were finished.
10) Top Qantas personnel manager Kevin Brown on Tuesday accused the union of holding passengers hostage in the pay dispute but said the airline hoped to avoid any flight cancellations if the strike went ahead Friday.
Australian flag carrier Qantas downplays impact of strike
(APW_ENG_20020802.0088)
1) Dozens of domestic flights in Australia were canceled and international passengers endured long delays Friday, as 6,000 workers at national airline Qantas staged a 12-hour strike to demand better pay.
2) But while apologizing to passengers for delays, Qantas said it had largely shrugged off the effects of the nationwide strike.
3) As the strike ended late in the day, the airline said it had carried about 90 percent of the passengers it would expect on a normal Friday.
4) ``There were delays, particularly during the early morning peak hour period, but overall today's operations ran smoothly in the circumstances,'' said the airline's executive general manager Kevin Brown.
5) Sydney Airport spokesman Peter Gibbs said the nation's busiest airport had coped well.
6) ``Queues were long and more slow-moving than usual at check-in,'' he said. ``But I have not been advised of any significant delays to departures.''
7) Qantas had told passengers ahead of time about the strike and booked many on flights leaving Thursday or Saturday.
8) The airline said international flights operated on time, with many passengers turning up three hours early.
9) But Martin Foley of the Australian Service Union, whose members staged the strike, claimed 119 domestic flights had been canceled and that every flight out of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane was delayed.
10) ``We regret causing any inconvenience to the public, but unfortunately Qantas left us no alternative,'' Foley said.
11) Since its main domestic competitor, Ansett, folded earlier this year, Qantas has carried the majority of passengers within Australia.
12) The strike, which began at 4 a.m. (1800 GMT), was mainly by baggage handlers, check-in staff and clerical workers, along with some engineers and maintenance workers.
13) One passenger who faced a delay was Commonwealth Games lawn bowler Adam Jeffery, arriving in Sydney from Manchester, England. His early morning connecting flight to Canberra was canceled.
14) ``I have been in the air for 30 hours, so it makes little difference to me. But hopefully I will be home at some time today,'' he said.
15) In Melbourne, early domestic flights were running at least two hours behind schedule. In Brisbane flights were canceled and there were long waits at check-in counters.
16) The airport in the capital, Canberra, was quiet after Qantas canceled all eight of its Boeing 737 services and flew only smaller planes, which were moving on schedule, to regional airports.
17) Talks between the union and the airline broke down on Monday.
18) The union is demanding 5 percent annual pay increases over the next two years as a reward for agreeing to an earlier pay freeze. Qantas has offered 3 percent.
19) Qantas staff who are members of other unions have agreed to the package.
Government ministers cautious over lifting foreign ownership limits on Qantas
(APW_ENG_20020806.0003)
1) The Australian government doesn't want ``The Flying Kangaroo'' to fly into majority overseas ownership, officials said Tuesday.
2) The federal Cabinet is due to discuss in coming weeks a two-year campaign by Qantas _ known as ``The Flying Kangaroo'' _ to have the government lift an overseas investment cap on the carrier.
3) When the airline was privatized in 1995, the government of the day set a limit of 49 percent for total foreign equity and 25 percent for any single foreign airline, saying it did not want an Australian icon to fall into foreign hands.
4) But now the airline is keen to loosen the restrictions so it can more easily raise money to invest in its fleet. Current foreign ownership is just below 49 percent with British Airways the largest single foreign share holder at about 22 percent.
5) However, in comments confirmed by his office, Tourism Minister Joe Hockey told a newspaper that he cannot ``see any viable commercial benefit in ceding control of Qantas to outside interests.''
6) Hockey's spokeswoman Olivia Worth said the minister believes Qantas is ``an Australian icon and should remain an Australian icon.''
7) The airline is mostly limited to raising funds by issuing bonds, which means the money raised must be fully repaid to investors when the bonds expire, along with interest.
8) By lifting the foreign ownership cap, Qantas could raise capital more cheaply by issuing more shares to equity investors.
9) According to some media reports, Qantas wants to raise up to 20 billion Australian dollars over the next decade to upgrade its fleet and expand operations _ possibly taking a 25 percent stake in Air New Zealand.
10) ``Australians just don't have enough capital in their pockets to give Qantas an effective, competitive position with much larger airlines elsewhere,'' said Peter Harbison, an aviation industry analyst.
11) The airline also argues the ownership caps increase the cost of raising capital by bond issues because investors see them as a limit to the airline's ability to expand and repay borrowed funds.
12) According to a senior government source, the bid by Qantas to lift the ownership caps has been hampered by Canberra's push to sell its remaining 50.1 percent stake in telecommunications company Telstra Corp.
13) Ministers fear that if they allow Qantas to slip into majority foreign ownership, critics of the Telstra sale will argue the telecommunications giant should not be privatized because it will also ultimately become foreign owned.
14) ``It's weighing on people's minds and is a critical factor in the (Qantas ownership) debate,'' the source said on condition of anonymity.
15) Any change to the ownership laws would require support from the opposition Labor Party or the Australian Democrats in the Senate, where the government lacks a majority.
16) Founded in 1920 as the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, Qantas claims to be the world's second oldest airline.
17) It is known as the Flying Kangaroo because the animal is depicted on its planes' tails _ the airline's advertising casts it as ``the spirit of Australia.''
Government rejects calls by Qantas to relax foreign ownership rules
(APW_ENG_20020813.0045)
1) The government Tuesday rejected calls by national flag carrier Qantas to relax restrictions on foreign ownership of the airline.
2) Qantas argued that relaxing the restrictions would better allow it to meet its potential for growth.
3) Transport Minister John Anderson said the federal Cabinet discussed the issue at length during a meeting in this northeastern city and decided the arguments for relaxing foreign ownership laws were not strong enough.
4) ``We have come to the conclusion that the current caps should remain,'' Anderson told journalists. ``(We decided) that their arguments for removing them are not deep enough or strong enough and that in the national interest the current arrangements should be left in place.''
5) In February, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the airline had been pressing the government to lift the cap, which is set at 49 percent for total foreign equity and 25 percent for any single overseas airline.
6) British Airways, which holds nearly 22 percent, has in the past signaled it would like to raise its stake above 25 percent.
7) Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson said the airline was extremely disappointed with the decision.
8) ``We are disappointed because this decision was made despite our case being detailed, strong and compelling and strongly supported by the investment community and industry analysts,'' she said in a statement.
9) Last week, Dixon said the foreign ownership cap was restricting the carrier's potential for growth.
10) ``The point has been reached where the overall limitation on foreign ownership in Qantas is restricting the airline's ability to reach its full potential,'' he warned. ``It also imposes an artificial ceiling on our share price and so increases our cost of capital.''
11) With the foreign ownership limit, Qantas is mostly limited to raising funds by issuing bonds, which means the money raised must be fully repaid to investors when the bonds expire, along with interest.
12) By lifting the foreign ownership cap, Qantas could raise capital more cheaply by issuing more shares to equity investors.
13) Founded in 1920 as the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, Qantas claims to be the world's second oldest airline and is seen by many as a national icon.
14) Also known as ``the flying kangaroo'' _ the animal is depicted on its planes' tails _ the airline's advertising casts it as ``the spirit of Australia.''
15) It was that status which forced a Labor government to impose the foreign ownership cap when it privatized Qantas in 1995.
16) ``Qantas is both conscious and proud of its status as an Australian icon,'' Jackson said.
17) ``However, I fail to see how the national interest will be advanced by denying Qantas the opportunity to access much needed equity capital on a cost-effective basis in order to invest, grow and compete on the lopsided, harsh and unforgiving international playing field,'' she added.
18) Since the demise of its major local competitor, Ansett, earlier this year, Qantas now controls about 85 percent of the domestic market.
19) Qantas shares shed 2.5 percent to close Tuesday at 4.63 Australian dollars (dlrs 2.45).
Union calls 24 hour strike over job security for Qantas staff
(APW_ENG_20020815.0160)
1) Staff at Australian flag carrier Qantas will stage their second major strike of the month next Monday, walking out for 24 hours over demands for better job security, a union said Thursday.
2) About 6,000 check-in, clerical, catering and engineering staff will stop work, throwing the airline's schedules into disarray.
3) ``Qantas is posting record profits, but won't guarantee job security,'' said Linda White, assistant national secretary of Australian Services Union.
4) ``In fact, Qantas want their employees to compete for their own jobs every five years in a bizarre process of competitive tendering,'' she added.
5) Qantas said in a statement many domestic flights on major routes would be rescheduled and some would be canceled. The airline was scrambling to publish a new timetable for the disrupted day.
6) International flights were expected to run to schedule but passengers were warned to check in early and expect delays.
7) On Aug. 2, the same workers staged a 12-hour strike to protest stalled talks over pay and job security. Thousands of passengers were hit by delays or flight cancellations and many more changed their flights to avoid the strike.
8) White said it was regrettable that some delays would occur but blamed Qantas management.
9) ``This could have been avoided if Qantas was prepared to offer job security commitments,'' she said.
10) Qantas workers agreed last year to a wage freeze to maintain the airline's profitability in the wake of the Sept. 11-induced downturn in aviation, White said, accusing Qantas of refusing to reciprocate the employees' commitment to the company.
11) ``I think it's reasonable to expect job security from a business making almost 2 million Australian dollars (dlrs 1.06 million) a day in profits,'' she said.
Qantas cuts flights as staff strike for second time in a month
(APW_ENG_20020818.0439)
1) National flag carrier Qantas canceled flights Monday as 6,000 of the airline's staff went on strike over pay and job security, but lines for check-in counters moved briskly and there were few signs of major delays at Australia's airports.
2) The Australian Service Union, which organized the 24-hour strike among clerical, check-in and maintenance staff, claimed it had grounded at least 165 domestic flights.
3) Qantas refused to say how many flights it had canceled, but at least 13 flights from Sydney were canceled.
4) ``As far as domestic flights are concerned on major routes, there have been many flights rescheduled and consolidated,'' said Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp. ``Qantas expects to fly everybody who has a booking.''
5) With advance warning of the strike given last week, many passengers rescheduled their flights to Sunday or Tuesday and there was no chaos at airports, where Qantas check-in staff handed out candy to passengers forced to wait in line.
6) ``Actually I think the service has been better than usual,'' said Sydney resident Paul Sherwood as he waited to board a flight to the southern city of Melbourne. ``The Qantas staff who are here are really trying to make up for it.''
7) No international flights were canceled but passengers were warned to turn up early and prepare for delays as check-in desks would be short-staffed.
8) The union wants a 5 percent a year pay increase over two years, backdated to July 1, and job security guarantees. Qantas has offered a 3 percent pay rise.
9) Passenger Peter Grase arrived at Sydney airport an hour early to ensure he would catch his flight to Melbourne.
10) ``I'm not happy,'' he said. ``I tried to get a flight out with (Qantas rival) Virgin yesterday but it was not happening.''
11) Dozens of flights were canceled on Aug. 2 when the same Qantas workers went on strike for 12 hours in their long-running pay dispute with the airline.
Air New Zealand not near to deal with rival Qantas
(APW_ENG_20020819.0621)
1) Qantas is not close to buying a stake in Air New Zealand, the New Zealand carrier announced Tuesday, scotching speculation a deal was imminent.
2) In a statement to the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges, Air New Zealand said although talks ``with Qantas are ongoing, no relevant agreement or commitment has been reached'' between the two carriers.
3) ``Air New Zealand also advises that no relevant agreements are expected to be reached with Qantas in the next few days and it does not expect to conclude any significant strategic agreements in the next few weeks,'' it said.
4) The announcement followed a trading halt in Qantas stock on the Australian stock exchange, which fueled speculation Qantas and Air New Zealand could be close to a deal.
5) There has been persistent speculation that Qantas is to buy up to 25 percent of Air New Zealand, which is rebuilding after a government cash injection of 885 million New Zealand dollars (dlrs 415 million) saved it from collapse last year.
6) The government, as 82 percent shareholder, has said it will examine any case for a Qantas buy-in put to it by the Air New Zealand board.
7) Air New Zealand said Qantas Airways' request to the Australian Stock Exchange for a trading halt in Qantas shares follows ``media speculation surrounding the imminent release of Qantas's full year trading results tomorrow (Wednesday) and material developments'' in the Qantas business.
Australian flag carrier reports rise in net profit, plans to raise money for new planes
(APW_ENG_20020820.0657)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Wednesday its net profit rose 3 percent during the past year to 428 million Australian dollars (dlrs 231 million), from 415.4 million Australian dollars (dlrs 224.3 million) the year before, and announced plans to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to buy new planes.
2) Qantas saw its profit rise despite the effects of the Sept. 11 attacks, which hit earnings at its international unit.
3) ``Qantas expects the recovery trend to continue, however there are a number of factors which could impact future results,'' the company said in a statement.
4) The airline also announced plans to aggressively expand operations at its new budget carrier, Australian Airlines, which is due to take to the skies in October on routes to Asia.
5) The carrier will begin operations with four aircraft and could have as many as 12 by the end of 2003, Qantas said.
6) Qantas said it aims to obtain 800 million Australian dollars (dlrs 432 million) in a capital raising program among shareholders to upgrade its fleet and fund ``other potential investment opportunities that may arise.''
7) Sales rose 11 percent to 11.3 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 6.1 billion) during the 12 months ending June 30, up from 10.2 billion Australian dollars (dlrs 5.5 billion) during the previous 12-month period.
8) International operations were hit by the falloff in air travel following the Sept. 11 attacks _ the international unit posted full year earnings before interest and tax of 202.8 million Australian dollars (dlrs 109.5 million), less than half last year's 458.7 million Australian dollars (dlrs 248 million).
9) But earnings from domestic operations performed strongly following the collapse in September of major competitor Ansett. Domestic profits before interest and tax soared by 170.8 million Australian dollars (dlrs 92 million) to 298.2 million Australian dollars (dlrs 161 million).
10) Chairman Margaret Jackson said the final result was pleasing given that it was achieved under extraordinary circumstances, including the failure of two domestic airlines and the events of Sept. 11.
11) During the period, Qantas boosted staff by about 1,500 to over 33,000 people and added new planes, including 15 new Boeing 737-800's.
12) Qantas confirmed it is in discussions with Air New Zealand about the possibility of a strategic alliance and an acquisition by Qantas of a minority equity stake in the New Zealand carrier.
13) ``While both Qantas and Air New Zealand believe that such an alliance would be of value to both airlines, discussions are ongoing,'' Qantas said.
14) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon told reporters that the airline expects some profit growth this year, but would not elaborate.
15) ``We expect growth to continue but we don't make any great statement about things,'' he said.
16) The company's cornerstone shareholder, British Airways PLC, will not participate in the capital raising and as a result its stake will be diluted to about 17 percent, Dixon said. British Airways' current stake is 21.4 percent.
17) Dixon said British Airways plans to retain its Qantas investment for now, describing the relationship between the two as ``very strong.''
Qantas tops up coffers with successful multimillion dollar capital issue
(APW_ENG_20020822.0653)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Friday it had sold 600 million Australian dollars (dlrs 432 million) in shares to institutional investors, successfully finishing the first part of its plan to raise 800 million Australian dollars (dlrs 432 million) in capital.
2) Institutional investors snapped up the new shares at 4.20 Australian dollars (dlrs 2.27) a share _ a 10 percent discount on the carrier's last traded stock price of 4.69 Australian dollars (dlrs 2.53).
3) Qantas halted trade in its stock on Tuesday ahead of its earnings announcement and an announcement on the capital raising.
4) Investors received one new share for every 8.2 ordinary shares already held.
5) ``We are very pleased with the strong support demonstrated by institutional investors for the capital raising and our growth plans,'' Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement.
6) Qantas says it needs the extra money to buy new planes and for other investment opportunities that may arise.
7) The carrier's main shareholder, British Airways, did not take part in the offer and as a result its 21.4 percent stake will be diluted to about 17 percent.
8) The remaining 200 million Australian dollar (dlrs 108 million) will be raised through a retail offer at the same 4.20 Australian dollar (dlrs 2.27) price.
9) Around half is expected to be spent on acquiring up to a 25 percent stake in regional rival Air New Zealand, and the remaining on its fleet upgrade.
10) Qantas and Air New Zealand have said they are in talks about Qantas buying a stake, but have not completed negotiations.
11) When Qantas shares resumed trading Friday they plunged 4.3 percent to 4.49 Australian dollars (dlrs 2.42). The drop was seen as a revaluation of the stock following the issue, which effectively diluted the value of shares by increasing the number of them on the market.
Qantas says it has regulatory hurdles to clear before any deal with Air New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20020824.0427)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas still has regulatory hurdles to clear if it is to take a major stake in rival Air New Zealand, the Qantas boss said Sunday.
2) Qantas is in talks to take a 25-percent stake in the New Zealand airline but the carriers have yet to finalize terms.
3) ``If there's a good enough deal there and it can get over the various impediments it will be done. If it's not, we'll just get on with our lives,'' Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said.
4) Competition watchdogs in both Australia and New Zealand likely would carefully scrutinize any deal between the two carriers, which between them carry the vast majority of passengers over the Tasman Sea that separates the two countries.
5) ``We are in discussions with Air New Zealand that will really depend on what sort of case we can make for the regulatory authorities and also whether the board and senior management and chief executive and chairman of Air New Zealand want to do this deal,'' Dixon said on Australian television's Nine Network.
6) Qantas last week raised 600 million Australian dollars (dlrs 324 million) from institutional investors and is planning to raise another 200 million Australian dollars (dlrs 108 million) from private investors to buy new planes and fund any expansion deals it identifies.
7) Despite the shock of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the global aviation market, Qantas last week unveiled a 3 percent jump in net profit for the year ending June 30, to 428 million Australian dollars (dlrs 231 million) from 415.4 million Australian dollars (dlrs 224.3 million).
Qantas no-frills offshoot Australian Airlines launched for Asian market
(APW_ENG_20020915.0063)
1) Australian Airlines, a no-frills international carrier owned by Qantas, was officially launched Sunday to service Japanese and other Asian routes once determined as too unprofitable for its parent.
2) Australian Airlines will fly the increasingly busy route between Cairns in north Queensland state and Japan. The initial flights, beginning Oct. 27, will offer daily trips between Cairns-Nagoya and Cairns-Osaka in Japan. Fukuoka, Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong will be added a month later.
3) Chief executive Denis Adams said he believed the flights would bring in ``tens of thousands'' of new tourists to Australia yearly.
4) ``Bookings are exceeding expectations for a period right through to April next year,'' Adams said, after the first of four Boeing 767-300s belonging to Australian Airlines touched down in Sydney.
5) The company plans to set up a second Australian base in either Sydney or Melbourne at the beginning of next year, Adams said. He said the company hopes to have 12 planes within two years.
6) Adams said earlier this year that the carrier would not offer cheap seats, but could still keep its cost base 30 percent lower than Qantas by simplifying operations such as offering economy class seats only, opening up more seats on each aircraft.
7) ``The fares will be competitive at around the current rates,'' said Adams. ``We've gone into this business to open up markets for Qantas which Qantas had to withdraw from because of poor profit performance.''
8) The airline will employ about 250 staff, including 50 pilots and 180 flight attendants. Adams said many of them will be former workers from Ansett, an Australian airline that collapsed last September.
New airline hopes to blaze new trails between Australia and Asia
(APW_ENG_20020918.0741)
1) When Australia's newest international airline takes to the skies next month, analysts say it will be blazing a new aviation trail in Asia.
2) Australian Airlines, a subsidiary of Australia's flag carrier Qantas, has a simple mission: to make money on routes where its parent company _ and some of its competitors _ could not turn a profit.
3) Industry analysts say the airline's new concept, which includes using nonunion pilots and one-class cabins, has a reasonable chance of keeping it aloft in a competitive market.
4) ``It's a bold new approach _ hopefully that boldness will justify the risk,'' said Peter Harbison of the Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation.
5) Australian Airlines will make its debut Oct. 27. Initially it will connect Cairns, a resort on Australia's tropical northeastern coast, with six Asian cities: Nagoya, Fukuoka and Osaka in Japan; Hong Kong, Singapore and the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
6) Early in 2003, the carrier is aiming to open a second hub in a southern Australian city for service to Thailand and Malaysia. Plans call for eventually expanding its fleet of Boeing 767-300s from four to 12.
7) Australian Airlines is not a budget or no-frills airline in the mold of EasyJet in Europe or Southwest in the United States, which seek to attract budget travelers on mostly short-haul routes.
8) The airline's chief executive, Denis Adams, formerly marketing chief at Qantas, describes it as an ``international leisure carrier.''
9) ``We were charged with lowering the cost of routes where Qantas found it unprofitable or marginal,'' Adams told The Associated Press. ``But that does not make us a discount or no-frills airline. We are an international leisure carrier providing full in-flight service, meals and entertainment.''
10) The focus of its business model is slashing not fares but costs _ by 25 percent to 30 percent compared with parent Qantas, he said.
11) Because it flies only so-called ``leisure routes,'' which have few or no business travelers, the airline has stripped out the first and business class sections on its jets. That increases seating from 229 to 271.
12) Significant savings also flow from running a single-class service across the whole chain of airline functions, from reservations through cabin and airport services, the executive said.
13) The company's 50 pilots, who mostly come from Qantas, and 180 cabin crew, are employed under new labor agreements negotiated without unions.
14) ``The whole approach has been simplicity. Just keep it simple, don't add any costs,'' Adams said.
15) The fledgling airline will be picking up where several competitors left off.
16) Just a couple of years ago, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines all connected Cairns to Singapore; now there's not a single flight.
17) The Asian market has ``extensive opportunities'' for low-cost airlines ``which have barely been explored,'' said Harbison. Regional carriers will be watching closely to see if Australian Airlines has come up with the right formula.
18) Another industry analyst, Ian Miles of Macquarie Equities, said the new carrier would help Qantas bolster its traditionally weak Asian operations.
19) ``It will allow them to compete better with Asian carriers, from budget airlines such as Dragon Air right through to Singapore Airlines,'' Miles said.
20) The local tourism industry _ still reeling from a downturn triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks _ is ecstatic.
21) ``Air access is the lifeline for Australian tourism, and the new venture presents a tremendous opportunity for our industry,'' said Ken Boundy from the Australian Tourist Commission.
Qantas chief says airline industry under pressure and cannot afford discounting war
(APW_ENG_20020925.0129)
1) The head of Qantas Airways on Wednesday said the country's airline industry was under pressure and would not be able to survive a price war, despite calls for airlines to slash their fares.
2) Geoff Dixon, chief executive of the Australian flagship carrier, blamed the collapse of former rival Ansett Airlines and a smaller carrier, Impulse, on a discount war last year between domestic airlines.
3) ``I would have thought the collapse of Ansett offered a potent lesson on the economics of airlines,'' Dixon told a lunch gathering at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch.
4) He also said 30 percent of all domestic tickets on Qantas were still being sold at a ``deep discount,'' answering complaints from consumer groups that airfares were again rising after Ansett's collapse.
5) Dixon warned that domestic airlines could not afford a fare war now as the situation in the Middle East remained volatile.
6) ``Crude oil prices have already risen in anticipation of such a conflict, and airline stocks worldwide including Qantas have been heavily sold,'' he said.
7) Moreover, there was also the threat of another airline entering the Australian market, Dixon said, referring to speculation that Singapore Airlines was interested in buying the remnants of Ansett.
8) In order to meet the challenges, Dixon said Qantas was ``going to need to undertake equity investments overseas and most likely forge new equity partnerships.''
9) He added Qantas was still talking to Air New Zealand about buying a stake, calling the discussions ``very cordial and very constructive.''
10) Qantas' share price tumbled 4.4 percent Wednesday to a year-low of 3.72 Australian dollars (US$2.03) amid market concern about military conflict with Iraq and higher fuel prices.
Qantas shares plunge to lowest level in almost a year amid Middle East jitters
(APW_ENG_20020930.0111)
1) Shares in Australia's flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. plunged to their lowest point in almost a year Monday amid jitters about a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq and increased domestic competition.
2) Qantas shares tumbled 3 percent, or 12 cents, to 3.58 Australian dollars (US$1.93) on Monday. The stock has fallen for eight of the past nine days.
3) Analysts say the fear of soaring oil prices _ one of Qantas' biggest costs _ and a drop in international travel from a Middle East conflict has been the main reason for the stock's weakness.
4) However, investors were also worried about increasing competition in domestic aviation, which recently saw the debut of cut-price airline Virgin Blue.
5) There has been speculation in recent months that Singapore Airlines is also interested in entering the local market following the collapse last year of Qantas' former competitor, Ansett Airlines.
6) On Sept. 16, Federal Transport Minister John Anderson also announced new arrangements to allow unrestricted air services between all of Australia's regional international airports and Indonesia for the airlines of both countries.
7) Scott Marshall, research director of Shaw Stockbroking, said Qantas' share price had been weaker since the announcement.
8) ``It is just putting a bit of pressure on Qantas from a domestic front, because obviously those airlines would target the higher margin routes,'' he said.
9) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon last week warned that domestic airlines could not afford a fare war while the situation in the Middle East remained volatile.
10) ``Crude oil prices have already risen in anticipation of such a conflict, and airline stocks worldwide including Qantas have been heavily sold,'' he said.
Air New Zealand tightlipped over Qantas buy-in report
(APW_ENG_20021009.0017)
1) Air New Zealand refused comment Wednesday on a report that it will announce later this month that Australian rival Qantas has agreed to buy up to 25 percent of the company.
2) The newspaper report said that aviation industry analysts in Melbourne, Auckland, Hong Kong and New York said they expect the equity deal to be agreed later this month, and that an unnamed Air New Zealand source confirmed it.
3) Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Champion said the airline had no comment on the report in the West Australian.
4) The two airlines have made no secret that they have been talking about a partnership since early this year, but have not given details or said when it would happen.
5) A Qantas spokesman said the report was ``pure speculation.''
6) ``Nothing has changed from our perspective in spite of the reports,'' the spokesman said on usual condition of anonymity.
7) The report said Qantas would get two seats on the board while Air New Zealand's chairman, John Palmer, would be offered a seat on the Qantas board.
8) The West Australian said a broad framework had been worked out, and that what remained were ``decisions relating to concerns of competition regulators.''
9) Regulators worry the deal could end competition in New Zealand's domestic market and on services between Australia and New Zealand.
10) New Zealand's competition watchdog, the Commerce Commission, confirmed in September that Air New Zealand and Qantas had held preliminary talks with it over the past three months.
11) Air New Zealand is 82 percent owned by the government.
Air New Zealand says considering options besides partnership with Qantas
(APW_ENG_20021029.0044)
1) Air New Zealand delivered a blow to Australia's Qantas Airways on Tuesday by revealing that it is considering strategic options besides a widely anticipated partnership with the Australian airline.
2) The announcement by Air New Zealand Chief Executive Ralph Norris pushed Qantas shares down more than 2 percent during trading Tuesday.
3) Air New Zealand _ which is 82 percent owned by the government _ and Qantas have been talking about a partnership since early this year, but have not given details or said when it would happen. It is believed Qantas is seeking a 25 percent stake in New Zealand's flag carrier.
4) Norris told reporters following the company's annual general meeting in Auckland on Tuesday that the board was ``pursuing other strategies (independent) of our Qantas negotiations.''
5) ``We haven't made any announcement of what those other alternative options are or who are involved in those options ... (but) we are looking at other strategies,'' he added.
6) Norris said he hoped a decision on talks with Qantas could be announced by the end of this year, but stressed there was no deadline.
7) ``This deal has to ensure that Air New Zealand retains its autonomy, that it's managed by its own management and that it's very much a minority position that Qantas has in the company,'' he said.
8) Earlier this month a report in an Australian newspaper said Air New Zealand would announce a buy-in by Qantas on Oct. 29, but New Zealand's government said no deal was imminent.
9) Qantas shares fell 8 Australian cents to 3.65 Australian dollars (US$2.04) following Tuesday's announcement by Norris.
10) No comment was immediately available from Qantas.
Airline alliance talks need conclusion by year end: Air New Zealand
(APW_ENG_20021106.0809)
1) Alliance talks between Air New Zealand and Australian rival Qantas Airways have dragged on too long and need to be resolved by year's end, Air New Zealand chief executive Ralph Norris said Thursday.
2) ``Both of us can't continue to sit on our hands,'' Norris said in an interview with Australian Associated Press in Los Angeles.
3) ``So I think for both of us it's a case of, let's either get on with it or agree that we go our own separate ways,'' he added.
4) Qantas reportedly is interested in taking a 20 percent to 25 percent stake in the New Zealand carrier.
5) While not revealing details of the ongoing talks, Norris said Qantas would not dominate the smaller New Zealand airline under any deal.
6) ``So you're not going to see (Qantas') red tails on any of our planes,'' he said.
7) Norris said he agreed with Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon's recent comments that consolidation in the airline industry is inevitable.
8) ``There's just no way the industry or investors are going to tolerate poor returns and the actual significant losses that are occurring in an industry that can't cover its cost of capital,'' Norris said.
9) At a recent company meeting, small shareholders warned the board and executives to abandon plans to join an alliance with Qantas.
10) The New Zealand government, 82 percent shareholder in the carrier after a billion New Zealand dollar (US$495 million) bailout last year, has said it wants another carrier as a minority investor.
11) Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the government will retain and exercise majority control of the airline in the midterm.
12) Norris rejected consumer concerns that an alliance between the two carriers would push up the price of air tickets.
13) ``If airlines try to (lift prices) then all they do is create an opportunity for somebody else to move into the market and undercut,'' he said.
14) Air New Zealand is well prepared to compete with Virgin Airlines' Australian subsidiary Virgin Blue if the budget airline, run by British tycoon Richard Branson, decided to expand further into the South Pacific, Norris added.
Australia's Qantas airline buys stake in New Zealand carrier to form regional alliance
(APW_ENG_20021124.0525)
1) Australia's national carrier Qantas will buy a 22.5 percent stake in Air New Zealand to form a new regional airline alliance, the two companies said Monday.
2) The deal, which will face tough scrutiny by regulators in both countries, would see Qantas injecting up to 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$272 million) into the New Zealand airline, currently 82 percent-owned by the government after a bailout last year.
3) It would allow the two airlines to rationalize their operations and international services, and ``establish a major airline grouping in the region,'' said Air New Zealand chairman John Palmer.
4) Air New Zealand would maintain its independence and continue to provide both domestic and international services, he said.
5) Under the proposed deal Air New Zealand would combine with and manage those parts of Qantas that operate to, from or within New Zealand. Qantas would take two seats on the Air New Zealand board; Air New Zealand would take one seat on the Qantas board.
6) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the partnership would help both airlines retain their independence, protect job security for staff and boost tourism between the two countries at a difficult time for the industry.
7) Trading in Air New Zealand shares was suspended on stock markets in both countries before the announcement. When it resumed, the price lifted 12 percent to 0.56 New Zealand cents (0.27 U.S. cents) in New Zealand.
8) The two airlines have been talking about a closer relationship all year after the New Zealand government injected NZ$1 billion (US$495 million) into the carrier last December.
9) Analysts believe winning approval from market and competition regulators could be the biggest hurdle to the plan; the carriers dominate their domestic markets and the routes between the two neighboring states.
10) Australia's competition regulator said the proposal appeared anticompetitive and would take at last four months to assess.
11) ``At first glance, it's anti-competitive and would need to be shown to be of sufficient public benefit to outweigh that detriment,'' said Prof. Alan Fels, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
12) New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen said the proposal was consistent with the government's intention of retaining ``majority ownership and control of Air New Zealand for the foreseeable future,'' but had to meet a public interest test and the scrutiny of regulators.
13) Australian Transport Minister John Anderson said the government supports ``any move to strengthen the aviation industry in the region,'' but the deal would have to show public benefit and ``not lead to anti-competitive behavior.''
14) Rival Australian budget airline Virgin Blue said a Qantas stake in Air New Zealand would offer no benefits to consumers. The company said it had already raised its concerns with competition regulators in both countries.
15) ``There will be no real competition after this,'' said Virgin Blue's head of commercial operations David Huttner. ``You'll have a virtual monopoly across the Tasman, Qantas will be dictating the shots, I'm sure.''
Qantas CEO rules out US alliance, for now
(APW_ENG_20021201.0077)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas won't forge any alliances with U.S.-based airlines in the near future because of the industry's rocky outlook, chief executive Geoff Dixon said Sunday.
2) Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson had said in August the airline would seek beneficial partnerships with other airlines, including those based in the United States.
3) But Dixon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television Sunday a partnership with a U.S. airline is not likely any time soon.
4) ``Only because the industry, since Margaret spoke to you, has deteriorated to such an extent over there, that there's virtually no one you could invest in,'' he said.
5) U.S. airlines have been struggling since last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. America's second largest airline, United Airlines, appears all but certain this week to be forced to restructure under bankruptcy-court protection as its cash reserves dwindle.
6) Last week, Qantas announced a deal to buy a 22.5 percent stake of rival carrier, Air New Zealand. The deal, valued at 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$275 million), is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
Cabinet meets to discuss selling stake in national carrier to Qantas
(APW_ENG_20021215.0419)
1) New Zealand's Cabinet met Monday to discuss selling a stake in national carrier Air New Zealand to rival airline Qantas ahead of Wednesday's deadline for a decision on whether it supports the deal.
2) Finance Minister Michael Cullen said no decision was likely until Wednesday.
3) The government last year threw the ailing Air New Zealand a financial lifeline when it bought an 82 percent stake in the carrier.
4) Qantas wants to buy 22.5 percent of Air New Zealand for 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$272 million) in a move that critics say will kill off competition on routes between Australia and New Zealand and lead to higher air fares.
5) The government has to decide whether the business case is sound, and whether a Qantas buy-in meets national interest criteria.
6) Opponents of the deal last week branded Cullen ``an uncritical advocate for the Qantas plan.''
7) As the Cabinet began its meeting, opposition leader Bill English appealed for it to back off.
8) ``There's just one thing we can be certain of _ the government will take everything into account except the interests of the traveling public,'' he said in a statement.
9) Neither airline commented ahead of the meeting in the capital, Wellington.
Security scare onboard Qantas airplane forces evacuation of passengers at Sydney Airport
(APW_ENG_20030103.0007)
1) A security scare forced passengers to evacuate a Qantas airplane before takeoff at Sydney International Airport, delaying it for several hours while police searched the aircraft, officials said Friday.
2) Channel Ten television reported that a note had been found in a toilet at the airport threatening to blow up an aircraft.
3) State and federal police and security specialists boarded Qantas flight QF5, bound for Singapore and Frankfurt, about 9 p.m. (1000 GMT) Thursday after airport officials raised the alarm, Australian Federal Police spokesman Steve Simpson said.
4) Simpson would not say what prompted the security scare.
5) The flight had already been delayed about three hours due to a technical fault with the aircraft, a Qantas spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
6) When that problem was fixed, the flight's 386 passengers boarded only to be immediately evacuated because of the security issue, he added.
7) ``A search of the plane and luggage ... found nothing onboard,'' Simpson said. The search delayed the flight by another four hours.
8) The flight eventually took off around 1:15 a.m. Friday (1415 GMT Thursday), Qantas said.
Air New Zealand will keep autonomy after Qantas buy-in: airline
(APW_ENG_20030212.0957)
1) Air New Zealand insisted Friday it will keep its independence even if Australian carrier Qantas takes a 22.5 percent stake in the airline.
2) The carrier was responding to a New Zealand government warning that cost savings from an alliance between the two airlines would link Air New Zealand to Qantas ``to a greater extent than may be considered desirable by shareholders.''
3) The government currently owns 82 percent of the New Zealand carrier after a 885 million New Zealand dollar (US$486 million) financial bailout in December 2001.
4) Air New Zealand chief executive Ralph Norris said the proposed deal will secure the airline's autonomy, although Qantas would have some influence.
5) ``It's very important that the company remains a separate entity, that it doesn't integrate too many of its processes,'' Norris told National Radio.
6) ``If ... the alliance doesn't work over time then Air New Zealand can extricate itself and still have the ability to support itself across a range of activities,'' Norris added.
7) In a note among official papers released by the government, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the most important concern was that Air New Zealand's ability to stand alone might be gradually eroded.
8) He said officials believe the airline must build a clause into any alliance agreement allowing it to pull out at minimal cost.
9) The Treasury, New Zealand's finance ministry, said the New Zealand carrier would be in a weaker position than Qantas within the alliance because a greater proportion of its business would be covered by the deal.
10) But treasury documents added, ``There are no viable alternatives that offer the same benefits as the strategic alliance with Qantas.''
11) In a written statement to the New Zealand Commerce Commission, which is studying the Qantas-Air New Zealand proposal, Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue said it would destroy competition.
12) Virgin Blue told the Commission it should immediately be allowed to buy Air New Zealand budget subsidiary Freedom Air as a condition of the Qantas-Air New Zealand deal going ahead.
Qantas flight attendants announce half-day strike over pay claim
(APW_ENG_20030219.0150)
1) Qantas flight attendants announced Wednesday they would stage a 14-hour strike next week to back up their demand for a pay raise.
2) The airline said the strike by long haul attendants would not affect flights.
3) The work stoppage _ which was only expected to happen in Australia _ was scheduled for next Tuesday from midnight until 2 p.m., union officials said.
4) The Flight Attendants' Association of Australia said its 4,000 members had accepted a wage freeze imposed on them by management as well as a reduction in cabin crew numbers since February 2002 that had produced savings of up to 40 million Australian dollars (US$23.6 million) a year.
5) The Qantas flight attendants are seeking a 7 percent pay increase.
6) ``Our members accepted a wage freeze in tough times, then raised productivity,'' said Johanna Brem, a divisional secretary of the attendants' association. ``We have asked management to recognize this outcome and have received an inadequate response.''
7) In a statement, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said it was regrettable the action was proposed at a time when all airlines around the world faced major challenges.
8) He said Qantas had offered the union a reasonable package, including a three percent per year wage increase plus a one-off three percent bonus.
9) Earlier Wednesday, Qantas said it had made plans to cope with a slump in the aviation sector if war breaks out in Iraq, but refused to confirm reports that it could fire up to 2,500 people _ more than 8 percent of its work force.
10) ``We do have contingency plans for the inevitable downturn in travel that would follow a war in Iraq,'' a Qantas spokeswoman said on usual condition of anonymity. ``These plans take in a variety of scenarios and will depend on circumstances at the time.''
11) Media reports in several papers Wednesday said the carrier planned to fire up to 2,500 staff. The reports came the day before Qantas issues its half-yearly profit statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
12) Analysts expect the airline's interim profit could double to more than 300 million Australian dollars (US$177 million).
Australian flag carrier posts huge rise in first-half net profit
(APW_ENG_20030219.0754)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways said Thursday that its first half net profit soared 130 percent to 352.5 million Australian dollars (US$208 million).
2) The earnings rebounded from a 42-percent slump in net profit to A$153.5 million (US$90.5 million) in the same period last year, which Qantas blamed on a steep decline in international tourism following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States and a rise in fuel costs.
3) Qantas said revenue for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2002, rose 9.3 percent to A$5.88 billion (US$3.5 billion) from A$5.38 billion (US$3.17 billion).
4) ``We expect to improve our margins going forward as we continue to roll out our strategy to operate all-economic class aircraft on leisure routes that have little or no demand for business travel,'' said chief executive officer Geoff Dixon.
5) Dixon said the threat of war in Iraq could affect the airline's earnings and have already started to put pressure on the solid recovery underway in international markets.
6) ``Forward bookings for the next 16 weeks have slowed considerably in some markets, including Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom. All carriers appear to be affected,'' he said.
7) Qantas will be taking several steps to deal with tough market conditions, he said. These include reductions in planned flying from March in both domestic and international operations.
8) The airline also will make staff take annual and long service leave between now and June 30, which will effectively cut staff by the equivalent of 1,500 full time employees over that period without having to fire any workers.
Qantas denies union claim it will use untrained staff during strike
(APW_ENG_20030221.0086)
1) Australia's national airline Qantas on Friday denied union officials' claims that it would endanger passengers by using unqualified cabin crew during a planned strike next week.
2) Members of the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia plan a 14-hour strike Tuesday as part of a campaign for a 7-percent pay raise.
3) On Friday the union failed in an attempt to get an order from the nation's labor court, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, to stop Qantas from using contract labor during the strike.
4) Association president Troy Warner said that meant Qantas would be employing unqualified staff, which could endanger passengers' safety.
5) ``We're safety professionals and in an emergency on an aircraft we're the difference between life saved and lost,'' Warner said. ``Anybody else crewing the aircraft would either be cheap offshore labor or casuals they've dragged off the street, and we have concerns about the ability of these people in an emergency.''
6) Qantas said the claim was ``absolutely incorrect.''
7) ``We will be using experienced Qantas-trained cabin crew who meet all regulatory requirements,'' a spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Air safety officers to monitor Qantas flights during strike
(APW_ENG_20030224.0054)
1) Air safety officials will monitor flights by Australian flag carrier Qantas when its flight attendants go on strike for 14 hours on Tuesday.
2) Thousands of cabin staff on Qantas' international flights were due to begin industrial action at midnight to reinforce their demands for a 7 percent pay raise.
3) A union representing the striking staff claimed that moves by Qantas to quickly train other staff to work on long-haul flights was endangering passengers _ a claim the airline vehemently denied.
4) The airline has said it will not cancel any flights because of the strike but has warned passengers they may face some delays.
5) On Monday, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it was satisfied emergency courses over the weekend had adequately trained Qantas domestic cabin crews to work on bigger long-haul jets, a spokesman said.
6) ``We will have some people out and about around Qantas tomorrow checking on these flights, but we expect it should be business as usual,'' the spokesman added on condition of anonymity.
7) Qantas said it would post at least a few experienced long-haul staff on each flight _ either flight attendants who turned up for work despite the strike or former flight attendants now working in the airline's management.
8) ``Union claims that the use of these crew gives rise to safety concerns are completely unfounded,'' said Qantas human resources manager Kevin Brown.
Qantas and Air New Zealand staff strike in two separate pay campaigns
(APW_ENG_20030225.0079)
1) Hundreds of cabin staff at Australian flag carrier Qantas staged a 14-hour strike Tuesday, while Australian employees of Air New Zealand also walked off the job for half a day in separate strikes aimed at pushing wage claims.
2) About 1,000 Qantas international flight attendants stopped work from midnight (1300 GMT Monday) as part of a campaign for a 7 percent pay rise.
3) Flight Attendants Association of Australia assistant secretary Michael Mijatov said members were discussing their next step at meetings in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and could extend the strike beyond the slated 2 p.m. (0300 GMT) finish time Tuesday.
4) Qantas, which was warned of the strike last week, employed contract labor to replace striking staff and said Monday all of its international flights would operate normally Tuesday. Domestic cabin crews are not involved in the strike.
5) The airline later said the strike had little effect on flights.
6) ``The majority of our flights operated as normal and got away on time,'' a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity. ``We did have a small number of flights delayed by the action.''
7) Meanwhile, Air New Zealand's 90 staff members in Australia walked off the job for a half-day strike following the breakdown of pay negotiations between the Australian Services Union and the airline.
8) Air New Zealand staff planned to rally outside the airline's Sydney offices and scheduled another half-day strike Wednesday.
9) Australian Services Union assistant secretary Kristyn Thompson said Air New Zealand's Australian staff were angered by a leaked memo indicating the airline's managers will be given performance bonuses and pay rises.
10) ``Some of these managers have sat across the table from our negotiators and insisted that workers who have not had a pay increase since 1999 take another 12-month wage freeze while they themselves are about to get a pay rise,'' Thompson said. ``The hypocrisy is staggering.''
11) Air New Zealand management was not immediately available for comment. Last week, an airline spokesman said the two half-day strikes would cause minimal disruption to services.
12) Separately, Qantas announced its cut-price carrier Australian Airlines would begin flying to more Asian destinations.
13) Chief executive Geoff Dixon said Qantas planned to increase the number of routes serviced by Australian Airlines to destinations including Bali starting in July. The airline was also considering adding Australian Airlines routes to Shanghai, China and Sabah, Malaysia, later in the year, he said.
Australian carrier says it will cut some international flights as demand drops following Iraq strikes
(APW_ENG_20030321.0051)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Friday it will cut international flights next week to help weather an expected 20 percent drop in bookings caused by the war with Iraq.
2) The airline will cut two of its 21 Sydney-to-London flights next week, a Qantas spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity. She wouldn't say what other flights were to be cut.
3) ``We are making ad hoc changes on a route-by-route basis,'' she said.
4) Singapore Airlines, one of Qantas' main regional rivals, announced Thursday it would suspend 65 flights a week, including two to the United States, following the start of military action in Iraq.
5) ``Singapore Airlines will implement a series of service reductions from late March in response to softening demand attributed to concern about the situation in the Middle East,'' the airline said in statement.
6) The suspensions will begin on March 30 and last until May 31, the statement read.
Qantas shares slump on Iraq concerns
(APW_ENG_20030327.0036)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd shares slumped Thursday over concerns that a longer than expected war in Iraq would hit demand for air travel.
2) Analysts said as U.S. and European airlines cut jobs and reduce flights, fears have grown that the war in Iraq will hurt other international carriers.
3) Qantas shares closed 15 cents (9 U.S. cents) or 4.3 percent weaker at 3.32 Australian dollars (US$1.98).
4) On overseas markets, shares in China Southern Airlines, Korean Air Co and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd also fell. British Airways and Air France announced cuts to services overnight.
5) Qantas, along with other international airlines, had already forecast an expected drop of 15-20 percent in demand for international travel. The airline had previously reduced some services and said it would make ad hoc changes on a route by route basis while the war in Iraq continued.
6) Qantas said Thursday it had no further comment.
7) Angus Geddes, of independent online financial group Fat Prophets, said war on Iraq could have disastrous consequences for Qantas, which until now had managed to escape the aviation industry downturn.
8) ``The effect on global tourism and the uncertainty about oil prices could punish (the) Qantas share price,'' Geddes told reporters.
9) While ``few airlines today can match the ... robust balance sheet, underlying profitability and defensive home market,'' Geddes said the outlook would be largely dependent on the outcome and repercussions of the Iraq war.
10) ``... given that jet fuel is the largest variable cost for Qantas, the oil price remains the biggest risk to the earnings outlook,'' he said.
Qantas chief says war in Iraq would lead to airline failures and industry consolidation
(APW_ENG_20030327.0707)
1) Qantas Airways has cut its profit forecasts and reduced planned international services over the next several months because of the Iraq war, terrorism and a mystery respiratory illness in Asia, the airline's chief executive said Friday.
2) Geoff Dixon said the three factors had led the Australian flag carrier to cut the number of planned international flights by up to 20 percent between April and July.
3) That meant Qantas would be ``unable to meet market expectations for the full year profit result'' for the fiscal year ending June 30, Dixon said in a statement. The airline has not revealed its profit forecast.
4) Following the morning announcement, the company's shares dropped 9.6 percent to 3 Australian dollars (US$1.80) at the start of trade Friday on the Australian Stock Exchange.
5) Qantas has been one of the few major international carriers to perform well since the global downturn in the airline industry following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
6) Last month it announced that net profit for the six months ending Dec. 31, 2002 had soared 130 percent to 352.5 million Australian dollars ($211 million) from the same period a year earlier.
7) Announcing the strong performance then, Dixon said the threat of war in Iraq could affect earnings and that uncertainty surrounding Iraq had already started to put pressure on the recovery now begun in international markets.
8) Despite the gloomier outlook, Dixon said Friday the airline still has a healthy balance sheet, will still record a strong profit for the fiscal year, and will ``remain one of most profitable airlines in the world.''
9) Qantas will reduce international services to Britain, Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Japan.
10) He said travel in Asia, one of the airline's main markets, was being affected by a new type of contagious pneumonia. The disease, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has infected more than 1,400 people in 13 countries and territories, including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.
11) Dixon said the severity of the downturn in the global airline industry might require the company to ``consider further initiatives'' on top of its recently announced job cuts and schedule changes.
12) ``If this does become necessary, we will hold discussions with our staff and unions,'' he said.
13) Last month the airline announced a hiring freeze, cuts to spending, and a plan to make employees take leave before June 30, which will effectively cut staff by the equivalent of 1,500 full time employees, without requiring job cuts.
Qantas to slash domestic fares by up to 40 percent
(APW_ENG_20030331.0058)
1) Qantas Airways said Monday it would slash its domestic fares by up to 40 percent, after announcing it was cutting back on its international flights.
2) The airline said it decided to introduce special domestic package deals as more Australians were staying home because of the war in Iraq, a spokesman said.
3) ``There is a tendency during uncertain times like now for people to cocoon. That basically means they ... put money into renovations, housing, home entertainment and into savings as opposed to holidays,'' said Graham Perry, chief executive of the domestic marketing venture.
4) ``This kind of initiative from Qantas is really important because it gives an incentive for Australians to overcome that cocooning and take a holiday.''
5) The special cut price domestic holiday packages went on sale on Saturday with deals including return economy airfares and two nights accommodation, or three days car rental. There was no indication how long the cuts would be in place for.
6) Last week the Australian flag carrier cut its profit forecasts because of the Iraq war, terrorism and a mystery respiratory illness in Asia.
7) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the three factors had led Qantas to cut the number of planned international flights by up to 20 percent between April and July.
Competition watchdogs say they will reject Air New Zealand-Qantas deal
(APW_ENG_20030410.0003)
1) Consumer watchdogs in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday said they plan to reject a proposed deal for Qantas to take a 22.5 percent stake in Air New Zealand because it would be anticompetitive.
2) Qantas agreed last year to take a 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$308 million) 22.5 percent stake in Air New Zealand and cooperate on many routes, including those across the Tasman Sea that separates Australia and New Zealand.
3) That sparked fears the carriers would operate a monopoly on the lucrative routes between the two countries and triggered a probe by competition monitors in both countries. Air New Zealand has said that it could collapse if the deal is rejected _ effectively giving Qantas a monopoly on the route anyway.
4) ``An alliance would remove competition, raise prices and reduce service,'' Allan Fels, head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said Thursday. ``It would end all competition on the trans-Tasman route.''
5) In its draft ruling issued Thursday, New Zealand's Commerce Commission said that the alliance would substantially reduce competition and would not benefit passengers.
6) In its initial ruling, the ACCC called the deal anticompetitive and said it would reject it.
7) A final ruling is not expected before June.
8) Air New Zealand said it was disappointed by the ruling but confident it could still gain approval.
9) ``Our initial reaction is that the issues raised by the Commissions are not insurmountable,'' the airline said in a statement.
10) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said he could not offer detailed comment on the findings but accused both competition watchdogs of ignoring the plight of the aviation industry which has slumped since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and were now being hit by the war in Iraq and SARS, a deadly flu-like virus sweeping parts of Asia and creating travel jitters worldwide.
11) ``What I can say today is that it is remarkable that both authorities appear to have completely ignored the ongoing crisis in the global aviation industry,'' Dixon said.
12) The Australian government said it still supports the merger.
13) ``This is a preliminary finding and we trust that the two airlines involved can come up with satisfactory responses to that preliminary finding and that the merger will succeed in the future,'' said Regional Services Minister Wilson Tuckey.
14) Both rulings were preliminary, giving the airlines the chance to address the concerns in a revised version of their proposed tie-up.
15) Analysts in New Zealand and Australia had predicted the deal would be rejected.
16) Both New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Air New Zealand chief executive Ralph Norris have previously said it was unlikely to gain initial approval.
17) ``You can be fairly sure that both of the regulatory authorities' initial conclusion ... is going to come out negative,'' Cullen said last month.
18) Along with the two airlines, Cullen has been a champion of the deal, saying it will ensure Air New Zealand's survival as an international airline.
19) On Wednesday, Qantas announced it was laying off 1,000 workers as passenger numbers plummeted because of the war in Iraq and the deadly virus severe acute respiratory syndrome.
20) However the Australian carrier said it remained committed to the Air New Zealand merger.
Qantas engineers and maintenance crews to stop work Wednesday over job cuts
(APW_ENG_20030414.0702)
1) Qantas engineers and maintenance staff in Australia's two most populous states said they would stop work Wednesday over the airline's plan to cut 360 maintenance jobs.
2) A spokeswoman for the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union said Tuesday that the workers would stop work briefly Wednesday for meetings in Melbourne and Sydney to decide whether to take further industrial action.
3) Flights were not expected to be disrupted.
4) Qantas announced plans last week to lay off 1,000 workers in response to a downturn in the airline industry.
5) An internal memo to staff indicated 360 of those jobs would come from the engineering, technical operations and maintenance division.
6) Qantas did not immediately comment on the union's plan.
Australian carrier downgrades profit forecast, cites SARS-related slump in passengers
(APW_ENG_20030506.0736)
1) Qantas Airways announced more cost-cutting measures and further downgraded its profit forecast Wednesday, blaming a slump in passenger numbers caused by the SARS virus.
2) Qantas didn't quantify the latest downgrade. In March, Qantas said net profit for the year to June 30 will be 15 percent lower than market expectations of 594 million Australian dollars (US$380 million).
3) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome over recent weeks had affected all areas of the airline's operations.
4) ``While our international and domestic airlines have been worst hit, there has also been a flow through to all our subsidiaries including Qantas Flight Catering, Qantas Holiday and Australian Airlines,'' Dixon said in a statement.
5) Dixon said Qantas would widen a range of cost-saving initiatives including laying off more staff.
6) Last month the carrier announced it would lay off 1,000 of its 35,000 workers and cut international flights by 20 percent.
7) There would also be significant restructuring of work practices and activities and the reduction of capital expenditure, including retirement of some aircraft and deferral of delivery of new aircraft.
8) ``All international routes have been affected to some degree, with key Qantas destinations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan suffering the most,'' Dixon said.
9) Qantas' bookings to Hong Kong are down 64 percent and Japan bookings are down 30 percent.
10) ``We now only operate seven of the 30 services per week we planned to operate to Hong Kong before the war in Iraq and the outbreak of SARS,'' Dixon said.
11) Recently, there has been a downturn of passenger bookings from Europe, particularly from France and Italy by about 45 percent and 33 percent respectively. Bookings to Britain are down about 14 percent.
12) ``The aviation industry was going through the most difficult period in its history,'' Dixon said, citing the downturn in travel demand since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.
13) SARS has also affected Qantas' local operations. The nation's flag carrier said 15 percent of its domestic business is made up of visitors arriving on international flights, Dixon said.
14) ``The downturn in the inbound market has severely affected this sector of the market and will have an impact on overall domestic profitability,'' he added.
15) Investors pushed Qantas shares 5 percent lower to A$3.04 (US$1.94) when Australia's stock exchange opened following the warning.
Qantas chief says airline will post profit despite SARS
(APW_ENG_20030511.0020)
1) Qantas Airways will post a profit for the six months ending Dec. 30 this year despite the impact of the SARS virus on international aviation, the company's chief executive said Sunday.
2) Geoff Dixon said the Australian flag carrier has been losing money in recent weeks and the outlook was ``difficult,'' but cost-cutting should deliver a ``certain level of profitability'' in the six months ending December, the first half of Australia's 2004 fiscal year.
3) ``We haven't set what our first half profit will be for next year, but I'd only say that we're confident we can make a profit and I'll leave it at that,'' Dixon told Nine Network television's Business Sunday program.
4) Last week, Qantas warned that it expects its annual pretax profit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, will be 20 percent to 30 percent lower than market expectations following a drop in passenger numbers because of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
5) Qantas booked a 352.5 million Australian dollars (US$224.6 million) net profit for the six months ending Dec. 31 _ the first half of the current fiscal year _ but in recent months the national carrier has been hit by the passenger downturn related to SARS and the war in Iraq.
6) The airline gave the updated estimate on Thursday at the request of the Australian Stock Exchange.
7) Despite the passenger downturn, Dixon said Qantas had not lost market share in Australia to British entrepreneur Richard Branson's discount rival, Virgin Blue.
8) Qantas is planning to expand services run by its fully owned subsidiary, discount carrier Australian Airlines, from Australia to Bali and parts of Malaysia in the next six months, Dixon said.
Qantas temporarily shuts down Sydney terminal after security breach
(APW_ENG_20030530.0042)
1) Qantas Airways evacuated its domestic terminal in Sydney for 40 minutes Friday and grounded 10 flights after a security breach, airline officials said.
2) Qantas declined to explain the nature of the incident which came just a day after an attempted hijack of a Qantas flight in southern Australia.
3) The terminal was closed Friday just after midday for about 40 minutes while staff checked the ``sterile area'' where passengers wait for flights after passing through scanners, Qantas said.
4) Speaking to reporters afterward, Qantas security boss Geoff Askew, declined to explain what had happened.
5) ``I don't think that would be advantageous for anybody, we don't discuss our security arrangements in public,'' he said. ``But there was certainly no risk to our passengers or operations.''
6) Passengers told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that more than 1,000 people were ordered to gather in a foyer while the matter was investigated.
7) ``Some people had broken through the metal detectors and they had to evacuate the building to find them and that's all we've sort of been told,'' Bryant Elder told the ABC.
8) Qantas said passengers had returned to the terminal and that flights were again operating.
9) Federal authorities have suggested that airport security procedures would be reviewed after a man smuggled two wooden stakes onto a plane flying out of Melbourne on Thursday and stabbed two crew members as they fought to stop him storming the cockpit.
Qantas urges against onerous security rules following attempted hijacking
(APW_ENG_20030601.0149)
1) The Australian government announced Sunday it would give its airport security officers greater powers to search, detain and question anyone behaving suspiciously.
2) The government said last week it would review security rules at airports after a man smuggled two sharpened wooden stakes onto a Qantas jet on Thursday and wounded four people in a foiled attempt to hijack the plane.
3) Customs Minister Chris Ellison said the new laws for Australian Protection Service officers did not contain provisions for randomly frisking passengers, but suggested this could be considered after last week's incident.
4) ``It is important that we give to our counterterrorism first response personnel that ability to intervene and search and interrogate people where appropriate,'' Ellison told reporters.
5) He said the government had been drafting the new powers in legislation before Thursday's incident, and did not clarify when they would come into effect.
6) The new powers would allow airport officers to detain people at airports until federal police could step in, Ellison said.
7) ``It is not a kneejerk reaction, it is something which we believe is appropriate and which the police and the APS have sought themselves, they see it as necessary and we agree with them.'' he said.
8) But Qantas Airways said Sunday that the government should be wary of instituting onerous security checks at airports across the country.
9) Geoff Dixon, chief of Australian flag carrier Qantas, warned in a statement Sunday that the airline industry must find a balance between its financial sustainability and the ability to provide safe and secure travel.
10) ``Instant analysis after Thursday's incident could adversely impact this sustainability by adding hundreds of millions of dollars to its cost structure,'' Dixon said.
11) Airlines and regulators had to find better ways of detecting nonmetal weapons, he said, but added that full body searches could add up to two hours to boarding times.
12) ``It could also adversely impact commerce throughout the entire country without any significant improvements to aviation security,'' he said.
13) Dixon said Qantas would have new security doors installed on the cockpits of all its jets by Nov. 1.
14) Dixon said he was concerned by suggestions from some commentators that armed sky marshals be put on every flight. At present a small number of sky marshals are placed randomly on flights.
15) Attorney General Daryl Williams said Sunday that the review of aviation security would have to consider privacy laws, which limit the level of personal searches by security firms.
16) Last Thursday, David Robinson, a 40-year old computer analyst, attempted to storm the cockpit of a Qantas jet on a domestic flight, stabbing cabin staff with two wooden stakes. He was subdued with help from passengers. The plane landed safely.
17) Robinson was charged Friday with one count of attempted hijacking and two counts of attacking air crew. He could go to prison for life if convicted.
Australia suspends flights to Rome after 55 years of service
(APW_ENG_20030612.0132)
1) After 55 years of service, Australia's Qantas Airways will suspend direct flights to Rome as it scales back operations due to a downturn in global tourism, the airline said Thursday.
2) Australia's biggest airline said it would halt its twice-weekly Rome via Singapore service from Sept. 9. The flights would be replaced with a Cathay Pacific code-share deal flying out of Hong Kong to Rome four times a week. Qantas began flying to the Italian capital in 1948.
3) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the suspension reflected the problems facing airlines from the combined effects of terrorism, the SARS virus and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
4) ``This decision has not been made lightly,'' Dixon said in a statement. ``The aviation industry is going through the most difficult period in its history,'' he said.
5) Dixon said Qantas had made a series of difficult decisions to cut costs in recent months, including redundancies, retirement of aircraft and cutting back planned capital investment for next year by 1 billion Australian dollars (US$650 million).
6) Dixon said Qantas would maintain a sales office in Rome and monitor industry developments to decide whether to resume its own services in the future.
7) Qantas booked a A$352.5 million ($224.6 million) net profit for the six months ending Dec. 31. But last month, the airline warned it expects annual pretax profit for the fiscal year ending June 30 to be 20 percent to 30 percent lower than market expectations following a drop in passenger numbers because of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Australian flag carrier posts 20-percent drop in full-year earnings
(APW_ENG_20030820.0772)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas posted full-year earnings down nearly 20 percent to 343.5 million Australian dollars (US$226.7 million) Thursday after 12 months that saw passenger numbers hit by the SARS outbreak in Asia and the war in Iraq.
2) In the previous financial year, ending June 30, 2002, Qantas made a A$428 million (US$282 million) net profit.
3) ``The fallout from 9/11, constant security alerts, acts of terrorism, the war in Iraq and the SARS pandemic have all affected both inbound and outbound travel,'' Chairwoman Margaret Jackson said.
4) Sales edged higher to A$11.37 billion (US$7.5 billion) from A$10.97 billion (US$7.2 billion) and Qantas gave an upbeat assessment for the coming year.
5) ``While conditions in the aviation industry remain challenging and it is still early in the new financial year, Qantas expects to improve on its performance in 2003-04 while continuing to invest in its fleet, product and service,'' the airline said in a statement.
6) The airline maintained its final dividend at a fully franked 9 cents (US 6 cents) per share.
7) Qantas said during the first half of it financial year demand rebounded for international operations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. However from January onwards, the threat of global terrorism, the war in Iraq and SARS all took their toll on passenger numbers.
8) Chief executive Geoff Dixon said Qantas is well advanced with plans to launch its own low-cost domestic operation.
9) Qantas carries about 70 percent of domestic passengers, but in recent years has seen its market share attacked by no-frills carrier Virgin Blue, a joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Australian transport company Patrick Corp.
10) Dixon said the Qantas operation will have separate management and be conducted on a standalone basis.
11) ``We are not in the business of starting airlines unless we can make money,'' he told reporters.
12) Dixon also told reporters that British Airways has indicated ``it wants to hang onto'' its 17 percent stake in Qantas and said he believed Qantas' proposed strategic alliance with Air New Zealand will eventually get off the ground despite opposition from regulators in Canberra and Wellington, who have labeled the proposal anticompetitive.
Qantas head says he will protect Australian airline against ``unlawful'' union activity
(APW_ENG_20030824.0027)
1) The head of national carrier Qantas on Sunday vowed to protect it against ``unlawful union activity,'' after baggage handlers staged walkouts over the airline's recently announced restructuring plans.
2) But chief executive Geoff Dixon added that he hoped to avoid more industrial action.
3) Around 2,000 travelers were affected last week when baggage handlers at Melbourne airport staged two unauthorized walkouts over the hiring of contract labor.
4) The walkouts came after Australia's biggest carrier announced plans to increase the number of casual, part-time and contracted employees from 15 percent of its 34,000-strong work force to between 20 percent and 25 percent. Union leaders have threatened more strikes.
5) ``I'm not sure we are on the verge of industrial war,'' Dixon said. ``I've had long discussions with Greg Combet (the secretary for the Australian Council for Trade Unions). I'm quite sure we can work this through.''
6) Dixon said the decision to restructure the work force was the airline's only option.
7) ``We will do what we need to do to ensure that Qantas provides a very high level of service,'' Dixon told the Nine Network's Business Sunday program.
8) ``We will protect that status, and we will protect it against what I would call unlawful union activity.''
9) Dixon has already cut 2,300 full-time positions over the past six months.
10) On Thursday, Qantas reported a 9 million Australian dollar (US$5.9 million) loss for the second half, which the carrier blamed on the war in Iraq and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
11) The loss brought its net profit after tax for the full year to A$343.5 million (US$226.7 million), down nearly 20 percent from the previous year.
Australia regulator rules against Qantas-Air New Zealand alliance
(APW_ENG_20030908.0767)
1) Australia's competition watchdog on Tuesday rejected a proposed alliance between Qantas Airways and Air New Zealand, saying the partnership would raise air fares and would not serve the public interest.
2) Rival airlines, industry analysts and air freight companies had criticized the plan, saying it would stifle competition. They said it could enhance Qantas' dominance of the Australian market and create a virtual monopoly in New Zealand and on flights between the two countries.
3) ``The proposed alliance would be highly anticompetitive and offer little benefit to the Australian public,'' Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Graeme Samuel told reporters.
4) Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said the Australian flag carrier was ``extremely disappointed'' in the Commission's decision, and may appeal to a review panel, the Australian Competition Tribunal.
5) The two airlines said last November they would seek clearance from regulators in both countries for Qantas to buy a 22.5-percent stake in Air New Zealand, injecting 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$316 million) into the ailing carrier.
6) The stake would have given Qantas two seats on Air New Zealand's board and let the companies combine some operations. Air New Zealand was to get one seat on the Qantas board.
7) Samuel said the plan would have led to an increase in air fares and a decrease in the number of seats available on routes between Australia and New Zealand.
8) The Australian regulator and its counterpart, the New Zealand Commerce Commission, both rejected the alliance in draft rulings in April and asked the airlines to present new arguments and plans.
9) In May, the airlines announced concessions like capping some airfares on routes between Australia and New Zealand and allowing a new entrant, mostly likely budget carrier Virgin Blue, ``unimpeded access'' to the market between the two countries and to New Zealand domestic routes.
10) The New Zealand competition watchdog is due to issue its final report later this month.
11) The New Zealand government acknowledged industry concerns but had backed the deal, saying it was necessary to secure the local flag carrier's long-term viability as an international airline.
12) Samuel said Tuesday that Qantas is one of the strongest airlines in the world, and that he did not believe the panel's decision would hurt the commercial viability of either Qantas or Air New Zealand.
13) Air New Zealand almost collapsed in 2001 but was bailed out by the government, which now owns 82 percent.
14) Samuel said the commission may reconsider the plan if the dynamics of the aviation industry and markets changed. ``Where such change occurs it could lead to the ACCC at another time reaching a different conclusion,'' he said.
15) Dixon said the Commission had not taken into account the extra information and expert evidence from the airlines since the draft ruling.
16) Air New Zealand managing director Ralph Norris said he was still convinced the partnership must proceed and would join Qantas in an appeal.
17) ``We remain confident that we can achieve a positive outcome,'' he said in a statement.
18) Shares in Qantas tumbled more than 5 percent after the announcement, and were down 19 Australian cents (12 US cents) to A$3.33 (US$2.15).
19) Air New Zealand shares were down eight NZ cents (4 US cents) to 47 NZ cents (27 US cents).
Qantas chief executive says foreign ownership limit is blocking growth
(APW_ENG_20030917.0150)
1) A limits on foreign ownership is severely hindering growth at Australian flag carrier Qantas, the airline's chief executive said Wednesday.
2) No more than 49 percent of the former state-run carrier is allowed to be foreign owned.
3) ``Qantas is ... being prevented from reaching its full potential by the foreign ownership limits imposed by the Qantas Sale Act,'' Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a speech in Canberra. ``While these limits were set down for good reasons 10 years ago, we cannot ignore the fact that globalization has gathered pace.''
4) Dixon argued that the limit prevents Qantas from raising capital on foreign equity markets, putting it at a disadvantage with its competitors.
5) Last month, Qantas announced that its full-year earnings fell nearly 20 percent to 343.5 million Australian dollars (US$226.7 million) as passenger numbers fell because of the SARS outbreak and the war in Iraq.
6) Dixon also said Qantas is considering appealing a recent decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to block its proposed alliance with Air New Zealand.
7) Earlier Wednesday, Qantas' main domestic competitor, Virgin Blue, announced it will start flying between Australia and New Zealand from next February.
Qantas announces it will launch low-cost Australian domestic service
(APW_ENG_20031016.0179)
1) Qantas Airways is planning to launch a low-cost Australian domestic airline next May in a move aimed at winning back passengers from discount carrier Virgin Blue.
2) ``This demonstrates Qantas' commitment to ensuring our ongoing competitiveness,'' Chairwoman Margaret Jackson told the carrier's annual meeting on Thursday.
3) Launched three years ago by flamboyant British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Virgin Blue has carved out a strong niche in Australia's domestic aviation market with its formula of offering cheap tickets and no-frills services between major cities.
4) In August, Qantas said it had put a team together to consider whether it should start a low-cost carrier in the leisure markets.
5) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said later Thursday that the new carrier would be launched next May.
6) ``This will be a true low cost carrier _ lean, highly competitive and with the standards of safety and reliability associated with Qantas,'' he said.
7) Dixon said Qantas was in talks with Boeing, Airbus and aircraft leasing companies so that the new carrier can have a minimum of 23 737-800 or A320 aircraft by mid 2005.
8) Jackson told shareholders the transition to a new cost base was essential to Qantas' long-term success.
9) ``Over the past few years, low-cost entrants have revolutionized the airline industry,'' she said. ``Qantas has to find ways to do things better for less.''
10) She said one way of cutting costs would be to pay staff less to meet salaries levels negotiated between Virgin Blue and labor unions.
11) ``This is a competitive disadvantage we simply have to deal with,'' she said. ``So we are progressively making a long term transition to a lower labor cost base. We will be doing this by means of improved work practices, better rostering, increased use of technology and more casual and part-time staff.''
12) Jackson told the shareholder meeting in the southern city of Adelaide that Qantas was ready to deal with challenges following the recent problems facing the industry, including SARS and the war in Iraq.
13) ``If another crisis erupts, the company is well prepared to react quickly and effectively,'' she said.
14) Despite the tough industry conditions, Qantas booked a net profit of 343.5 million Australian dollars (US$233 million) for its fiscal year ending June 30.
New Zealand competition watchdog rejects airlines' alliance bid
(APW_ENG_20031023.0008)
1) New Zealand's competition watchdog has again rejected applications by Air New Zealand and Australia's Qantas airline to form a commercial alliance.
2) The Commerce Commission said in a ruling Thursday that the plan ``would damage competition and harm consumers and is therefore not in the interests of New Zealanders.''
3) The same ruling was given in the commission's initial finding in April, after which it held a public hearing to hear additional arguments.
4) Under the alliance plan, the Australian carrier would buy 22.5 percent of Air New Zealand for 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$330 million).
5) The commission said it ``declined to authorize the proposed acquisition by Qantas of 22.5 percent of the voting equity in Air New Zealand and a strategic alliance between the two companies.''
6) Air New Zealand warned at public hearings in August it could collapse within three to six years as it would be poorly placed to win ``a struggle for survival'' against Qantas, which is many times bigger.
7) Air New Zealand shares slumped 9.4 percent on the news, before recovering slightly to trade at 49 New Zealand cents (29.8 U.S. cents) at 2:40 p.m. (0140 GMT).
8) The two airlines need approval from competition authorities in both countries for Qantas to buy into its New Zealand-based competitor.
9) Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission ruled against the plan on Sept. 9, saying it would stifle competition, raise prices and cut services.
10) The carriers have appealed the rejection.
11) Air New Zealand said it would closely examine the New Zealand watchdog's decision and hold talks with Qantas before deciding whether to file an appeal with the country's High Court.
12) Chief Executive Ralph Norris said in a statement he was ``extremely disappointed'' its evidence to the regulators ``had counted for little.''
13) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline ``still believe(s) an alliance between Qantas and Air New Zealand is in the best interests of aviation in this region and would deliver significant benefits to travelers and tourism.''
14) The two competition watchdogs had taken a very narrow view of competition and consumer interests and their decisions ``are at odds with what is occurring around the world,'' he added.
15) Both governments support the alliance.
16) Commerce Commission Acting Chairwoman Paula Rebstock said the proposal would result in a substantial lessening of competition in a number of markets.
17) ``For the traveling public that could mean airfares that were, on average, up to 19 percent higher, as well as reduced quality of service, and fewer flights,'' she said in a statement.
18) The airlines said earlier that consolidation among the world's airlines is inevitable. Without the alliance they would be forced into a ``war of attrition'' that Air New Zealand could not win.
19) ``The Commission's view is that the overall detriment expected to result from the proposed alliance would clearly outweigh the expected benefits,'' Rebstock said.
20) The New Zealand government injected NZ$885 million (US$531 million) into Air New Zealand in 2001 when it was facing commercial collapse after its Australian subsidiary Ansett Airlines was forced into bankruptcy, causing thousands of job losses.
21) Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the government won't override the commission's ruling.
22) ``We made it clear at the outset ... that final approval would depend on clearance by both authorities and that the government would not intervene in that process,'' Cullen said in a statement. ``That remains the position.''
Australian flight attendant awarded new aviation security award
(APW_ENG_20031119.0902)
1) A Qantas airline attendant who foiled a hijack attempt by a man wielding sharpened wooden stakes was awarded a new international aviation security prize for his bravery, the Australian flag carrier said Thursday.
2) Greg Khan, 39, was stabbed several times in the back of the head and face when he and a fellow crew member fought off the man who tried to storm the cockpit of a Qantas domestic flight in June.
3) Khan blocked the cockpit doors and bore the brunt of the furious stabbing attack until passengers and crew subdued the man.
4) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said Thursday that Khan's heroism had earned him the inaugural International Aviation Security Award of Excellence at a global aviation conference in Athens, Greece on Wednesday night. The award was made by the International Air Transport Association.
5) ``Mr. Khan displayed extraordinary bravery and courage and his actions were crucial in protecting the aircraft and safety of all passengers and crew on board,'' Dixon said in a statement.
6) David Robinson, 40, an unemployed computer analyst, pleaded innocent in August to charges of trying to hijack a Qantas flight and remains in custody awaiting trial. He could face life in prison if found guilty. He was given a psychological assessment but authorities have not released the results for privacy reasons.
Qantas to base its new cut-price airline in Melbourne
(APW_ENG_20031125.0722)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas will base its new cut-price airline in the southeastern city of Melbourne, Victoria state government said Wednesday.
2) Victoria's Premier Steve Bracks said the new airline would create 1,000 new direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs for the state and would be based at the airport terminal previously used by fallen domestic carrier Ansett Airlines.
3) It would begin flying to leisure destinations from May next year, Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said.
4) Qantas Chairwoman Margaret Jackson said the airline, which was still without a name and without a fleet, will hire 1,000 staff over the next few years. Joining Bracks at a news conference, she told reporters there was still no final decision about the size of the fleet.
5) Qantas was believed to have selected Airbus A320 planes for the cut-price carrier over Boeing 737-800s, Dow Jones reported.
6) Jackson said Alan Joyce, a former Aer Lingus and Ansett Australia executive, would run the airline and that management would include former executives of Europe's low-cost carrier Ryanair.
7) Joyce told reporters the new budget airline would have the lowest domestic fares in the country.
8) Bracks said his government gave Qantas ``modest financial incentives,'' fighting off competition from other states to secure the deal for Melbourne, which will help it recover from the loss of the Ansett headquarters.
9) ``We have been fighting for this one and we have won,'' Bracks said. ``It will be great for the economy and for tourism.''
10) Air New Zealand's Australian subsidiary Ansett Airlines was forced into bankruptcy in 2001, causing thousands of job losses.
11) Qantas' only real competitor in the domestic market is British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Blue, which has become Australia's fastest growing airline since it kicked off in Australia three years ago.
12) Virgin Blue, which has captured around 30 percent of the local market, received financial assistance from Queensland's state government to base its headquarters in that state's capital, Brisbane.
13) Counting Branson and Australian transport group Patrick Corp. as its two biggest shareholders, Virgin Blue is in the process of raising more than 500 million Australian dollars (US$360 million) in an initial public offering. It will make its Australian Stock Exchange debut on Dec. 8.
New Qantas cut-price carrier to be called Jetstar, will buy 23 Airbus A320 planes
(APW_ENG_20031201.0136)
1) A fresh battle for Australian domestic airline passengers loomed Monday as national flag carrier Qantas unveiled its new no-frills carrier aimed at winning passengers from rival Virgin Blue.
2) Qantas said the new cut-price domestic carrier Jetstar will take off next May and that it has ordered 23 new Airbus A320 planes for the airline.
3) Jetstar is aimed squarely at Richard Branson's successful no-frills carrier Virgin Blue and its launch will likely set off a price war on highly competitive Australian domestic routes.
4) Jetstar is the first major domestic airline to launch in Australia singe the collapse in 2001 of Ansett, at the time, the nation's second largest carrier.
5) Branson launched Virgin Blue in 2000 and since then it has carved out a 30-percent market share, eating into Qantas' domination of the domestic aviation market.
6) Qantas isn't launching Jetstar ``from a position of panic'' or from the competitive threat posed by Virgin Blue, Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon said.
7) He also played down concerns that Jetstar will eat into Qantas' earnings from existing operations.
8) ``I think we can get it right,'' he said. ``We are very confident that we can start this, it won't cannibalize our business in any meaningful way, and that the overall position of Qantas' operations will be improved by it.''
9) Qantas said at its annual general meeting in October that it would launch a low-cost domestic carrier but gave no further details.
10) ``The domestic leisure market is growing rapidly and now represents over 60 percent of all passengers,'' Dixon said Monday. ``Jetstar will concentrate on growing this market with value fares while opening up new destinations.''
11) Dixon said he was confident Jetstar would be the lowest cost operator in Australia with new aircraft and a new booking system.
12) He said Qantas was in good financial shape to launch the new carrier despite the recent pressure on aviation markets.
13) ``The domestic market is strong and the international market is returning quickly from the effects of SARS and the war in Iraq,'' he said. ``All our businesses are profitable.''
14) David Huttner, Virgin Blue's head of commercial operations, cast doubt on Qantas' claim Jetstar would have the lowest costs in Australia.
15) ``We are quite confident that we will continue to have the lowest cost structure in the country and it is a bit rich for Mr. Dixon to suggest otherwise when his airline only exists on paper at this point,'' Huttner said.
16) Jetstar will begin selling seats in February 2004 and start flying in May, using 14 Boeing 717's currently owned by Qantas subsidiary Impulse Airlines.
17) The first Airbus A320 will be delivered in June next year and Jetstar will progressively move to an all A320 fleet, Qantas said. Dixon said that while the initial order is for 23 A320's, more aircraft could be acquired as Jetstar grows.
18) Dixon refused to directly put a value on the Airbus contract, but told reporters each plane has a price tag of about US$50 million.
19) The bidding between Airbus and Boeing Co. had been ``very aggressive'', Dixon said, adding Qantas was very pleased with the price paid.
20) Further details of the airline's route network and fare structure will be announced in January.
21) Qantas shares dropped by three cents (2 U.S. cents) to A$3.30 (US$2.37) following the announcement.
Australian national carrier, national postal company to buy road freight operator
(APW_ENG_20031218.0739)
1) Australian national carrier Qantas Airways and government-owned Australia Post said Friday they had succeeded in their joint 750 million Australian dollar bid (US$555 million) to buy express road freight operator Star Track Express.
2) The companies would pay for the purchase using their equally owned joint venture and funds from net cash reserves, along with undrawn credit facilities, the two companies said in a statement.
3) Derek Lightfoot, Star Track's chief executive, would continue in his role, as will the existing management team. The company will be run as a distinct joint venture to make sure its brand and operational focus were maintained, Qantas and Australia Post said.
4) ``Star Track Express is a high quality operation that provides superior service levels and has achieved consistent revenue and profit growth,'' Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said. ``The acquisition is consistent with the Qantas strategy of growing its non-airline business.''
5) Australia Post and Qantas also operate a dometic freight operator, Australian Air Express.
6) Australia Post managing director Graeme John said the aim was to grow Star Track Express' business-to-business market.
7) ``The business potential, both in Australia and overseas, means that the market will provide plenty of scope for future opportunities,'' John said.
Sky marshals to begin guarding Qantas flights to Singapore this week, possibly to U.S.
(APW_ENG_20031225.0390)
1) Armed sky marshals will guard some Qantas flights between Australia and Singapore and may be put on flights to the United States after the government and the national carrier agreed to share the costs, the justice minister said Friday.
2) ``Qantas and the government have reached an agreement,'' Chris Ellison told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``We are ready to fly.''
3) He said the agreement takes effect Friday but for security reasons wouldn't say if sky marshals had already begun boarding aircraft. The marshals are being placed randomly on flights, and passengers won't know when they are on board.
4) Ellison and Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon agreed to the deal Thursday following an accord signed with Singapore on Dec. 15. It is Australia's first international agreement on sky marshals.
5) Ellison told reporters he's now working on an agreement with the United States.
6) ``I raised it when I was in Washington in July,'' he said. ``We have logistic aspects to sort out and we're confident we'll get an agreement.''
7) The route between Sydney and Singapore is one of Australia's busiest, with many passengers from Europe stopping in the city-state on their way Down Under.
8) Singaporean air security officers would also guard Singapore Airlines flights between the two countries.
9) Ellison would not release details of the cost-sharing arrangements with Qantas but said the sky marshal program for domestic and Singapore flights will cost taxpayers about 18 million Australian dollars (US$13 million) a year.
10) The government trains and pays the agents who are drawn from the Australian Federal Police.
11) Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Australia has posted armed undercover security officers randomly on domestic flights.
Australia's Qantas says toilet queues banned on flights to US
(APW_ENG_20040107.0050)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways said Wednesday that U.S. authorities are now banning passengers from gathering near restrooms and other places on airliners flying to America _ an order the Australian government thinks might be impractical.
2) Commercial flights across the Pacific Ocean from Australia to the United States' west coast are among the world's longest.
3) ``The U.S. Transport Security Administration are now requiring that passengers on flights to the U.S. are not to congregate in groups in any areas of the aircraft, especially around the lavatories,'' a Qantas spokeswoman said.
4) Australia's Transport Minister John Anderson, who is also deputy prime minister, described the ban as ``a little bit hard to handle.''
5) Qantas said passengers were being told about the new rules.
6) ``Qantas pilots are making pre-flight announcements to this effect and cabin crew are monitoring passengers during the flight. We do not expect this to be a significant issue at all, and it only applies to flights to the United States,'' the airline said in a statement released Wednesday.
7) Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Qantas official would not disclose whether the airline had received the directive straight from the U.S. Transport Security Administration or from Australian aviation authorities.
8) Qantas is among many international carriers to have boosted security on flights recently.
9) On Tuesday it said it was willing to provide armed sky marshals on its flights to the United States. Currently, the U.S. and Australian governments are negotiating an agreement for marshals to fly on random flights between the two countries.
Australian flag carrier's first-half net profit edges higher
(APW_ENG_20040218.0870)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways said Thursday that its net profit in the six months through December rose 1.5 percent to 357.8 million Australian dollars (US$282 million) from A$352 million (US$278 million) in the corresponding period.
2) The increase for the first half of the fiscal year beat market expectations, with a range of analysts forecasting the result to be about A$318 million ($US251 million).
3) The company attributed the result to strong performance in the domestic market because of a simplified fare structure and cost reduction measures.
4) Qantas said its domestic market share was 66.2 percent, staving off competition from British entrepreneur Richard Branson's no-frills domestic Virgin Blue airline.
5) Qantas announced last year it would launch its own cut-price domestic carrier, Jetstar, in May and had ordered 23 new Airbus A320 planes for the airline. Virgin Blue controls about 30 percent of the domestic market.
6) Qantas has tackled tough market conditions, exacerbated by the war on terrorism and regional health scares, by cutting flights and staff.
7) ``Historically, Qantas earns 60 percent of its profits in the first half of the financial year,'' the company said in a statement. ``Trading conditions so far this year show that Qantas is on track to achieve a full-year profit in line with this trend.''
8) Chairwoman Margaret Jackson said the airline's businesses returned to profitability during the first half, following the impact of the Iraq war and the outbreak in Asia of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
9) ``This has put us in a good position to take advantage of what appears to be a return to more stable market conditions,'' she said, adding that the company had continued to invest in new products, aircraft and technology.
10) But chief executive Geoff Dixon blamed a 4.4 percent fall in revenue against the previous corresponding period entirely on the continued impact of SARS and the Iraq war.
11) The revenue fall was offset by a 6 percent reduction in expenditure, Dixon said.
12) Qantas was on track to exceed its A$350 million (US$276 million) cost reduction target for the full year ending June 30, and said the program would be extended another year and its target by another A$500 million (US$395 million).
Qantas enters Asian low-cost airline fray with Singapore-based budget carrier
(APW_ENG_20040406.0065)
1) Qantas Airways announced Tuesday that it was launching a Singapore-based low-cost airline to compete in a growing field of Southeast Asian budget carriers.
2) ``Our aim with the new airline is to stimulate this market as other low cost carriers have done in other parts of the world,'' the Australian flag carrier's Chief Executive Geoff Dixon told a news conference in Singapore.
3) The airline, which might be named Jetstar Asia, will start services before the end of the year with a range of destinations within five hours' flying time from Singapore, Dixon said.
4) Qantas does not service any of the routes that the new Asian carrier hopes to fly, he added.
5) Qantas will own 49.9 percent of the new airline, while the Singapore government's holding company Temasek will own 19 percent, Dixon said. Singapore businessmen Tony Chew and F.F. Wong will own 21.1 percent and 10 percent, respectively, he said.
6) Qantas will contribute half of the airline's 100 million Singapore dollars (US$59.6 million) startup cost, Dixon added.
7) ``We can finance the S$50 million easily,'' Dixon said. ``For us, that's the cost of just two wings of a jumbo jet!''
8) The airline will initially operate four planes _ either Boeing 737-800s or Airbus A320s _ and will build to a fleet of more than 20 aircraft in the next three years, he said.
9) The airline will be hiring mostly Singaporeans and staff from its destination countries, Dixon said, adding that some Australian staff would be stationed in Singapore.
10) The new venture will compete head to head with two Singapore-based budget carriers: Tiger Airways _ a joint venture between Singapore Airlines, also controlled by Temasek, and Ireland's Ryanair _ and Valuair. It also faces competition from Indonesia's Lion Air and Malaysia's AirAsia.
11) ``The market for budget airlines will become very saturated in the coming years,'' Dixon said. ``But we believe we have the expertise and the financial structure to be able to do it.''
12) Qantas' move into Singapore appears to be motivated more by opportunity than necessity, said Peter Harbison, Managing Director at Sydney's Center for Asia Pacific Aviation.
13) ``This kind of operation, based out of Singapore where people are relatively highly affluent and have a high propensity to travel _ it's a market that probably has a tremendous amount of upside _ particularly some of the routes that operate into India through Southeast Asia,'' Harbinson told Australia's Sky News channel.
14) Qantas already operates a 17-month-old economy-class only carrier, Australian Airlines, which operates services between Australia and Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Indonesian island of Bali.
15) Qantas is also operating a domestic budget carrier called Jetstar that will start flying on May 25.
Air France in code sharing deal with Qantas
(APW_ENG_20040618.0180)
1) Air France announced Friday a code-sharing agreement with Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. that will open six new destinations in the country to the French carrier's passengers.
2) Starting Oct. 31, Air France customers flying to Singapore from Paris will be able to book Qantas connections to Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on the same ticket.
3) Qantas passengers will be also able to fly to Paris on Air France through Singapore.
4) Air France and Delta Air Lines lead the six-member SkyTeam alliance. Qantas is one of eight carriers in rival OneWorld, which includes British Airways and American Airlines.
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Qantas to open crew base in Britain
(APW_ENG_20040622.0095)
1) Qantas, Australia's national airline, announced plans to move 400 international flight attendant jobs to London in a move the carrier says would save it 18 million Australian dollars (US$12.3 million) a year.
2) Chief Executive Office Geoff Dixon said Tuesday no jobs would be lost from the change, and that he "expects a positive reaction" from the airline's international flight attendants.
3) He said Qantas executives have already met with union officials, who would review the decision to base 400 flight attendants in London from June 2005.
4) Qantas also wants to open a base for international crew in the northeastern Australian city of Brisbane, Dixon told reporters.
5) The flag carrier currently has more than 4,000 international flight attendants based in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.
6) Dixon said moving staff to London would save the company 18 million Australian dollars (US$12.3 million) a year because it would make rosters more efficient. The company would also save on money spent on meals and accommodation.
7) Dixon didn't rule out moving more jobs offshore in the future.
8) "We have no plans at all at the moment to do any other things, (but) we're a company that must continue to evolve, grow and may grow some more effectively."
9) Qantas currently operates 21 flights a week to London via Singapore and Bangkok. This will increase by next year to 27 a week, Dixon said, including three new flights via Hong Kong.
10) Dixon also said the airline's earnings results for the 12 months ending June 30 were in line with market expectations. The results are expected to be released soon.
11) In February the flag carrier said its net profit in the six months through December rose 1.5 percent to 357.8 million Australian dollars (US$282 million) from A$352 million in the same period the previous year.
Air New Zealand, Qantas alliance a response to competition, appeal court told
(APW_ENG_20040705.0056)
1) A proposed alliance between Air New Zealand and Australian carrier Qantas was a response to increased competition rather than a move toward a monopoly, Air New Zealand told the nation's High Court Monday.
2) The air carrier opened its legal challenge to the New Zealand Commerce Commission's decision last year to reject its bid to form an alliance with Australian rival Qantas.
3) Qantas wants to buy up to 22.5 per cent of Air New Zealand for 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$355 million) to enable the two operators to cooperate on all their routes to, from and within New Zealand.
4) Air New Zealand lawyer Jim Farmer told High Court Justice Rodney Hansen that new low-cost entrants into the market and greater competition had raised the need for Qantas and Air New Zealand to lower their own costs.
5) The deal was needed to restore a competitive position being rapidly eroded by newcomers such as Richard Branson's budget airline, Virgin Blue and the Dubai-based carrier Emirates, Farmer said.
6) An Air New Zealand lawyer told an earlier hearing by the Australian Competition Tribunal that the combined market share of the alliance would be about 60 percent between the two countries. It would be 100 percent on direct flights between New Zealand and North America, a route which only Qantas and Air New Zealand currently fly.
7) The airlines appealed to the High Court after the alliance plan was comprehensively rejected last year as anticompetitive by the commission and its Australian counterpart.
8) Air New Zealand earlier said higher fuel and operating costs and airline industry instability were also behind the alliance proposal.
9) The Australian competition tribunal heard an appeal by Qantas last month after Australian competition regulators also rejected the plan last year. No decision has been made on that appeal.
Australian officials launch investigation into reported near-collision by planes
(APW_ENG_20040719.0071)
1) Aviation authorities launched an investigation Monday into a reported near collision between a Qantas airliner and an aircraft from cut-price Qantas offshoot Jetstar near an Australian resort island.
2) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau announced it had started the probe after reviewing air crews' reports on the incident Saturday afternoon near Hamilton Island, off Australia's east coast.
3) Passengers on flight 717, a Jetstar Boeing 717, told media the plane banked sharply to the left just after taking off from the island's airport, then started to descend before resuming its climb. Some reported seeing a Qantas Boeing 737, flight 1174, nearby.
4) Jetstar, which Qantas launched earlier this year, said its pilots had done the right thing.
5) "They took appropriate action which involved a change of course," Jetstar's chief executive officer Alan Joyce told reporters in the southern city of Melbourne on Monday.
6) The transportation safety bureau said initial reports suggested there had been a misunderstanding of procedures, but refused to elaborate because of the continuing investigation.
7) Both planes were being guided by Hamilton Island air traffic controllers at the time, Qantas said in a statement.
8) "The Qantas flight crew could see the Jetstar aircraft at all times," it said. "Both planes were in visual contact and there was no danger to any passengers."
9) The statement gave no details of the number of passengers aboard the planes.
Qantas says its Asian offshoot will lease Airbus A320s
(APW_ENG_20040812.0116)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Thursday that its Singapore-based Asian budget offshoot has signed a deal to lease eight Airbus planes when it starts flying later this year.
2) The carrier, which has yet to be named, will start operations flying four Airbus A320s, the new airline's chief operating officer Con Korfiatis said in a statement.
3) The first plane is scheduled for delivery by the end of October, Korfiatis added.
4) After the first four planes are delivered, four more A320s will be phased in later.
5) No financial details of the deal were released.
6) The airline, which will be majority owned by Qantas but based in Singapore, has applied for its Singapore Air Operator's Certificate and will apply for traffic rights to a ring of Asian cities within five hours travel time from Singapore.
7) Qantas will hold a 49.9 percent stake in the airline, while Singapore government investment arm Temasek Holdings will hold 19 percent. Singapore businessmen Tony Chew and F.F. Wong will own 21.1 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
8) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon has suggested in the past that the Asian offshoot will most likely be called Jetstar Asia.
9) Qantas recently established a domestic budget carrier called Jetstar, which took to the Australian air on May 25, challenging local budget carrier Virgin Blue, which controls about 30 percent of the domestic market.
Qantas posts record annual profit thanks to surge in passengers
(APW_ENG_20040819.0039)
1) Qantas profits soared to a record 648.8 million Australian dollars (US$463.8 million, euro 376 million) in the past fiscal year, thanks to rising passenger numbers despite fears of Iraq war-related terrorism and the aftermath of the SARS virus, Australia's flag carrier reported Thursday.
2) The result for the fiscal year ending June 30 was an improvement of nearly 90 percent from the previous year's net profit of A$343.5 million, during the height of the SARS outbreak. The past year's result was bolstered by a recovery in international passenger traffic and a rebound in domestic earnings.
3) Qantas said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange it believes it can improve on its record profit in the coming financial year, which ends June 30, 2005.
4) Qantas also said the rapid escalation in the price of crude oil is a major factor facing the airline and the aviation industry worldwide.
5) However its hedging policy, the imposition of a fuel surcharge in May and the opportunity to increase the surcharge if oil prices continue to escalate, would provide a "cushion" for the group in the 2005 fiscal year.
6) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the record profit was achieved in difficult conditions.
7) "The group responded extremely well to the myriad challenges it has faced over the past 12 months," he said.
8) He said the main drivers of the fiscal 2004 year were a gradual recovery in international aviation. The international flying industry has been hit in recent years by a sluggish global economy and fears generated by the aircraft hijacks in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on the United States.
9) On domestic routes, earnings increased 141.8 percent, or A$316.3 million (US$226.1 million, euro 183.3 million), while cost and efficiency savings of A$512 million (US$366 million, euro 297 million) offset a flat revenue line still recovering from the effects of the war in Iraq and SARS.
10) A further factor was the continuation of a successful fuel hedging program that partly offset jet fuel prices which were 14.1 percent higher than the previous year.
11) SARS killed 774 people around the world from over 8,000 infected. No cases were detected in Australia.
Qantas raises ticket surcharges, blaming soaring oil price
(APW_ENG_20040820.0060)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways on Friday raised the fuel surcharge it adds to domestic and international tickets, blaming the recent steep rise in oil prices.
2) From Aug. 26, the airline's domestic fuel surcharge will rise to 10 Australian dollars (US$7.24; euro 5.85) from the A$6 (US$4.34; euro 3.51) introduced in May, Qantas announced in a statement. The international surcharge rises to A$22 (US$15.93; euro 12.88) from A$15 (US$10.86; euro 8.78).
3) Qantas reported record profits for the fiscal year through June of A$648.8 million (US$469.8 million; euro 379.8 million) on Thursday, but warned that high oil prices could undermine its performance this financial year.
4) Oil prices soared through the US$48 (euro 38.80) a barrel mark late Thursday and threatened to break the US$50 (euro 40.43) barrier.
5) Before the surcharges were announced, chief executive Geoff Dixon warned they were coming.
6) "There's no way to avoid it," he told Australia's Nine Network on Friday morning. "Oil prices went up again overnight and I don't think we have any options."
7) Dixon said Qantas was concerned about the effect the surcharge could have on passenger numbers, but was not specific on a question about whether the surcharge would be removed if oil prices came down.
8) "The tickets keep going down in this industry at any rate," he said.
9) Qantas shares fell to a year low of A$3.13 (US$2.26; euro 1.83) on Thursday before recovering to close at A$3.27 (US$2.37; euro 1.91) as concerns about the effect of soaring oil prices on earnings dampened news of the airline's record earnings.
Australian flag carrier resumes flights between Australia and India
(APW_ENG_20040901.0049)
1) Qantas Airways resumed flights Wednesday between Australia and India for the first time since they were suspended in the aviation downturn that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist hijackings in the United States.
2) The Qantas Boeing 747-300 that left Sydney for the 12-hour flight was due to arrive in Bombay late Wednesday afternoon, the Australian flag carrier said. It was the first of a three times a week return service between the two cities.
3) On board the flight was former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, who is hugely popular in India, where he carries out charitable work with underprivileged children.
4) Qantas first began flying to India in 1947 with flights to Calcutta, en route to London.
5) The airline withdrew the service in the early 1990s and restarted it in 1996, but then withdrew it again in October 2002 blaming the post-9/11 downturn in travel worldwide.
6) "Qantas and India have enjoyed a long friendship so it's great to be flying there again," said Qantas head of sales Rob Gurney.
7) The new service highlights the recovery of Qantas' international operations from the impact of Sept. 11, the Iraq war and SARS, the airline said.
8) Travel between India and Australia has jumped 30 percent in the past three years.
9) "The growing trade relationship has increased demand for business travel and more people are visiting friends and relatives or coming to Australia for education," Gurney said.
10) The number of Indian citizens traveling to Australia is expected to grow by 15 percent each year to 2011, tourism authorities say. Some 54,000 Indian citizens are now traveling to Australia each year and more than 70 percent visit New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital.
Qantas confirms British Airways will sell its stake in the Australian flag carrier
(APW_ENG_20040908.0119)
1) Qantas confirmed Wednesday that British Airways plans to sell its 18.25 percent stake in Australia's flag-carrier over the next two days.
2) The stake, which British airways has held for 11 years, is expected to sell for 1.12 billion Australian dollars (US$775 million; euro 642 million).
3) Qantas requested a trading halt Wednesday to continue until the opening bell Friday, saying this would allow the market to absorb the information in an orderly fashion.
4) "British Airways has been a supportive shareholder over a period of some 10 years and both airlines have formed a strong and constructive commercial relationship," said Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon. "Neither airline now believes the shareholding is necessary for the ongoing conduct of that relationship."
5) He added, "To this extent the Joint Services Agreement that provides for joint schedules, sales and operations between Australia, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Europe will continue, as will other forms of cooperation."
6) Just last month, Australia's competition regulator approved the "kangaroo route" pricing and marketing alliance between Qantas and British Airways.
7) British Airways decision to sell its stake in Qantas won't have an impact on the joint services agreement, Dixon said.
8) A day before Qantas reported a record annual profit on Aug. 19, of A$648.8 million (US$463.8 million, euro 376 million) speculation resurfaced that British Airways wanted to sell its stake in Qantas. But Dixon sidestepped questions at the briefing, noting industry consolidation was inevitable.
9) "The tyranny of distance between Australia and the U.K. rules out such consolidations, but not cooperation between Qantas and British Airways," Dixon said. "We will, however, seek to further strengthen our commercial position to enable us to take a leading role in any suitable consolidation opportunities that may arise in the Asia Pacific region."
10) There was speculation in Australia that the British Airways sell-off could interest another airline. But analysts suggested most of the stake would be snapped up by institutional investors.
11) Singapore Airlines spokesman Stephen Forshaw said, "this is a matter between Qantas and British Airways and their bankers."
12) Ian Thomas, a senior consultant with the respected independent think tank the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, said Qantas would likely prefer to see more benign foreign shareholders rather than another airline.
13) Other possible airline suitors include one of the three major Chinese airlines or the recently merged KLMAir France which is looking for expansion opportunities in the Southern Hemisphere.
14) "There is a possibility of some sort of equity relationship but whether it is something that Qantas would go into willingly or whether it prefers to keep its shareholdings spread among a range of investors is more the issue," Thomas said. "Qantas has been clear that it wants more foreign liquidity."
15) Total foreign holdings of Qantas shares is limited under Australian law to 49 percent.
Qantas says British Airways has sold its stake in the Australian flag carrier
(APW_ENG_20040909.0048)
1) Qantas said Thursday that British Airways has sold its 18.25 percent stake in the Australian carrier at 3.28 Australian dollars (US$2.28; euro 1.87) a share to local and international investors, as speculation mounted that a Singapore government investment company snapped up some of the stock.
2) The sale price was a 1.5 percent discount on Qantas' closing price of A$3.33 (US$2.31; euro 1.90) on Tuesday, the last time shares were bought and sold before the company ordered their trade halted so the market could digest news of the British Airways sell-off.
3) Trade in Qantas shares was due to resume later Thursday.
4) While no specific details were provided about the new Qantas investors, there was widespread speculation that Singapore's state-owned investment company, Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., acquired some of the shares.
5) Qantas said it didn't know whether Temasek had acquired any shares, but said it would welcome its investment.
6) "Temasek is a major international investor and we would welcome them on our register," said Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp.
7) Temasek holds a 57 percent stake in Qantas rival Singapore Airlines Ltd. A company spokeswoman declined comment on the speculation.
8) Citigroup Inc., which handled the sale on behalf of British Airways, was reportedly instructed not to sell more than 5 percent of the carrier to any single investor.
9) British Airways "wanted a wide spread of investors, so they said no individual investor" should get more than 5 percent, a source familiar with the sale process told Dow Jones Newswires on condition of anonymity.
10) Under Australian law, investors don't have to declare their shareholding in a company if it is under 5 percent.
New Zealand's High Court rejects planned Air New Zealand-Qantas alliance
(APW_ENG_20040920.0054)
1) New Zealand's High Court on Monday rejected as uncompetitive a proposed alliance between the country's flag carrier and Australian rival Qantas in a deal that Air New Zealand had claimed was critical to its long-term survival.
2) Despite the option to appeal, Qantas said the decision all but killed the proposal and that it was time to move on.
3) The High Court upheld a New Zealand Commerce Commission's decision rejecting the proposed merger on the grounds it was anticompetitive, the airline said in a statement to the country's stock exchange.
4) Air New Zealand Chief Executive Ralph Norris said in a statement he was disappointed with the decision as the High Court had appeared to disagree with the Commerce Commission on many issues.
5) Under the proposed alliance, Qantas was to buy up to 22.5 percent of Air New Zealand for 550 million New Zealand dollars (US$363 million; euro 298 million) to enable the two operators to cooperate on all their routes between Australia and New Zealand.
6) Both Air New Zealand and Qantas said the alliance was necessary to help them cope with increasing competition within the aviation industry. Air New Zealand, which is 82-percent government owned, had said the deal was critical to its long term survival.
7) It said in a statement that, "compelling reasons for an alliance still remain with many of our predictions now a reality with ever-intensifying levels of competition in the Australasian aviation market and fares at all-time lows."
8) Since alliance talks began with Qantas over two years ago, Air New Zealand has made considerable progress turning its business around, Norris said, and a "robust platform" now exists to enable the airline to continue growing in the short to medium term.
9) But in the longer term, he said, the inherent volatility and intense competition in the industry made maintaining that growth a "considerable challenge".
10) In a statement, Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon slammed the decision.
11) "This outcome ignores both the reality of a market-distorting government ownership and intervention in the global aviation industry and the major structural changes that are occurring around the world," Dixon said, referring to the Wellington government's hefty stake in Air New Zealand.
12) And Dixon ruled out a Qantas appeal against the decision.
13) "We need to move on," he said.
14) Dixon said Qantas would hold talks with Air New Zealand about possible opportunities to work together without contravening competition law _ including establishing joint maintenance facilities.
15) The New Zealand government also said it was disappointed with the decision.
16) "As shareholding minister I had hoped for a different outcome," Finance Minister Michael Cullen said. "The government has always indicated that it will abide by the court's decision and it has no intention of attempting to overturn it."
17) Air New Zealand has 20 working days to appeal Monday's decision.
18) Commerce Commission chair Paula Rebstock said the decision preserved competition in the aviation market.
19) "This is an important decision that preserves competition in the airline market that New Zealand consumers have been benefiting from, and will continue to benefit from in the future," she said.
Australia's Qantas launches Singapore-based no-frills carrier amid competition, rising fuel prices
(APW_ENG_20040929.0108)
1) Qantas launched a Singapore-based no-frills airline Wednesday and vowed to remain "standing at the end" of the region's budget airline war, despite entering an already crowded market as fuel prices surge to record levels.
2) The 100 million Singapore dollar (US$58 million; euro 47.86 million) Jetstar Asia will commence flying within 10 weeks _ ahead of the Christmas holiday season _ to destinations within 5 hours of Singapore, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said.
3) The airline's launch comes as the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, warned earlier this week that high fuel costs will cause airlines to bleed heavily. It predicts carriers could lose between US$3 billion to US$4 billion this year alone.
4) Crude prices hit a record US$50.47 per barrel Tuesday _ up 75 percent from a year ago.
5) "We will be affected like every other airline in the world," said Dixon. "We're starting at a time when oil is at a record level...We'll be alright with that."
6) Jetstar Asia will begin operations with four silver, black and orange Airbus A320s and plans are afoot for more when its routes begin taking shape.
7) It is the latest in a slew of Asia-based budget airlines.
8) Singapore's Valuair and Singapore Airlines-owned Tiger Airways, Thailand's Nok Air and Indonesia's Lion Air all joined pioneer AirAsia from Malaysia in a fight for the budget market.
9) Low fares have also forced other carriers like Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways to respond with cheap deals and promotional fares.
10) Dixon declined to reveal Jetstar Asia's destinations but airline chief executive Con Korfiatis said they would be announced over the next few weeks.
11) "What I can tell you is that we will be standing at the end of it," said Dixon. "Maybe we'll see how everyone else destroys themselves...It's not always good to be first," he said when asked why Qantas lagged behind its rivals in launching the airline.
12) Qantas owns 49 percent of the airline while the Singapore government investment arm Temasek Holdings controls 19 percent. Two other businessmen from the island nation, Tony Chew and FF Wong, hold the remaining stakes.
13) Temasek is a majority shareholder in Qantas' rival Singapore Airlines _ which Dixon announced Wednesday had taken a three percent stake in the Australian carrier _ but brushed aside any talk of a conflict of interest from Temasek.
14) Cash-rich Temasek is headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's wife Ho Ching and has invested heavily across Asia.
15) Chew and Wong held key stakes in Myanmar Airways International and divested their interest in the late 1980s.
Aviation authority to investigate claims Qantas preparing strike busters
(APW_ENG_20041020.0050)
1) Australian aviation officials will investigate allegations that national carrier Qantas is preparing a strike-busting work force to take over if flight attendants launch a strike during the busy Christmas holiday, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said Wednesday.
2) The Flight Attendants Association of Australia filed a complaint with the aviation authority, saying that more than 300 flight attendants were being employed on short-term contracts ahead of the opening of Qantas' new London base next year, CASA said Wednesday.
3) FAAA claims Qantas Airlines Ltd is training the new short-term staff to step in if union members strike over the carrier's plans to move 400 international flight attendant jobs to London starting in June next year, a move it announced last June.
4) CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said the allegations center on the courses run for the new recruits, and a leaked internal e-mail, that the students were being rushed through the training to have them ready in time, an allegation the authority has so far found to be unproven.
5) "We in fact carried out an audit of the cabin crew training last week and we didn't find any problems," Gibson told The Associated Press. "We found that Qantas is meeting the appropriate standard for training, courses were appropriately structured, as far as we're concerned CASA has no problem with the courses, but given the union has raised the allegations, and has internal correspondence, we'll certainly look into it."
6) Qantas has said it would save 18 million Australian dollars (US$13 million) annually from the decision. The airline said no jobs would be cut and the positions would be offered to existing crew first.
7) But the union claimed the move undermines attendants' job security, giving them grounds to strike once their collective bargaining agreement with Qantas expires in December this year.
8) The union is yet to submit the leaked e-mail to CASA for investigation, Gibson said.
9) News reports said the e-mail came from the head of Qantas' flight operations training, Capt. David Coates, who quoted emergency procedure instructor Robert Ford's concern that the students were being rushed through the training.
10) Qantas rejected the claim.
11) "Obviously it's disappointing that an internal document has been leaked but one shouldn't read too much into this because at Qantas we have always encouraged strong debate," said Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti.
12) "All the issues that were raised in that e-mail ... have been fully investigated and fully complied with the requirements," he said.
Qantas chief vows not to let striking workers ground the airline
(APW_ENG_20041021.0223)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. chief executive Geoff Dixon vowed Thursday not to let a possible strike by cabin crew ground the Australian flag-carrier during its busy Christmas holiday season.
2) Dixon was speaking at the airline's annual shareholder meeting in the eastern city of Brisbane amid fears that long-haul cabin staff would strike to protest a move by the carrier to base some of their jobs overseas to save money.
3) The airline chief told shareholders that whatever the union representing cabin crew decides, "we will and we must have contingency plans in place."
4) The Flight Attendants Association of Australia has formally protested Qantas' moves to train extra staff for the Christmas period, saying the new workers are being trained as strike breakers.
5) "I hope there will be no industrial action, but we will ensure that we can fly our passengers and protect our business whatever happens," Dixon said. "We are in no way ashamed of what we are doing as the international cabin crew union believe we should be. Nor do we consider, as further alleged by the union, that it is 'un-Australian' to try and drive efficiencies through our company that will do much to protect our future."
6) Dixon said the airline's plan to establish a new cabin crew base in London would contribute more than 18 million Australian dollars (US$13 million; euro 10.3 million) a year in savings.
7) "That said, the overwhelming majority of our cabin crew will still be based in Australia," he added.
8) Dixon got a boost later Thursday when Prime Minister John Howard said he understood why Qantas was taking such action.
9) "The airline business is a very competitive business and the prospect of the company not being able to fly during such a peak load period would be quite threatening," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television. "I could therefore understand the company taking action to make sure it can keep its airline going."
10) Qantas is one of the world's most profitable airlines, but is feeling the pinch from soaring oil prices _ recently imposing and then increasing a fuel surcharge on all tickets.
11) Dixon's speech did not contain any profit forecasts or refer to other industry issues such as regional competition or soaring fuel prices.
Report: Qantas plans to spend billions upgrading its long-haul fleet
(APW_ENG_20041026.0026)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. plans to spend US$4 billion (euro 2.3 billion) replacing its aging fleet of Boeing 747 jets with more modern planes, a newspaper reported Tuesday, citing the airline's chief financial officer.
2) The Australian Financial Review said the move was intended to improve efficiency and counter intense competition from Qantas' rivals.
3) The paper said Qantas is considering replacing its 24 Boeing 747s with Boeing's 777 or Airbus A340 jets. Both of those planes would allow Qantas to fly nonstop to Europe, the Middle East and the United States from parts of Australia, reducing fuel costs and landing fees.
4) The Financial Review said Qantas was expected to make a decision on which planes to buy in the first half of next year and cited unnamed sources as saying the first new planes could arrive in Australia in 2006.
5) The paper quoted Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg as saying any purchases would be paid for through the airline's cash flow and existing debt.
6) Qantas did not immediately comment on the report Tuesday.
Australia to push Singapore for more air traffic access
(APW_ENG_20050120.0240)
1) Australia's transport minister said Thursday he will press for greater access to European markets by local airlines such as Qantas Airways Ltd. when he meets Singapore government officials next month.
2) Because of the vast distance between Europe and Australia, commercial airlines cannot offer direct flights. Access restrictions to major airport hubs such as Singapore hinder Australian airlines' ability to offer services to Europe.
3) Transport Minister John Anderson, also Australia's deputy prime minister, has previously said his Cabinet colleagues are "amenable" to meeting Singapore Airlines Ltd.'s long-standing request that it be permitted to launch direct flights between the east coast of Australia and the United States.
4) The trans-Pacific leg is one of Australian flagship carrier Qantas' most lucrative, competing only against UAL Corp.'s United Airlines.
5) But Anderson said Thursday there are still "a number of issues to be considered" before Australia is prepared to permit Singapore Airlines to fly trans-Pacific routes.
6) "These issues include traffic rights for Qantas and other Australian carriers to access the United Kingdom and European markets," Anderson said in a statement.
7) Singapore and Canberra expanded bilateral links in September 2003, but stopped short of signing an open skies agreement that would have given Singapore Airlines unfettered access to trans-Pacific routes, as Qantas wanted to see the airline industry recover before such a deal.
8) An open skies arrangement will be back on the agenda at next month's talks.
9) Earlier Thursday, Qantas said Thursday its pretax profit for the current fiscal year ending June 30 is expected to surpass the previous year's 964.6 million Australian dollars (US$734.4 million; euro564.5 million).
Qantas overhaul may result in job cuts, newspaper says
(APW_ENG_20050301.0056)
1) Australia's largest airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., could cut as many as 3,000 jobs _ 10 percent of its work force _ in the next two years in streamlining aimed at boosting profits, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
2) But the airline said it was too early to speculate whether the overhaul, launched last month, would result in large job losses.
3) The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported Tuesday that the airline plans to cut as much as 10 percent of its 30,000-strong work force over the next two years to slash costs and boost productivity.
4) The newspaper said the company also is reviewing whether to sell off its subsidiary operations Qantas Holidays and Qantas Catering, and may consider closing or selling its information technology divisions.
5) Qantas, one of the world's most profitable carriers, launched a three-month operational review last month amid increased likelihood of competition from overseas airlines on key international routes.
6) The company said the review would "focus on processes that can be removed or redesigned."
7) A spokesman for the airline said it was too early to say whether the review would result in job losses or the sale of its assets.
8) The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Qantas was forced to undertake the review in the face of growing competition from government-owned airlines overseas and higher oil prices.
Singapore Airlines hopeful of winning access to lucrative Australia-U.S route
(APW_ENG_20050315.0135)
1) Singapore Airlines' chief executive said Tuesday he was hopeful the carrier would reach an agreement this week with the Australian government to get access to the lucrative route between Australia and the United States.
2) But a spokesman for Australian Transport Minister John Anderson said no decision has yet been taken on whether to allow the Asian airline to fly the route, which is currently dominated by Australian carrier Qantas.
3) Anderson and Singapore Airlines' Chew Choon Seng were due to hold talks Wednesday.
4) Singapore Airlines has long sought an open skies agreement with Australia that would ease air restrictions between the two countries and allow the state-run carrier to compete with Qantas on direct routes across the Pacific Ocean from Australia.
5) Qantas derives around 15 percent of its net profit from the Australia-U.S. route and controls about 75 percent of market share. Qantas currently shares the trans-Pacific route only with U.S. carrier United Airlines.
6) Qantas opposes the open skies proposal saying it does not give the Australian carrier reciprocal access to European destinations via Singapore.
7) In Sydney Tuesday, Chew said he hoped to get "a reaffirmation of principles and a broad agreement" on the deal from Anderson during talks scheduled for Wednesday in Canberra.
8) Chew was at Sydney Airport to unveil a large-scale model of Airbus' new super-jumbo, the A380, which Singapore Airlines will add to its fleet mid-next year. He predicted his airline would be flying between Australia and the United States within 12 to 18 months, and said the A380 would eventually be used to service the route.
9) A spokesman for Anderson said on customary condition of anonymity that no decision had been made on whether to allow Singapore Airlines to fly the Qantas-dominated route.
10) Anderson "doesn't have a firm view on the matter yet and, in the end, it will be a Cabinet decision and he is one member of Cabinet," the spokesman said. "It's too early to give an answer."
11) Anderson has previously said a decision will depend on the success of Australia's negotiations with the European Union to get more access for Australian carriers to European cities via Singapore.
Qantas announces fuel surcharge hike
(APW_ENG_20050408.0219)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas said Friday it will nearly double its fuel surcharge for most international flights to help cover an extra 1 billion Australian dollars (US$770 million; euro596 million) bill for fuel.
2) For tickets issued starting April 20, Qantas Airways Ltd.'s international surcharge will rise A$29 (US$22; euro17) to A$60 (US$46; euro36) for each leg of the journey. Its surcharge for travel between Australia and New Zealand will go up by A$11 (US$8; euro6) to A$40 (US$31; euro24).
3) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon estimated that the airline will spend about A$1 billion (US$770 million; euro596 million) more on fuel in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, than in the current year because of the current historically high fuel prices.
4) Despite fuel hedging and increased surcharges, Qantas said in a statement it still faces a A$400 million (US$300; euro237) shortfall on its fuel bill. The company is considering other cost cutting measures.
5) "In an environment of historically low airfares, we are looking very closely at all aspects of our business to find ways in which we can achieve further efficiencies," Dixon said in the statement.
6) For domestic flights in Australia and New Zealand, the fuel surcharge will increase by A$8 (US$6; euro5) to A$20 (US$15; euro12).
7) Qantas' discount domestic carrier Jetstar will increase its surcharge by A$9 (US$7; euro5) to A$19 (US$15; euro11).
8) Qantas rival Virgin Blue announced a rise in fuel surcharges Thursday.
Qantas to seek compensation from Airbus over six-month delay in A380 delivery
(APW_ENG_20050601.0283)
1) Australia's national flag-carrier airline Qantas said Wednesday that delivery of its first new Airbus A380 plane has been delayed by six months "as a result of manufacturing issues."
2) Qantas Airways Ltd. chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement the carrier now will not take delivery of the first of 12 new "superjumbo" planes it has ordered from European aircraft maker Airbus SAS until April 2007.
3) "This is disappointing, given that we have met all of Airbus' deadlines for Qantas specifications," Dixon said. "However, we are developing contingency plans to ensure there is no impact on our schedules or available capacity during the six month delay."
4) Qantas will seek compensation from Airbus for the delay, the carrier said.
5) "We will be working closely with Airbus to ensure the new deadline is met," Dixon said.
6) Dixon did not elaborate on the manufacturing issues behind the delay, and said that all airlines with early A380 orders were going to have to wait.
Australia still mulling Singapore Airlines access to Australia-U.S. route, Singapore says
(APW_ENG_20050616.0150)
1) Australia's move to deny Singapore Airlines access to the lucrative U.S.-Australia air route was not permanent, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said Thursday, claiming that his Australian counterpart told him Canberra needs more time to study the option.
2) Australia's Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson met Tan Wednesday, and conveyed the Australian government's decision not to allow state-linked Singapore Airlines Ltd. the right to fly between the United States and Australia.
3) Currently, that route is flown only by Australia's flagship airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., and United Airlines, owned by Elk Grove Village, Illinois-based UAL Corp. Qantas controls 75 percent of market share on the Australia-U.S. route, from which it derives around 15 percent of its net profit.
4) Singaporean and Australian officials have been in discussions for the last six months to conclude a "road map" by June that would eventually grant Singapore Airlines _ majority-owned by the city-state's investment arm, Temasek Holdings _the right to fly between Australia's east coast to the U.S. west coast.
5) The two nations have signed a free trade agreement, but have stopped short of a so-called open-skies agreement that would have given Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific route.
6) "Mr. Anderson first of all confirmed that it is not true, and I repeat, not true, that Australia has decided to postpone the open skies agreement discussions indefinitely," Tan was reported as saying by local media Thursday.
7) "If as Mr. Anderson said they need more time to complete the study and today is already June 15, the prospects of them completing their study within the next two weeks are fairly minimal," he said.
8) Singaporean officials claim that Australia is protecting Qantas from competition _ a charge Qantas denies.
9) "Qantas is one of the least protected airlines in the world, it has maintained profitability and had relative success while competing against a multitude of subsidised and government-owned airlines," Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement late Wednesday.
10) Qantas continues to be in talks with Canberra "about a range of issues distorting international competition," the statement said.
Qantas Airways says not considering merger with Singapore Airlines
(APW_ENG_20050620.0191)
1) Australia's largest airline Qantas Airways said Monday it is not considering a merger with Singapore Airlines, despite the Australian trade minister raising the prospect.
2) The Australian newspaper reported Trade Minister Mark Vaile had backed a merger between the airline rivals.
3) "We understand the minister was talking about a hypothetical situation," Qantas said in a statement. "Consolidation is already happening in other areas of the world and we support moves to allow consolidation in this region."
4) "However we have no plans on the table for consideration," Qantas added.
5) Qantas last week won a reprieve from the Australian government over Singapore Airline's bid to compete on the lucrative route between Australia and the U.S. west coast. Singapore Airlines was denied access after the Australian government found the timing was not right to allow increased competition.
6) Vaile told the newspaper Australia should not rule out the possibility of a merger between Qantas and Singapore Airlines.
7) "My view is if (a merger) could occur then the government should not rule that out," Vaile told the newspaper for its Monday edition. "Quite frankly, that is the direction that international aviation is moving in."
8) No more than 49 percent of the former state-run carrier is allowed to be foreign owned, but its managers have long lobbied Canberra for that restriction to be dropped.
9) Vaile said Qantas is facing serious commercial challenges and the government "needed to ensure Qantas isn't exposed to unfair competition."
10) Singapore Airlines spokesman Stephen Forshaw said such a merger was unlikely and that it would not be in passengers' interests.
11) "The proposal for Qantas and Singapore Airlines to merge, as outlined by the Australian Trade Minister, and welcomed by Qantas, will do nothing to satisfy consumers who want more competition and choice on the trans-Pacific route," he said.
Singapore Airlines not permanently barred from trans-Pacific route: Australia PM
(APW_ENG_20050622.0149)
1) The government has not completely rejected Singapore Airlines' bid to compete on the trans-Pacific route between Australia and the United States, Australia's prime minister said Wednesday.
2) Last week Canberra told Singapore Airlines Ltd. it was not yet time to increase competition on the lucrative route. On Wednesday, Prime Minister John Howard said he had told his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong that the government was still considering the issue.
3) The matter needs to be looked at "in the context of overall aviation policy, including the question of whether Singapore Airlines and (Australian flagship carrier) Qantas were to remain as separate companies for an indefinite period of time," Howard said, referring to media reports that the airlines might merge.
4) Qantas and Singapore Airlines denied this week that a merger was in the works.
5) "The idea that we have shut the door permanently on some kind of accommodation (on the trans-Pacific route) in relation to Singapore Airlines is not correct," he added. "The issue is certainly not going to be the subject of a decision in the next few weeks, but the whole question has not been finally taken off the table either."
6) Qantas, which was once state-owned, currently commands a 75 percent share of the Sydney-Los Angeles route. United Airlines, owned by Illinois-based UAL Corp., has the remainder.
7) The deliberations include whether Qantas' foreign ownership cap should remain in place, he said.
8) Federal legislation prevents total foreign ownership in Qantas from exceeding 49 percent, with no single foreign entity allowed to hold more than 25 percent. Foreign airlines as a group are barred from owning more than 35 percent.
9) British Airways last year sold its 18.25 percent stake in Qantas for about 1.1 billion Australian dollars (US$766 million; euro624 million). The stock was snapped up by several domestic and international investors, including Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings.
10) In addition to its Qantas stake, Temasek owns 56.8 percent of Singapore Airlines.
11) Qantas has repeatedly called on the government to dismantle the foreign ownership restrictions, arguing that the company is being hindered by outdated regulations and an uneven playing field.
12) Australia and free trade partner Singapore deepened aviation links in 2003, but stopped short of an open-skies agreement that would have given Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific route.
Qantas boss expects future alliance with another carrier
(APW_ENG_20050626.0111)
1) Australian flag carrier Qantas likely will form some kind of alliance with another airline in the future, Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon said Sunday.
2) "I think that we will be in some association with another carrier," he told Australian television's Nine Network. "I think that will become necessary."
3) Dixon declined to identify a likely partner and said the Qantas brand name would remain even if it ties up with another carrier.
4) "I've always said I believe Singapore Airlines are a wonderful carrier, have a tremendous brand, tremendous track record," Dixon said, responding to recent speculation about a possible merger between Qantas Airways Ltd. and its Singapore rival.
5) "Yes, they would be a lovely partner but so would British Airways, so would Cathay Pacific, so would a lot of carriers out there," he added. "So would Air New Zealand, which was literally taken away from us."
6) Qantas and Air New Zealand's proposed alliance was vetoed in 2003 by New Zealand's competition watchdog, which said it would be anticompetitive.
7) Dixon said he supports a relaxing of a foreign ownership cap in Qantas, which currently allows single foreign airlines to own no more than 25 percent of its stock and limits overall foreign ownership to 49 percent of the carrier.
8) "We would like to be like every other company in Australia _ all the restrictions moved," he said.
9) Dixon also said Qantas has no immediate plans to lift its fuel surcharge as world oil prices surge.
10) "We have not made a decision in the pipeline for that at all," he said. "It's tough, at US$60 a barrel, but we have no immediate plans."
11) Qantas currently slaps a 20 Australian dollar (US$15.39; euro12.74) fuel levy on all domestic tickets and A$60 (US$46.17; euro38.21) for international routes.
12) "We are not confident that oil prices will go down dramatically in the next two or three years so the way we structure our business going forward has got to take into account that we are going to have high oil prices for quite a long time," he said.
13) Dixon said Qantas will wait three or four months to see where the oil price is headed before reviewing the possibility of lifting its fuel surcharge.
14) "But look, if things got very, very tough and it became a competitive issue obviously we will have to look at it," he said.
Qantas to resume flights from Australia to Beijing
(APW_ENG_20050629.0303)
1) Hoping to cash in on China's booming economy and demand for travel to the host of the 2008 summer Olympics, Australia's Qantas Airways will begin flying between Sydney and Beijing in January after a six year hiatus.
2) Initially the airline will offer three flights a week to Beijing, but this will be bumped up to daily within two years, Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti said Wednesday.
3) Qantas will also increase the frequency of its Sydney to Shanghai service from the current three flights a week to four in November, increasing to daily within two years, Borghetti said.
4) "Travel between China and Australia has increased more than 40 percent in the past three years and is expected to grow a further 20 percent in the next 12 months," Borghetti said in a statement.
5) The increase in the number of travelers between the two countries was a result of "the growing trade relations between Australia and China and increasing demand for leisure travel in both directions," he said.
6) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said last week he was seeking rights to fly to the United Kingdom via China, India and Hong Kong.
7) Dixon said he understood bilateral talks between Australia and Britain last week had been "difficult."
Singapore Airlines CEO says aviation industry is due for consolidation
(APW_ENG_20050710.0069)
1) Singapore Airlines chief executive Chew Choon Seng said Sunday the global airline industry needs to consolidate as soaring oil prices continue to hit profits.
2) He noted Singapore Airlines and Qantas are discussing sharing maintenance facilities for the new Airbus 380 super jumbo, which both carriers plan to fly.
3) "It makes sense that neither of us duplicate facilities but rather put our heads together and see where we can have joint efforts and share facilities and thereby spread costs," Chew told the Nine Network's Business Sunday program.
4) Singapore's Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong told the program that a merger between Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways remains unlikely under present regulatory conditions.
5) "I don't see the two airlines agreeing to a merger at this point of time because there are many, many issues to be discussed," Yeo said.
6) Last month, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the carrier likely would form an alliance with an overseas carrier in the future, and named Singapore Airlines among possible partners.
7) Dixon supports relaxing a foreign ownership cap in Qantas, which currently allows single foreign airlines to own no more than 25 percent of its stock and limits overall foreign ownership to 49 percent of the carrier.
8) Singapore Airlines, Asia's largest carrier by market capitalization, said in May its net profit hit a record 1.389 billion Singapore dollars in its financial year ending March 31, despite spiking jet fuel prices and rising competition from Asia's growing number of budget carriers.
Australia's Qantas Airways reports year-end results up 18 percent to A$763.6 million
(APW_ENG_20050818.0208)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday reported a better-than-expected 18 percent rise in net profit to 763.6 million Australian dollars (US$580.2 million; euro471.86 million) for the year to June 30, but warned it will have to slash jobs as it battles soaring fuel prices this year.
2) Sales rose 11 percent in 2005 to A$12.65 billion (US$9.6 billion; euro7.81 billion) from A$11.35 billion last year.
3) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the "extraordinary" cost of fuel would lead to lower profits in fiscal 2006.
4) "While further reforms in the business are underway, and coupled with the high fuel price, we do not expect to achieve the same levels of profitability in the current financial year," Dixon said in the statement.
5) Dixon also announced that a cost-cutting program, known as Sustainable Future, will be extended for two years.
6) Initially planned as a three-year A$1.5 billion (US$1.12 billion; euro910 million) savings drive, the CEO said the program will find another A$1.5 billion (US$1.12 billion; euro910 million) of savings in the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years.
7) "This will involve some very difficult decisions," Dixon said.
8) Dixon said Qantas was preparing to cut staff levels, but declined to specify by how much.
9) "There will be job losses," he said at a press conference. "I'm not going to put a percentage on it, we are having meetings this afternoon, I'll be talking to managers tomorrow, and we have put a notice out to staff today."
10) Dixon said the company, which has around 38,000 employees, 93 percent of whom work in Australia, would consider sending jobs overseas if it would enhance the company's profitability.
11) "We are looking at everything as far as transforming the company, we will do what is best for our people, for our shareholders, and the viability of Qantas," he told reporters.
12) Sustainable Future delivered A$545 million (US$414 million; euro336.69 million) in savings in 2005 fiscal year, including labor savings of A$150 million (US$114 million; euro92.71 million) and A$279 million (US$212 million; euro172.41 million) in fleet, product and overhead initiatives.
13) Also Thursday, Qantas' main rival for domestic passengers, Virgin Blue, said oil prices were eating into its profits.
14) Virgin said in a statement its net profit will be between $90 million and $100 million for its 2004-05 financial year, compared to the $159 million net profit booked in the previous corresponding period.
15) Virgin said Thursday its annual net profit will be between A$90 million (US$68.4 million; euro55.63 million) and A$100 million (US$76 million; euro61.81 million) for its current fiscal year to the end of September, down from A$159 million (US$121 million; euro98.41 million) in the previous corresponding period.
Qantas jet evacuated after emergency landing in Osaka due to indication of smoke in hold
(APW_ENG_20050821.0121)
1) A Qantas jet carrying 178 passengers and 13 crew made an emergency landing and was evacuated at Japan's Osaka airport in the early hours of Sunday after a signal indicated there was smoke in its cargo hold, the carrier said.
2) Nine people _ including six Japanese, two Australians and one Chinese _ were injured as they evacuated the Airbus A330 plane by sliding down chutes, said David Cox, executive general manager for engineering and maintenance at Qantas Airways Ltd.
3) Cox said all of the injured passengers, except one Japanese woman who received fractures, had been discharged from hospital.
4) "The evacuation systems are designed to get people off, in fact, within 90 seconds, and that means they are going to go down those slides very, very quickly," he told reporters in Sydney. "And there is the risk of minor injuries."
5) The plane was on its way from Tokyo to the western Australian city of Perth when it diverted to Osaka.
6) "The Osaka Control Tower reported smoke on landing so an emergency evacuation was declared as a precaution and emergency slides deployed," Qantas said in an earlier statement.
7) "Early inspections have shown no sign of smoke or fire, and Qantas believes a faulty reading from one of the cargo sensors may have caused the smoke indication," said the carrier, which prides itself on its safety record.
8) Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted an unidentified passenger as saying the pilot had told passengers an hour and 40 minutes after takeoff that the plane would return to Japan due to instrument glitches and that when the plane landed, it was dark inside
9) Cox said Japanese safety investigators had quarantined the aircraft and Qantas engineers were on their way to assist in investigating the accident.
10) A Qantas aircraft would be sent to Osaka by Monday to enable passengers to continue their journey, Cox said.
Qantas Airways announces rise in fuel surcharges
(APW_ENG_20050823.0244)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. will next month increase its fuel surcharges for the fifth time since May 2004 because of the rising cost of oil, the Australian carrier announced Tuesday.
2) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the decision was made reluctantly but that the volatility of current and future oil and jet fuel prices was a serious issue for all airlines.
3) "At current prices, the Qantas fuel bill will rise by more than 1.25 billion Australian dollars (US$945 million; euro772 million) this year," Dixon said in a statement.
4) Hedging and surcharges would continue to partially offset the cost, but the airline expected a A$650 million (US$492 million; euro401 million) shortfall this fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, the statement said.
5) After instituting a fuel surcharge in May last year, Qantas increased it in August and October and then in April this year.
6) The latest surcharge will mean Qantas domestic travelers will pay A$26 (US$20; euro16) per sector, up from A$20 (US$15; euro13), and the cost to international travelers will climb to A$75 (US$57; euro46) from A$60 (US$45; euro37).
Singapore Airlines: No merger with Qantas until Australia opens U.S. route to competition
(APW_ENG_20051118.0106)
1) Singapore Airlines on Friday dismissed talk of a potential merger with Qantas, saying the issue could only be considered if the Australian government allows greater competition on the prized trans-Pacific route to the United States.
2) On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard threw his weight behind the idea of a merger between two of Asia's biggest _ and most profitable _ airlines after a meeting with counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
3) "This issue has already been discussed and debated extensively in recent months," said Singapore Airlines Ltd. spokesman Stephen Forshaw. "We've said all along that for mergers to happen, there needs to be considerable regulatory liberalization. It is an idea ahead of its time."
4) Canberra is considering whether Singapore Airlines should be granted the right to pick up passengers in either Melbourne or Sydney for travel onward to Los Angeles.
5) Currently, Sydney-Los Angeles is flown only by Qantas and United Airlines. Qantas Airways Ltd. controls 75 percent of the market share on the Australia-U.S. route, from which it derives around 15 percent of its net profit.
6) "Qantas and Singapore Airlines are competitors and that means consumers win from having choice. We think there are more opportunities to compete, for example on the Australia-U.S.A. route," Forshaw said.
7) Forshaw said the airline would only consider collaborating on noncommercial matters "such as maintenance" with Qantas at this time.
8) Howard and Lee discussed the merger issue in the broader context of the current open skies pact between the nations, who are free trade partners.
9) Australia's ongoing aviation policy review, due by the end of the year, includes a possible easing of foreign ownership restrictions on Qantas and whether the carrier might eventually merge with Singapore Airlines, majority owned by the government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings.
Qantas says it will launch international version of Jetstar budget domestic carrier
(APW_ENG_20051208.0121)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday it will launch an international version of its budget domestic carrier Jetstar next year, with an initial fleet of 10 planes flying to Asia-Pacific destinations.
2) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the new carrier later would expand to fly to Europe and other regions around the world.
3) "At all times Jetstars international services will complement Qantas mainline international operations, with an emphasis on inbound and outbound leisure routes," he said.
4) Dixon said the Qantas board would meet next week to discuss plans to expand its fleet.
5) "This meeting is expected to discuss and approve major aircraft purchases, including the new aircraft for Jetstars international operations," he said.
6) Dixon said Qantas expects that within five years Jetstar would be operating a fleet of 60 narrow and wide body aircraft across its domestic and international network.
7) "However, this expansion will not be in any way at the expense of the Qantas full service domestic and international operations," he added. "Our aim for the group is to expand in our traditional markets with Qantas and to expand in new markets with the most suitable product, be it Qantas or Jetstar."
8) Jetstar took to the Australian skies in May 2004 to compete with British tycoon Richard Branson's cut-rate domestic carrier Virgin Blue. It offers unreserved seating, food only if purchased, smaller than normal seats and reduced spaces between rows.
Singapore Airlines rejects Australian prime minister's claim it is subsidized
(APW_ENG_20051209.0320)
1) Singapore Airlines Ltd. on Friday rejected Australian Prime Minister John Howard's claim that the airline is subsidized by the Singaporean government.
2) "Singapore Airlines does not, and never has, received subsidy from the government of Singapore. That's just Qantas' spin, which isn't backed by fact," SIA spokesman Stephen Forshaw said.
3) He said SIA, which is 57 percent owned by Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, pays commercial landing fees and taxes in line with the company tax rate in Singapore.
4) He said the airline "plays by exactly the same rules as any other company incorporated and based in Singapore, including Qantas' own subsidiary, Jetstar Asia."
5) "The airline that benefits financially the most from support from government is Qantas, because of its protection from competition on the Australia-USA route. That protection effectively amounts to a hidden subsidy," he added.
6) Howard earlier Friday told Southern Cross radio in Australia that airlines will likely have to wait until 2006 for a decision on allowing competition on the trans-Pacific route, which provides more than 10 percent of Qantas' profit.
7) "One of the arguments people put against it is that whereas Qantas is operating as a fully independent, freestanding company without any government support or subsidy, that is not always the case with foreign airlines, including Singapore Airlines," Howard said.
8) SIA has lobbied for access to the trans-Pacific route as it seeks to increase revenue while battling high fuel costs and increased competition on regional routes from low-cost carriers.
9) Qantas enjoys a 75 percent share of the lucrative Sydney-Los Angeles route, competing only with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines.
Qantas orders 45 new Boeing 787 aircraft in major fleet renewal
(APW_ENG_20051214.1356)
1) Australian flag-carrier Qantas has ordered 45 Boeing 787 passenger jets and said it might order as many as 70 more in a multibillion-dollar deal to renew its fleet.
2) "This is a very, very big commitment by Qantas to growth," Qantas Airways Ltd. chief executive Geoff Dixon told, saying Qantas had negotiated "an extremely competitive contract" with Boeing.
3) Boeing's list price for the 787 is $130 million (euro108 million), making 45 planes worth $5.85 billion (euro4.9 billion).
4) The Chicago-based company, which does not count options or purchase agreements toward the list-price value of its plane orders, said it was finalizing an agreement that for 45 planes, with options for 20 more, plus purchase rights for an additional 50.
5) Qantas will start taking delivery of the 787s in 2008, the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
6) "Our relationship with Qantas dates to the very start of the jet age, and we're thrilled to see that relationship continue with the 787," Alan R. Mulally, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in the statement.
7) The announcement was a blow to Boeing's European rival, Airbus, which had also been lobbying Qantas to buy its planes.
8) Airbus spokesman David Voskuhl expressed disappointment with the Qantas decision to buy the 787 but said the "flagship of their fleet" would be the A380.
9) "We respect the airline's decision," Voskuhl said. "We would certainly have liked to win, but they have decided in favor of the 787 and we would certainly not criticize that."
10) The Airbus A350, a planned long-range competitor to the Dreamliner, is set to enter service in 2010, two years after the Boeing plane. Neither Qantas nor the rival aircraft makers indicated whether delivery schedules were an important factor in the decision.
11) Qantas is one of 16 airlines that have ordered Airbus' newest plane, the A380 superjumbo, which will become the world's largest passenger jet when it enters service next year. Earlier this year, Airbus angered Qantas and other customers when it announced some A380 deliveries would be delayed.
12) "This fleet plan will give us a modern fleet offering maximum flexibility, lower seat mile costs and greater fuel efficiency," Jackson said in a statement.
13) Investors approved of the announcement, sending Qantas stock soaring 3.2 percent to close at $2.91.
14) The announcement signals that Qantas will not begin flying nonstop between Sydney and destinations like London. The company had talked to both Boeing and Airbus about buying planes capable of making the flight without a refueling stop.
15) Qantas said it had sought tenders from Airbus and Boeing for ultra-long range variants of the Airbus A340 and Boeing 777 as part of its current fleet renewal plan.
16) "However, neither the B777 nor the A340 provide an economical solution to our desire to have some of our services overfly midpoint hubs," Dixon said. "We will continue to talk to Airbus and Boeing on further developing the options for longer-range aircraft."
17) Last week, Qantas announced its domestic budget carrier, Jetstar, would begin international flights by early 2007.
18) The company said Wednesday some of the newly ordered 787s would go to Jetstar and others to Qantas. Jetstar will fly four A330-200s internationally until it takes delivery of the 787s, officials said.
19) Dixon said the new carrier later would expand to fly to Europe and other regions around the world.
20) According to its Web site, Qantas currently operates 201 aircraft, including Boeing 747s, 767s, 737s and 717s, Airbus A330s and A320s, Bombardier Dash 8s and British Aerospace 146s.
21) The company flew 32.7 million passengers in the year to June 30, including 9.4 million on international routes.
Qantas says it has no plans to increase fuel surcharge
(APW_ENG_20060219.0121)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. has no plans to increase its fuel surcharges despite soaring oil prices, its chief executive said Sunday.
2) Geoff Dixon said the company aimed to meet its future expenditure commitments and profit projections with a fuel cost of US$60 a barrel. "What we're trying to do is make sure the company is able to manage at about a US$60 a barrel price," he told the Nine television network. "That is the challenge we have got ahead of us, I suppose."
3) Qantas has raised the levy three times since first introducing fuel surcharges in May 2004 to help offset rising costs. Last week, the national carrier said the high cost of fuel continued to have a substantial impact on performance as it reported a 9.6 percent drop in half-year earnings. Net profit fell to 352.6 million Australian dollars (US$260.4 million; euro218.75 million) during the six months through December from A$390.2 million during the same period a year before.
Qantas to cut 480 maintenance jobs in Sydney by May
(APW_ENG_20060309.0208)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday it would keep its maintenance operations in Australia for now, but announced plans to close its engineering plant in Sydney and cut 480 jobs by May as part of a major cost-cutting drive.
2) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the restructuring would save 100 million Australian dollars (US$74 million; euro62 million) a year, but warned that shifting thousands of maintenance jobs overseas was still a long-term option.
3) Union leaders were relieved that maintenance jobs would not be outsourced in the near future, but refused to rule out strike action over the job cuts.
4) "We want to talk constructively with Qantas over the next few days," said Doug Cameron, national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
5) Qantas has cast doubt over the future of its long-haul heavy maintenance facilities as it continues an aggressive cost-cutting drive. Dixon is seeking to make A$3 billion (US$2.2 billion; euro1.85 billion) worth of savings over five years.
6) Dixon said Thursday that outsourcing would have delivered greater savings, but said keeping maintenance operations in Australia preserved a "much desired skill base within the country."
7) He said, however, that a longer-term commitment to keeping the operations in Australia would depend on the airline "achieving competitive benchmarks with the larger global maintenance repair and overhaul providers now dominating world aviation."
8) In a statement, the national carrier said it would transfer its heavy maintenance operations for Boeing 747 aircraft from Sydney to its base in the southern state of Victoria by May.
9) Heavy maintenance for the Boeing 767 fleet will continue at the airline's Brisbane base, while the company would review maintenance of narrow body aircraft, currently carried out in Melbourne, over the next six months.
10) Dixon said Qantas had invested around A$50 million (US$37 million; euro31 million) in infrastructure and technology to allow the restructuring to take place.
11) Transport Minister Warren Truss welcomed the decision not to outsource maintenance jobs, and said he had made it clear to Qantas it was "strongly in the national interest" to keep them in Australia.
12) "The Qantas board's decision to retain its aeronautical maintenance sites in Australia is vital to uphold our reputation as a world-leader in aviation and to sustain our military aviation sources," Truss said in a statement.
13) "These job losses will be hard for the Sydney workers but the government acknowledges that Qantas must strive to remain competitive in what is a very cutthroat global aviation environment."
14) Bill Shorten, secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, said he would resist any future move to shift jobs overseas.
15) "If Qantas have any intention of sending Australian jobs to China or anywhere else they are in for the fight of their lives," he said.
Qantas announces it is scrapping its budget carrier Australian Airlines
(APW_ENG_20060411.0089)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd is scrapping its budget carrier Australian Airlines in July, and will focus on its key Qantas and low-cost Jetstar brands in local and international markets, chief executive Geoff Dixon announced Tuesday.
2) Jetstar is Qantas' second budget offshoot and the company wants it to operate as its only low-cost carrier.
3) From November, Jetstar will begin flying international routes to Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, Osaka in Japan, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, Honolulu, and the Indonesian vacation island of Bali.
4) "Australian Airlines has done an outstanding job over the past few years, but we are determined to take full advantage of Jetstar's success, with its highly competitive cost structure and service standards," Dixon said in a statement.
5) "We are creating two distinct and viable flying businesses in what remains a very difficult operating environment of continuing record high fuel prices," Dixon later told reporters.
6) "Jetstar will be grown aggressively over the next three years while we continue to expand Qantas' international operations," he added.
7) Dixon said Australian Airlines began flying when SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, took hold in the region in 2003, and the airline never recovered from the associated downturn in international travel. There were 8,000 cases of the disease in 30 countries, about 800 of them fatal.
8) "We would have liked it to be more profitable," Dixon told reporters.
9) He said 30-40 people would lose their jobs in the next few months with the loss of the airline while another 550 people would be recruited to staff the new Qantas and Jetstar services.
10) Dixon also said Qantas did not foresee any major drop in the price of oil in the next two or three years so the airline would have to substantially restructure.
11) "Part of that major restructuring is the starting of Jetstar as an international operation," Dixon said.
12) Jetstar, which was set up to compete with rival budget airline Virgin Blue in May 2004, will offer two classes.
13) The airline will initially use six Airbus A330-200 aircraft before upgrading to 12 Boeing 787 aircraft, Dixon said.
14) "The network will ultimately provide more services to Asia and the Pacific before expanding with second stage flying to Europe and other destinations," Dixon said.
15) Jetstar will unveil fares and schedules for its international flights in June.
Tiger Airways says Qantas' suggested tie-up with budget carriers anticompetitive
(APW_ENG_20060519.0286)
1) Singapore budget carrier Tiger Airways Pte. Ltd. has objected to Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd.'s proposal to cooperate with Jetstar Asia and Valuair, two other low-cost airlines based in the city-state.
2) Qantas has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to approve an agreement for it to cooperate with Jetstar Asia and Valuair, which are owned by Orangestar, a holding company in which Qantas holds a 44.5 percent lead stake.
3) Tiger Airways, a low-cost affiliate of Singapore Airlines Ltd., said the Australian carrier's proposed agreement would give Qantas effective control of the network, pricing and products of the two Singapore-based budget airlines.
4) "Tiger Airways is concerned that by allowing Qantas to engage in such activities with competitor airlines it will work against consumer interests and could stifle competition," the airline said in a statement late Thursday.
5) The airline said it has asked Australia not to approve Qantas' request, or at least to ensure that "appropriate safeguards" are imposed to ensure airlines such as Tiger Airways would remain able to compete against the new entity.
6) Tiger Airways said it will also ask Singaporean authorities to ensure that air rights only available to Singaporean airlines are not awarded to the combined Qantas-backed entity "as it would become Australian controlled."
7) Orangestar was created last July when Jetstar Asia and Valuair announced they would merge because of growing competition, but the airlines were kept as separate and distinct carriers under the holding company.
Qantas to seek compensation for Airbus A380 delays
(APW_ENG_20060614.0455)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Wednesday it will seek compensation and possible short-term replacement aircraft from Airbus for delays in the delivery of its new A380 superjumbos.
2) Airbus recently announced it will push back its delivery schedule for the new planes by six to seven months, blaming production-line bottlenecks for the delays.
3) It is the second time production of the A380 has been held up, with Airbus earlier pushing back the delivery date by six months.
4) Qantas, which has ordered 12 of the new planes, plans to hold talks with Airbus over the next two weeks to discuss the delay.
5) "Our discussions with Airbus will center around the new delivery timetable, competitive issues, compensation and possible short-term replacement aircraft," Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said Wednesday.
6) "We would hope to alleviate some of the difficulties by deferring the retirement of aircraft, redirecting capacity and securing replacement capacity."
Qantas chief says airline
(APW_ENG_20060622.0131)
1) Qantas Airways Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said Thursday he was certain the Australian national carrier would get compensation from Airbus for its failure to deliver the A380 superjumbo on schedule.
2) "We won't just seek it, we will get it," Dixon told reporters who asked about compensation. He wouldn't comment on the amount being sought.
3) The European aircraft maker said earlier this month that production problems would delay deliveries of the double-decker jet, prompting Qantas and several other airlines to demand compensation.
4) Airbus still expects to deliver the first of A380 jets to Singapore Airlines Ltd. by the end of 2006, while the first of 12 planes ordered by Qantas is now expected in October 2007, six months later than scheduled.
5) "We have contracts and conditions that require Airbus to compensate us based on delivery timetables and many of those have been activated," Dixon said.
6) Dixon said Qantas has no intention of changing the order, but it is looking with Airbus for replacement aircraft in the interim.
7) The delays have sparked at Airbus' parent company, European Aeronautics Defence & Space Co.
Qantas says British and US security measures won't apply elsewhere
(APW_ENG_20060810.0494)
1) Australian flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd. agreed Thursday to comply with new counterterrorism security measures for U.S. and British services but said other international services will remain unchanged.
2) British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as "mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
3) Qantas said it will comply with new and differing British and U.S. restrictions on passengers carryon luggage for flights to and from the two countries.
4) "These additional security requirements do not affect Qantas domestic and other international operations," Qantas said in a statement on its Web site.
5) Qantas operates 43 services each week between Australia and the U.S. and four services each day from London's Heathrow Airport.
Australia's Qantas reports 30 percent drop in net profits to A$479.5 million
(APW_ENG_20060817.0068)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday reported a 30 percent drop in its annual net profits to A$479.5 million (US$368.2 million; euro287.81 million), and blamed a sharp rise in fuel costs.
2) Qantas said fuel costs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006 rose 45 percent to A$2.8 billion (US$2.15 billion; euro1.68 billion), and predicted the problem would get worse _ estimating that fuel costs for the current year could reach A$3.9 billion (US$3 billion; euro2.35 billion).
3) High oil prices were "continuing to have a severe impact on the airline," Qantas said in a statement.
4) But the higher fuel costs were partly offset by rising sales, and company said, predicting that net profits for fiscal year 2006-07 would be in line with this year's.
5) Qantas said sales increased by 8.6 percent to A$13.65 billion (US$10.48 billion; euro8.19 billion) in 2005-06.
6) It announced a final dividend of A$0.11 (US$.08; euro.06) per share, and a total earnings per share of A$.25 (US 19 cents; 15 Euro cents).
7) Qantas Chairwoman Margaret Jackson praised the airline's performance in light of the rising cost of fuel.
8) "Very few businesses have had to face a challenge on the same scale as airlines confronting fuel price increases, which at Qantas have increased from 17 percent of net operating costs to around 30 percent in just two years," she said.
9) "All of our employees can be justifiably proud of what they have achieved in an environment of unrelenting pressure."
10) In a separate announcement, Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline would increase its fuel surcharge on international flights, with the figure to be released on Friday.
11) Qantas last increased the surcharge in April to A$98 (US$75;euro58.63)
Singapore Airlines, Qantas disappointed by latest Airbus A380 delay
(APW_ENG_20061004.0334)
1) Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. said Wednesday the latest delay in the delivery of the Airbus A380 superjumbo was disappointing and that they were assessing the impact of the postponement on their capacity needs.
2) Singapore Airlines said it expected its first A380 delivery in the fourth quarter of 2007 after the latest delay, the carrier said in a statement. Deliveries of subsequent aircraft are scheduled for 2008 and beyond.
3) The Southeast Asian city-state's flag carrier was originally scheduled to be the first customer to receive the A380 in December after an previous one-year delay due to wiring problems.
4) "The delays are disappointing; all the more so because the flight test and certification program is proceeding well, and the delays are down to production issues," the statement said. "Singapore Airlines is assessing the impact that the delays, just notified, will have on forward capacity growth, and assessing options to mitigate the situation."
5) The carrier added that the Toulouse, France-based aircraft maker would compensate Singapore Airlines for the delay, but said the terms of the compensation were confidential.
6) Singapore Airlines has 10 A380s on firm order and options for a further nine, while Qantas has ordered 12 planes. Dubai-based Emirates is the A380's largest customer, with 45 aircraft on order worth over US$13 billion at list prices.
7) Airbus' majority owner, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., or EADS, on Tuesday pushed back the delivery date for the first A380 superjumbos for the third time, causing frustration among many carriers that had been counting on using jumbos on their most heavily traveled air routes.
8) Qantas' Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg said Wednesday the carrier now expects to have four of the 555-seat aircraft by August 2008 and a further seven by mid-2009, after Airbus said the Australian carrier's first A380 aircraft would be delivered two years late.
9) Gregg said the Qantas "was disappointed with the delay and had commenced a review of its capacity needs in light of the revised timetable from Airbus."
10) However, he said Qantas was satisfied the delay was due to production problems at Airbus and not technical issues with the aircraft.
11) Emirates Airline's president said Tuesday the company was "reviewing all its options" after a further 10-month delay on the delivery of its A380s.
12) "This is a very serious issue for Emirates and the company is now reviewing all its options," Tim Clark said.
13) EADS said the latest delays will lop an extra euro2.8 billion (US$3.6 billion) off operating profit and announced a restructuring plan to cut costs and boost productivity at Airbus.
14) Airbus sees no significant signs that cancelations are likely from any of its A380 customers, CEO Christian Streiff said Tuesday.
Qantas ' exploring all options ' after further A380 delays
(APW_ENG_20061004.0472)
1) Australia's Qantas is "looking at all options" after a further delay to the delivery of its 12 super-jumbo A380 planes from Airbus again disrupted its planned Australian dollars 30 billion (US$22.4 billion; euro17.6 billion) expansion, a senior executive said Wednesday.
2) The airline was originally scheduled to receive the first of the new aircraft this month but after two previous six-month delays, Qantas said Wednesday it expected to receive its first plane in August 2008, nearly two years late.
3) Executive general manager John Borghetti told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that while contingencies to maintain capacity were in place to cover the initial delays, "we're also taking a step back and reviewing the whole lot in terms of what we do."
4) Qantas now expects to have four of the world's largest commercial passenger aircraft by the end of 2008 and seven by mid-2009 but Borghetti said the schedule beyond that hasn't been "locked in" with Airbus.
5) "Some of these aircraft were supposed to be replacement aircraft and some were for growth, so we're equally looking at all options from maintaining some of (our existing) aircraft longer, that we were going to retire earlier, right through the spectrum of any options we can look at," Borghetti said.
6) Qantas has already received compensation of A$104 million (US$77.6 million; euro61 million) from Airbus for the earlier delays and Borghetti confirmed it would pursue Airbus for further compensation under the terms of the contract.
7) He wouldn't comment publicly on what amount Qantas will seek.
8) Borghetti declined to speculate on whether Qantas would consider canceling the A380 order, saying, "we certainly have still got a very high opinion of this aircraft."
9) Borghetti said Qantas been shifting some aircraft between its international and domestic fleet to help deal with the delays.
10) Earlier, Qantas Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg said in a statement Qantas said it was satisfied the delay was due to production problems at Airbus and not technical issues with the aircraft.
11) Gregg said the delay meant the airline would have to wait to upgrade services on certain routes.
12) EADS, the European plane maker's parent company, on Tuesday pushed back the delivery date for the first A380 superjumbos for the third time, causing frustration among many carriers that had been counting on using jumbos on their most heavily traveled air routes.
Qantas orders 8 more Airbus A380s
(APW_ENG_20061029.0176)
1) Australia's flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd. announced Sunday it has ordered an additional eight Airbus A380s, bringing its fleet of the world's largest passenger aircraft to 20.
2) The order comes less than a month after EADS, the parent company of Airbus, extended to two years a production delay that is blighting the superjumbo project.
3) "Our decision to increase our order has been made after an extensive review of the recent problems at Airbus and the delivery schedule delays of the A380," Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said in a statement.
4) "We are convinced that these problems relate to industrialization issues at Airbus and will be remedied and in no way relate to the technical capacity of the A380," Dixon added.
5) The aircraft are to be delivered between August 2008 and 2015, he said.
6) The A380 is the most suitable aircraft for Qantas to deploy on dense long-haul routes from Australia to the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and possibly the Middle East, he said.
7) Qantas ordered 12 A380s in 2000 with options for a further 12 aircraft.
8) "We have negotiated an attractive package to firm up an additional eight A380s," Dixon said.
9) "The package also includes an additional four A330-200 aircraft which will help Qantas mitigate capacity concerns associated with the delay of the airline's first A380s," he added.
Australia ' s Qantas approached by Macquarie Bank, Texas Pacific about takeover
(APW_ENG_20061122.0395)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways has been approached by Macquarie Bank and private equity firm Texas Pacific Group about a takeover that analysts said Wednesday could be worth almost A$11 billion (US$8.47 billion; euro6.61 billion).
2) Qantas' stock soared as much as 20 percent during trading Wednesday after the airline announced in a statement it had been approached by Macquarie and Texas Pacific, without giving details.
3) Shortly after the market closed, Macquarie released its own statement saying it had held preliminary "indicative talks" with Qantas about a possible takeover.
4) Neither Qantas nor Macquarie gave any details of the talks, though the Sydney-based bank said any offer would adhere to existing ownership rules made by the government, which prevent more than one stakeholder having more than 25 percent of the company and limiting foreign ownership at 49 percent.
5) A spokeswoman for Texas Pacific Group, based in Fort Worth, Texas, said she had no comment.
6) Market analysts said there was speculation the Macquarie-led consortium was preparing an A$5.50 a share cash offer for Qantas, which would value the airline at almost A$11 billion (US$8.47 billion; euro6.61 billion).
7) A takeover of Qantas would likely be one of the country's largest, but would face significant legal and political hurdles as a result of regulations, introduced when the government privatized the company in 1995.
8) Qantas Airways Ltd. is Australia's biggest carrier with more than 200 planes and flights routes to 142 destinations in 40 countries and an extensive network of domestic routes.
9) In a letter Wednesday to the Australian Stock Exchange, acting Company Secretary Cassandra Hamlin said Qantas "has received an approach by Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group on behalf of a consortium they represent."
10) "The approach is confidential and incomplete and is being investigated by Qantas," the statement said.
11) Qantas' share price jumped as much as 20 percent to a seven-year high of A$5.25 before falling back to close at A$5.
12) After the close, Macquarie said in its own statement that if a proposal was made it would confirm to existing laws.
13) "In particular... there will be continuing majority Australian ownership," it said, adding that "Any such proposal would be conditional upon the support of the Qantas board."
14) Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile said on Wednesday the government had no plans to change the Qantas regulations, and would stay out of any sale.
15) "On the commercial side, it is for the board of Qantas and the shareholders of Qantas as to what they do," Vaile told reporters.
16) Aequs Securities institutional dealer Ric Klusman said market speculation was the offer would fall between $A5.20 to A$5.50 per share, which would value Qantas at A$10.3 billion to A$10.9 billion (US$7.2 billion-US$8.47; euro5.62 billion-euro6.61 billion).
17) The Australian Financial Review, which first reported on a possible Macquarie and Texas Pacific bid for Qantas, reported Wednesday a plan was being considered within existing rules.
18) Under the deal, Sydney-based Macquarie would take a 25 percent stake in Qantas, other Australian investors would take another 25 percent, Qantas senior management would take 1 percent, and foreign investors led by Texas Pacific would take the remaining 49 percent, the paper reported.
19) Texas Pacific Group is a venture capital firm that manages more than US$1 billion (euro0.78 billion) and has offices in United States, Hong Kong, India, London, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
20) The bid is the latest in a multibillion-dollar surge of private equity into Australia, including an A$18 billion bid by a consortium led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and including Texas Pacific for Australia's second-largest retailer, Coles Myer. Coles rejected the bid as inadequate.
21) Media companies Seven Network Ltd. and Australian Consolidated Press have each struck deals worth more than A$4 billion (US$3 billion; euro2.3 billion) with private equity firms in recent weeks, positioning themselves to expand when new media laws that drop foreign ownership restrictions come into effect next year.
22) Qantas reported a 30 percent drop in annual net profit to A$479.5 million in the year to June 30, blaming rising fuel prices which have since fallen. The airline also reported an 8.6 percent rise in sales, to A$13.65 billion, and predicted net profits for 2006-07 would be in line with 2005-06.
Allco may join bid for Qantas, whose shares dip on worries over foreign control of airline
(APW_ENG_20061123.0439)
1) More private equity firms expressed interest Thursday in joining a bid for Australia's Qantas Airways, as the carrier's shares dipped the day after plans for an audacious takeover were confirmed.
2) But political and legal hurdles facing the massive buyout -- priced by analysts at up to A$11 billion (US$8.5 billion; euro6.6 billion) -- also emerged, as government promised no changes would be made to laws barring the iconic airline's sale into foreign control.
3) "The Flying Kangaroo says Australia, and as far as I'm concerned that means majority Australian ownership," Costello told reporters, referring to the distinctive logo painted on all of the company's 200-plus planes.
4) Qantas stocks soared to a seven-year high on Wednesday after the airline revealed it had been approached by a consortium represented by Macquarie Bank, Australia's biggest securities firm, and U.S. private equity firm Texas Pacific Group, based in Fort Worth, Texas.
5) Few details have been released by either side. Qantas said the approach was "incomplete" and it was investigating. Macquarie described it as "indicative talks."
6) On Thursday, Sydney-based Allco Finance Group said it may join the consortium if it goes after Qantas.
7) "In relation to the participation in the consortium, Allco advises that it is currently considering its participation in the indicative proposal," Allco said in a statement.
8) Separately, Allco executive chairman David Coe said later Thursday that the company already had plans to raise A$500 million (US$386 million) to fund overseas expansion and repay debt, and this money could be used for Qantas.
9) Dow Jones Newswires, citing an unnamed person it said was familiar with the situation, reported that Sydney-based Pacific Equity Partners was also considering joining Macquarie in the bid. The company was not immediately available for comment.
10) Qantas shares, which rose 15 percent Wednesday, eased Thursday, as local debate about the deal centered around whether the iconic 87-year-old airline should be allowed into foreign hands. They closed 7 cents lower at A$4.93.
11) Analysts expect the bid will be pitched at about A$5.50 or more.
12) Some government lawmakers have joined the opposition Labor Party in expressing concerns that even if the deal stays within the existing law, Qantas' assets could be broken and sold into foreign hands. Potential job cuts by any new owner is another sensitive political issue.
13) "The politicians are raising a few doubts about the takeover," said Margaret Morrissey, ABN Amro Morgan client adviser. "They are worried about the assets being stripped and sent offshore."
14) Legislation passed when the government sold the airline in 1995 bars any one stakeholder from holding more than 25 percent of the company and caps foreign ownership at 49 percent.
15) Under the law, Qantas' head office must remain in Australia, two-thirds of the company's directors must be Australian citizens and the chairman must be an Australian citizen.
16) In a statement Wednesday, Macquarie said that any proposal would include "continuing majority Australian ownership" and be conditional upon the support of Qantas' board.
17) The Macquarie-led deal could also face conflict of interest troubles because the bank is the majority owner of Sydney Airport. Analysts said regulators could consider it anticompetitive if Macquarie held large stakes in both Australia's largest airport and the port's largest customer.
18) Fair trade watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it is monitoring the Qantas takeover talks and may review any bid that emerges.
Howard: Australia ' s foreign ownership laws won ' t be changed to protect Qantas
(APW_ENG_20061124.0400)
1) Qantas Airways' boss sought to dampen rampant speculation Friday about a multinational consortium's bid for Australia's national carrier as the government strongly hinted it wouldn't move to block the deal if it complies with current foreign ownership laws.
2) "It's very early days and I suggest some people take a cold shower and settle down," Qantas Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon told reporters in Singapore, referring to the reaction since the airline confirmed on Wednesday it had been approached.
3) Qantas shares have seesawed, soaring as much as 20 percent immediately after Qantas revealed the audacious bid jointly led by Australia's largest investment firm, Macquarie Bank, and U.S. private equity investor Texas Pacific Group, then falling back as legal and political hurdles emerged.
4) On Friday, the stock rose 0.2 percent to close at A$4.94 after Prime Minister John Howard said the government would not change foreign investment laws to block the Qantas takeover if it complied with existing laws.
5) "Whatever is allowed under the law will be permitted," Howard said in a radio interview with Southern Cross Broadcasting.
6) Howard said he shared the concern of Australians opposed to iconic Australian companies being sold into foreign hands, but that open markets were best for the economy.
7) "Emotionally I don't like it any more than you or your listeners," Howard said. "We can't have it both ways. We can't expect the world to be Australia's oyster yet resent it when foreigners buy into Australian assets."
8) News of the bid, as well as press reports that Belgium-based InBev SA is considering a bid for Foster's Group, the Australian brewer, have triggered nationalist sentiment in the Australia media and on talk radio.
9) Qantas, sometimes known as "The Flying Kangaroo" for its distinctive logo, is a major Australian company and a takeover by a foreign buyer is perceived to be politically sensitive. Federal elections are due next year, making the issue extra sensitive for the government.
10) The government owned Qantas until 1995, and passed legislation when it was privatized that sets a cap on the amount foreigners can own and other measures to ensure it is Australian-controlled.
11) Neither Qantas nor Macquarie have released details of the proposed deal -- priced by analysts at up to A$11 billion (US$8.5 billion; euro6.6 billion) -- but Macquarie says any bid would be made within existing laws.
12) The possible deal is believed to involve Macquarie taking a 25 percent of Qantas, other Australian investors another 25 percent, Qantas senior management 1 percent, and foreign investors led by Texas Pacific the remaining 49 percent.
13) Current laws bar any one investor holding more than 25 percent of Qantas, and foreign investors from holding more than 49 percent.
14) Dixon said foreign investors currently own about 47 percent of Qantas, and this share was unlikely to change.
15) Touching on one of the key political flashpoints, Dixon said 93 percent of Qantas' workers are employed in Australia "and this is unlikely to change."
16) Qantas issued a statement Friday addressing media speculation about senior executives might take a share of the company as part of the bid. It said Dixon said he has "had no discussions with any member of the consortium looking at taking equity in Qantas about his future role, remuneration or equity in any new company."
17) Howard indicated he would look unfavorably on another reported possibility -- breaking off some of Qantas' assets.
18) "There is not a case for breaking up Qantas," Howard said.
19) Also Friday, Australia's chief competition watchdog Graeme Samuel said he was aware of speculation that Macquarie's ownership of Sydney Airport, Australia's largest, could represent a conflict of interest if it became a major Qantas stakeholder.
20) But so far there was nothing for his Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate.
21) "We need to see if a bid ever eventuates, we also need to see the structure of the bid and when that occurs we'll be able to comment," Samuel, the commission's chairman, told CNBC Asia television.
Airbus committed to superjumbo delivery schedule, CEO says
(APW_ENG_20061221.0381)
1) Airbus' chief said Thursday the European aircraft maker is "fully committed" to the revised delivery schedule of its A380 superjumbo, with the first plane due in October, and was hopeful of securing more orders in 2007.
2) Production problems have delayed the launch of the world's biggest passenger plane a total of two years, with Singapore Airlines scheduled to receive the first A380.
3) "We are fully committed to deliver the airplane...by October 2007, and I am fully committed personally," said Airbus President and Chief Executive Louis Gallois at a joint press conference after signing the official order to supply Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. with eight more superjumbos and four additional A330-200 aircraft.
4) "We know exactly how we will deliver (A380) airplanes up to 2012 and we feel that we are on track," he added.
5) Qantas had ordered the eight additional A380s in October, after first ordering 12 planes six years ago, bringing its total superjumbos on order to 20. The first delivery is expected in August 2008.
6) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the A330s would help fill capacity shortfalls caused by the superjumbo delays.
7) But Dixon refused to clarify what compensation had been agreed for the most recent delay, announced in October.
8) At its full-year results in August, Qantas booked A$104 million (US$81 million) in liquidated damages from Airbus, and Dixon said, "if there is anything more to be said it will be said at the coming half yearly results," in February.
9) John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, said the European jetmaker was also in discussions with "several other airlines" for additional A380 orders after only securing incremental orders for 17 planes from Qantas and Singapore Airlines this year.
10) "Obviously it won't happen between now and the end of this year, but I think in '07 you'll be seeing additional A380 orders from around the world," said Leahy.
Qantas CFO says company in talks to invest in Asian carrier
(APW_ENG_20070123.0241)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. said Tuesday it is close to making a substantial investment in an unspecified Asian carrier.
2) "We are very close to announcing a substantial investment in the region. We are in talks with a carrier and there will be an announcement in the next few weeks," Qantas Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg said at an aviation conference in Singapore.
3) "We don't intend to license our brand, we intend to take ownership," he added, without naming the target carrier.
4) Gregg said Qantas would not take majority stake in the carrier because of regional laws, and said the deal would be completed by the first half of 2007.
Consortium makes formal pitch to shareholders for US$8.6 bln takeover of Qantas
(APW_ENG_20070202.0521)
1) The investor group led by Macquarie Bank trying to buy Qantas Airways made its formal pitch to shareholders on Friday, urging them to accept their offer of 11.1 billion Australian dollars (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion) and warning it would not be increased unless a rival emerges.
2) The bidders also repeated their view that their offer doesn't need to be examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board -- as suggested by the government -- because it already complies with laws that ban the airline from being majority owned by foreigners because of Qantas' iconic status in Australia.
3) And Moody's Investors Service said Friday it expected that Qantas' long-term credit rating, currently Baa1, three rungs above junk status, would be lowered "several notches" if the deal goes ahead because of the debt level involved.
4) In a glossy bidder's statement, the private equity consortium Airline Partners Australia confirmed its A$5.60-a-share offer and sought to reassure shareholders about key issues involving the potential sale of the national carrier with the kangaroo logo.
5) The consortium said Qantas would remain majority Australian owned and controlled, that it had "no intention to break up the airline," that regional services would be retained at their current levels and that passengers' existing frequent flyer points would be unaffected by the buy-out.
6) "Qantas is a great airline and we recognize its national status and our responsibility to the flying kangaroo," spokesman Bob Mansfield said at a press conference, stressing that the bidders had proven experience in the aviation sector.
7) Qantas' board has recommended shareholders accept the bid by Australia's Macquarie Bank, Forth-Worth based Texas Pacific Group, Canada's Onex Corp. and others, which was first announced mid-December. It would be one of Australia's biggest-ever corporate takeovers.
8) The investor group said it backs Qantas' current management team and it's 5-year, A$10 billion capital investment strategy, which aims to add 70 new plans to the airline's fleet by 2014 and increase capacity by 40 percent.
9) It said the offer formally opens on Monday and will close on March 9.
10) "Airline Partners Australia wishes to make it clear that, in the absence of an alternative proposal being announced, the offer price of A$5.60 will not be increased," the statement says.
11) The price values the company -- one of few international airlines running in the black -- at A$11.11 billion (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion).
12) Qantas shares rose 2 cents on Friday to A$5.39.
13) The airline will take on at least A$10.65 billion (US$8.2 billion; euro6.3 billion) in debt, underwritten by lenders including Morgan Stanley, Calyon, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and others.
14) Ben Gray, a spokesman for Texas Pacific, said the bidders will raise much of the money in the U.S., including the high-yield bond market, where terms are less onerous than Australia.
15) "The high-yield component will actually be a very small component of the total debt," he said at the press conference.
16) Gray also sought to allay labor union concerns the new owners might try to slash costs by cutting jobs, saying the consortium was banking on the existing management plan raising revenues.
17) "That's how we'll make our money -- we're backing management's plans," Gray said.
18) The deal needs the support of 90 percent of Qantas shareholders, and must also comply with Australia's fair competition rules and laws limiting foreign ownership to 49 percent.
19) Regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is reviewing the deal. Mansfield said on Friday it hadn't yet decided whether to agree to a government request to lodge the bid with the foreign investment regulator.
20) "Our reply is we don't view ourselves as foreign and if you're not foreign you don't have to lodge," Mansfield told Dow Jones Newswires.
21) The government can block the sale if it decides doing so is in the national interest, and issues such as potential job or service cuts are extra politically sensitive because federal elections are due this year.
22) Prime Minister John Howard has said he won't block the deal outright if it complies with relevant laws, but has indicated the government may impose conditions on issues such as the location of Qantas' headquarters and other operational and staff matters.
Qantas reports 1.7 percent rise in net profit, boosts full-year forecast by up to 40 percent
(APW_ENG_20070208.0352)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. raised its profit forecast for the second time since December on Thursday after reporting a 1.7 percent rise in net profit for the first half of its financial year.
2) The result confirmed the Australian airline as one of few major international carriers to be profitable, and comes less than a week after a private investment group formally launched its 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion) bid to take it over.
3) Qantas' board has recommended the takeover deal to shareholders, 90 percent of whom must support it for it to succeed. The bid was made by Airline Partners Australia, a group led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Fort Worth-based Texas Pacific Group.
4) The airline reported a net profit of A$358.7 million (US$278 million; euro214 million) in the six months through December, up slightly from A$352.8 million in the same period a year earlier.
5) Chairwoman Margaret Jackson said strong passenger demand and efficiency improvements at Qantas in the past three years were among the reasons.
6) The company, which on Dec. 1 raised its full-year net profit forecast to up to 30 percent more than the previous fiscal year, upgraded that to as much as 40 percent Thursday.
7) "We believe that the full-year result will be around 30 percent to 40 percent higher than last year's result subject to fuel costs not increasing significantly, demand continuing to grow and cost reductions not achieved in the first-half being realized in the second half," the airline said in a statement.
8) Qantas didn't cite a figure for its forecast, but a 40 percent increase would bring full-year profit to A$670 million (US$520 million; euro400 million) from A$479.5 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, when profit fell 30 percent on skyrocketing fuel costs.
9) Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon warned that fuel prices remained volatile, making it "imperative we continue to seek efficiencies across all sections of our business."
10) Qantas forecast full-year fuel costs to be around A$660 million (US$512 million; euro394 million) more than the previous year at about A$3.5 billion (US$2.71 billion; euro2.09 billion).
11) Dixon said Qantas had cut costs by A$319 million (US$247 million; euro190 million) in the first half of the year, and that cost reductions would have to be accelerated in the second half to achieve the airline's target of A$750 million (US$581 million; euro447 million).
12) Qantas declared a surprise special dividend of 15 Australian cents per share after earlier saying a dividend would not be paid because of the buyout offer. Jackson said that if the takeover bid is successful, the special dividend announced Thursday would become part of the A$5.60 per share being offered.
13) The takeover bid, which is being reviewed by government regulators the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, closes March 9.
14) Qantas shares closed 1 cent lower at A$5.35.
Government approves sale of Qantas to investor group; shareholders to decide
(APW_ENG_20070306.0494)
1) A 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion) takeover bid for national carrier Qantas cleared one of its most significant hurdles on Tuesday when the government announced it would not block the deal.
2) Treasurer Peter Costello said the government had approved the bid after receiving written guarantees from the international investment group making the offer that Qantas Airways Ltd. would remain majority-Australian owned, and other assurances.
3) Airline Partners Australia, a group led by Macquarie Bank Ltd. and including private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Canada's ONEX Corp., has offered A$5.60 a share for Qantas, which the airline's board has recommended shareholders accept.
4) The deal must be approved by 90 percent of shareholders.
5) Costello said Qantas has given legally enforceable undertakings the airline will maintain services in regional areas and keep its maintenance operations in Australia, key areas of concern among government lawmakers.
6) "These terms and conditions in the articles of association and in the deed of undertaking continue Qantas as an Australia majority-owned company controlled by Australians," Costello told a news conference.
7) "The government will allow the bid to go to the existing shareholders," he said.
8) Costello had the power to block the takeover bid under a vaguely-defined "national interest" test, after the bidding group submitted the bid to the Foreign Investment Review Board.
9) Some government legislators have opposed the deal going ahead because it could erode Qantas status as an iconic Australian company. Labor unions and other opponents say the deal could lead to job losses and other cuts at the airline, and that it involves the airline taking on too much debt.
10) Qantas shares ended Tuesday trade at A$5.21, up 1 cent.
Qantas bid hits turbulence from fund managers, lawmakers
(APW_ENG_20070313.0333)
1) The 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion) takeover bid for Qantas hit some turbulence Tuesday, with backers warning a legislative bid to protect Australian jobs could threaten the company's foreign operations and key institutional funds staying cool on the deal.
2) Qantas Airways Ltd.'s share price fell on Tuesday as speculation intensified that the offer by an investment group led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group of A$5.45 a share plus a special dividend is not enough to seal the deal as an April 3 deadline nears.
3) Qantas shares fell 1.4 percent to close at A$5.09.
4) The carrier's management, who have recommended the offer to shareholders, has come under rising pressure to release forecasts for the company's prospects next financial year to convince some big fund managers that the bid does not undervalue the company.
5) The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported that UBS Global Asset Management and Balanced Equity Management -- who have the combined power to scuttle the deal -- have privately told chairwoman Margaret Jackson that Qantas should release a forecast for the year to June 30, 2008, to explain the board's decision to back the deal.
6) Andrew Sisson, managing direct of Balanced Equity Management, which holds about 4 percent of Qantas, on Tuesday said discussions were ongoing about the Qantas bid.
7) "We're assessing what we think the company's worth and whether it's good enough to accept, and we haven't concluded that process yet," Sisson told Dow Jones Newswires.
8) UBS, which holds about 7.1 percent of Qantas, has declined to comment.
9) Qantas has twice in recent months boosted its earnings forecast for the 12 months to June 30, 2007, but declined to make predictions beyond that.
10) The bid by Airline Partners Australia, an investment group led by Macquarie Bank that also includes Canada's Onex Corp. and the Allco Finance Group, needs 90 percent of Qantas shares to compulsorily buy the rest, and to trigger the deal's debt package.
11) In a note to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday, Qantas said APA had secured 15.25 percent of shares so far.
12) In Canberra, a Senate into proposed legislation that would include Qantas subsidiary Jetstar in rules ensuring that the company remains Australian owned and based heard from APA officials.
13) The bidding group said in a submission the legislation could force Qantas to sell its stake in New Zealand subsidiary Jetconnect Ltd., its minority holdings in Fiji's Air Pacific Ltd. and in Singapore-based Orangestar, the holding company for Jetstar Asia and Valuair.
14) Allco chairman David Coe said the bill's wording needed to be changed, but that it wasn't necessary anyway because existing legislation meant Jetstar could not continue overseas operations if it became majority foreign-owned.
15) Labor unions and some lawmakers fear Qantas jobs and services will be sent overseas if the takeover proceeds, and the pilots union says the consortium could transfer Qantas businesses to subsidiaries to lower costs.
16) Qantas and the bidders say they have no such plans.
17) Treasurer Peter Costello announced last week the government would not block the deal, saying it had received binding guarantees that Qantas would stay Australian-owned and keep its maintenance operations in Australia.
18) A poll published in Faifax Media newspapers Tuesday found 56 percent of 1,400 respondents nationwide disapproved of the government's decision, adding to the deal's political sensitivity just months from a federal election. Many Australians consider Qantas an icon that should be publicly owned.
19) Also Tuesday, Qantas strongly rejected a union leader's claim to the inquiry that low-security inmates from a Singapore prison were part of maintenance crews that work on Qantas planes in the city-state.
20) "No prisoner in Singapore has access to any Qantas aircraft undergoing heavy maintenance," a company spokesman said.
Qantas bows to takeover bid waverers, releases 2007-08 profit forecast -- around A$1.23 bln
(APW_ENG_20070315.0398)
1) Australia's national carrier Qantas on Thursday caved in to demands by stakeholders who have the potential to block a 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.6 billion; euro6.6 billion) takeover bid and released a profit forecast for the next fiscal year.
2) Qantas said in a news release it expected pretax profits for the year ending June 30, 2008, to be in line with an average of analysts' estimates of around 1.23 billion Australian dollars (US$962 million; euro730 million).
3) Qantas also said its full-year result for the year ending June 30, 2007, would be "towards the upper end" of its earlier stated forecast. The company has not put a figure on the forecast, but has predicted it will be between 30 percent and 40 percent higher than the A$479.5 million profit reported for 2005-06.
4) The statement came after pressure intensified this week on Qantas management, which is backing the takeover bid by a private investment group Airline Partners Australia, to say more about the company's outlook.
5) The company's share price on Wednesday fell to its lowest level since the bid was announced in mid-December as speculation mounted that it may fail, despite winning government and regulatory approval so far.
6) The talk centered around two managed funds, UBS Global Asset Management and Balanced Equity Management, which between them hold more than 10 percent of Qantas shares and therefore the power to scuttle the deal, which requires 90 percent shareholder approval.
7) The funds reportedly had demanded a 2008 outlook to better assess whether the offer of A$5.45 a share by the investment group, led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group, being was enough.
8) Qantas has twice in recent months boosted its earnings forecast for the year ending mid-2007, but until Thursday had declined to make predictions beyond that.
9) Andrew Sisson, the managing director of Balanced Equity Management that owns about 4 percent of Qantas, welcomed Thursday's announcement as helpful but suggested he had wanted more detail than was provided.
10) "It's more helpful when we're doing our deliberations, but whether we think it's positive or negative I'm not prepared to discuss," Sisson told Dow Jones Newswires.
11) "We were looking for more information and we've got some information," said Sisson.
12) UBS did not immediately respond to the Qantas statement.
13) Qantas shares ended 1.6 percent higher at A$5.12, after jumping as high as A$5.15.
14) "In response to market speculation and queries received from investors, Qantas confirms its outlook expectations for 2008 are in line with average analyst consensus profit before tax estimates of approximately $1.23 billion," the Qantas statement said.
15) The estimate did not include the possible impact of fluctuations in fuel prices, increased competition from Virgin Blue and the expected entry to the Australian market of Singapore-linked airline Tiger Airways, and other factors, Qantas said.
16) Airline Partners Australia has repeatedly said it will not increase its offer price, which includes a special dividend of A$0.15. The offer closes on April 3.
17) Qantas warned investors there were "many factors" that could affect future performance that the company could not predict or control, and that it was making no forecast of specific results.
Qantas warns stock price will fall if shareholders reject takeover bid
(APW_ENG_20070321.0245)
1) Shares of Qantas Airways Ltd. could fall if stockholders reject an 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.9 billion; euro6.69 billion) takeover bid, the head of the Australian national carrier warned Wednesday.
2) Only 25 percent of Qantas shareholders have accepted the proposal from Airline Partners Australia, an investment group led by Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group that also includes Canada's Onex Corp. and the Allco Finance Group.
3) The group has offered Qantas shareholders A$5.45 (US$4.38; euro3.29) per share plus a special dividend. The offer, which expires April 3, needs 90 percent shareholder support to go ahead.
4) In an interview with the Australian Financial Review published Wednesday, Qantas Chairwoman Margaret Jackson warned the hedge funds that hold 40 percent of Qantas shares would pull out if the deal fails.
5) She said this would mean about A$5 billion (US$4 billion; euro3.01 billion) in equity would have to be found on the share market to replace the hedge funds' stake.
6) "If anyone thinks this will happen without affecting the (share) price then they have a mental problem with how the market works," Jackson was quoted as saying.
7) Qantas shares closed at A$5.14 (US$4.13; euro3.11) on Tuesday, well below the bid price. But speculation is mounting that two fund managers -- UBS Global Asset Management and Balanced Equity Management -- which together hold about 10 percent of Qantas shares, may reject the deal because they believe it undervalues the airline.
8) Jackson said it was "mysterious" why the fund managers believed the A$5.45 offer did not reflect the company's true value.
9) "I have been chairman for seven year and I have lived through profit result after profit result where we have come out with fabulous results and the share price has gone up 3 cents or 5 cents," she said.
10) "It seems mysterious to me that, after seven years, these institutions see more value in Qantas, whereas in the past seven years they haven't been able to see it," she told The Australian newspaper.
Key Qantas stakeholder announces it won ' t accept takeover offer; bid thrown into doubt
(APW_ENG_20070323.0431)
1) A key stakeholder in Qantas Airways said Friday it would not accept a 11.1 billion Australian dollar (US$8.9 billion; euro6.7 billion) bid for the airline, throwing into doubt one of Australia's biggest proposed takeovers. Qantas stock sank 3.1 percent on the news.
2) Airline Partners Australia, the investment group making the bid, immediately announced it was extending the deadline for shareholders to accept their A$5.45-a-share offer by more than two weeks to April 20 and was considering its options.
3) Balanced Equity Management, an institutional fund which owns about 4 percent of Qantas, said Friday would not accept the bid led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group at the current price.
4) The investment group needs to secure 90 percent of shares for the deal to move ahead, but market sentiment has been moving against the bid in recent weeks on speculation that it undervalues the company.
5) "Since the announcement of the bid in December 2006, equity markets have appreciated significantly," Balanced Equity managing director Andrew Sisson said in a statement.
6) "Given the current level of the share market, in the absence of an adverse development in relation to Qantas, or a fall in equity markets, we do not intend to accept the bid of $5.45 per share in respect of the shares we manage on behalf of others," he said in the statement.
7) Qantas shares plummeted around 4 percent to A$4.89 immediately after the announcement, before recovering to close 3.1 percent lower at A$5.06.
8) Another large stakeholder, UBS Global Asset Management, which holds about 7.1 percent of Qantas, has reportedly also refused to back the bid at the current price. To date, UBS has refused to comment publicly on the bid.
9) Bob Mansfield, director of Airlines Partners Australia, or APA, said the bid had passed all regulatory hurdles and that attaining the 90 percent target was the only thing preventing the takeover going ahead.
10) Mansfield said the group already gained around 29 percent of Qantas shares, representing more than 50 percent of total shareholders. He said the offer was being extended from the original deadline of April 3 "to ensure that remaining shareholders throughout Australia and around the world have an opportunity to respond."
11) "Airline Partners Australia is considering a range of alternatives in light of the announcement" by Balanced Equity, the group said in a statement.
12) Because APA declared its bid final, Australia laws do not allow APA to increase it unless a rival offer emerges until after the deadline for its bid expires.
13) Analysts on Friday said options for APA include waiting until the deadline expires then raising offer price, dropping the 90 percent acceptance requirement or abandoning the deal for a few months to see if the share price falls. The current bid's financing is predicated on greater-than 90 percent acceptances.
14) The A$5.45 per share offered by APA on Dec. 14 was 33 percent more than Qantas' closing price on Nov. 6, the day before takeover speculation emerged.
15) Other members of the bidding group are Australia's Allco Finance Group and Canada's ONEX Corp.
Singapore ' s Tiger Airways committed to Australian market as Qantas steps up competition
(APW_ENG_20070330.0610)
1) Singapore budget airline Tiger Airways reiterated its commitment to winning the domestic Australian market after Qantas announced it would provide 13 more planes to its own budget arm in order to compete in the market share war.
2) In a statement issued Thursday night, Tiger suggested that Qantas had expanded Jetstar's fleet in response to Tiger's launch into the Australian domestic market later this year.
3) "Unlike our competitors, we will not be forced into expensive and ill-conceived knee-jerk responses," Tiger CEO Tony Davis said in the statement. "We remain committed to becoming Australia's only true low fare airline."
4) Australian national carrier Qantas said Thursday it would buy nine new Airbus A320 jetliners and redeploy four other planes from its international fleet to domestic services.
5) The planes would be for Qantas Airways Ltd.'s budget arm Jetstar to use on domestic and short-haul international routes, and will be delivered during a 15-month period starting in late 2007, CEO Geoff Dixon said in a statement.
6) "The additional capacity for both Jetstar and Qantas ... should enable the Qantas Group to maintain its 65 percent share of the Australian domestic market," he said.
7) Tiger's statement said Qantas' move proves "that Australian consumers are paying too high a price for the cozy duopoly that currently exists within the Australian domestic market."
8) Analysts say Tiger's entry to domestic routes in Australia -- expected by the end of 2007 -- will likely lead to a tough competition fight, including aggressive ticket price-cutting. Qantas' only Australian rival, Virgin Blue, has about one-third of Australia's domestic market.
9) Tiger is 49 percent owned by national carrier Singapore Airlines and 11 percent owned by state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings.
Bidder for Qantas lowers conditions to keep its bid alive
(APW_ENG_20070412.0549)
1) The private equity group bidding 10.82 billion Australian dollars (US$8.92 billion; euro6.65 billion) for Australia's Qantas airline said Thursday it has restructured its offer to ensure its success, lowering the threshold of shares it needs to 70 percent from 90 percent.
2) The announcement was widely expected after stakeholders who held enough stock to block Airline Partners Australia's initial bid indicated they would not support the takeover, and after others started buying up strategic stakes that also could affect the deal.
3) The consortium, led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group, said in a statement that after talking to its financiers it had decided to lower its minimum shareholder acceptance condition.
4) It also extended the closing date of the A$5.45-per-share offer, which is backed by Qantas' board, by two weeks to May 4.
5) Qantas shares rose on the news, which came shortly before the market closed, finishing at a record high A$5.39.
6) Consortium spokesman Bob Mansfield said the restructuring was done to save the deal from unraveling because of a small minority who oppose it. The consortium has acquired about 30 percent of Qantas' shares so far.
7) "APA is concerned that many Qantas shareholders have become discouraged from accepting the offer in the belief that the opposition to the offer from a small number of vocal shareholders may prevent us reaching the 90 percent acceptance condition," Mansfield said.
8) "By effectively lowering that condition to 70 percent, shareholders can be confident that the offer will be successful," he said.
9) The move followed uncertainty about the deal after Balanced Equity Management announced it would not accept the consortium's offer, and perceptions that UBS Global Asset Management was also opposed. Combined, the fund managers had more than the 10 percent stake that would have blocked the initial bid.
10) Mansfield said that if the group does buy 70 percent of Qantas, the company would be removed from major indices.
11) The bid involves a complex structure of several banks and tiers of loans that initially only worked if the consortium could get 90 percent of Qantas' shares. Mansfield said Thursday the financiers had now agreed to deals allowing the 70 percent acquisition.
12) Analysts said Thursday's announcement would improve the bidders' chances of success.
13) "The deal is more likely to go ahead now," said Natalie Tam, a portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
14) But investors' service Moody's warned the debt involved in the restructured deal could still lead to a "multi-notch" downgrade of its rating.
Qantas takeover deadline looms, with deal hanging in the balance
(APW_ENG_20070503.0323)
1) The group bidding 10.8 billion Australian dollars (US$8.9 billion; euro6.55 billion) to buy Qantas Airways will likely get enough acceptances before a Friday deadline to extend its offer, analysts said. But investors opting to remain as minority shareholders could still scuttle the deal.
2) The A$5.45-per-share bid by Airline Partners Australia, led by Macquarie Bank and U.S. buyout specialist Texas Pacific Group, is due to expire Friday at 7 p.m. (0900 GMT).
3) The bid has been declared final, cannot be extended or increased by the consortium, and is conditional on acceptance by 70 percent of shareholders.
4) The offer for Qantas, a former state-owned national carrier marketed as the Flying Kangaroo, is one of the largest takeover bids in Australia's corporate history and comes amid a flood of local mergers and acquisitions led by private equity groups.
5) Airline Partners said in a statement Thursday the level of acceptances for its offer launched Dec. 14 had risen to 32.96 percent from the 25.94 percent announced on April 26 -- well short of the 70 percent required for success, and shy of the 50 percent threshold required for the deal to be automatically extended a further two weeks under Australian takeover laws.
6) If the group fails to get 50 percent by the Friday deadline, the deal will likely fall through.
7) JP Morgan analyst Matt Crowe said it was unlikely the threshold would not be reached.
8) Qantas shares have remained at a discount to the bid since it was launched, closing 4 cents firmer at A$5.34 on Wednesday.
9) Shareholder resistance forced Airline Partners to last month modify its original deal requiring 90 percent acceptances, a move that Crowe told clients had "fundamentally altered" the appeal of the bid.
10) "It is now possible for investors to participate in a private equity deal by simply not accepting APA's offer," Crowe said.
11) The group plans to raise up to A$7.5 billion (US$6.2 billion; euro4.56 billion) in debt and A$3.5 billion (US$2.9 billion; euro2.13 billion) in equity to fund the acquisition, then use its controlling stake to return about A$4 billion (US$3.3 billion; euro2.43 billion) in capital to shareholders within 12 months and burden Qantas with more debt.
12) That prospect has led ratings agency Moody's Investor Services to warn that Qantas' Baa1 credit rating could be downgraded several notches to Ba3 if the takeover proceeds.
13) With two earnings upgrades since the bid was launched, continued strong passenger growth, and a robust equity market, several analysts believe the outlook for Qantas is rosy in the absence of a takeover.
14) Heavy trading since rumors of a bid first emerged in early November has led to a change in hands of about 1.6 times Qantas' share registry, with hedge funds estimated to be holding an estimated 40 percent.
15) Analysts expect a last-minute rush of acceptances from these hedge funds to allow the deal to be extended by two weeks.
16) "Shareholders delay accepting a public takeover offer until the day they assess the bid will become unconditional -- until the last minute," Fabian Babich of Sydney broker BBY said, adding that he expects a "torrent of acceptances" on Friday.
17) The original 90 percent target would have allowed the bidders to delist the airline and use its cash flow to set up a A$10.65 billion (US$8.78 billion; euro6.46 billion) finance package.
18) While that option remains open, major shareholders Balanced Equity Management and UBS Global Asset Management, who between them control more than 10 percent of Qantas stock, have indicated they believe the bid is underpriced.
19) "Qantas represents one of the better-value stocks in the market at the moment, so we would be a buyer rather than a seller," Balanced Equity founder Andrew Sisson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television Sunday.
20) Sisson also suggested Airline Partners could come back with a higher offer around A$6.45 or more.
Shareholders decide fate of US$8.9 billion bid for Qantas; result not immediately known
(APW_ENG_20070504.0580)
1) Shareholders on Friday chose whether to scuttle a 10.8 billion Australian dollar (US$8.9 billion; euro6.55 billion) bid to buy Australia's Qantas Airways, approve it, or keep it alive for two more weeks.
2) But the fate of the deal -- which would be Australia's biggest corporate takeover in six years if it succeeds -- was not immediately known, as the bidders tally the number of acceptances of their A$5.45-a-share offer.
3) The bidders said they would announce the result before Australian markets open on Monday.
4) Most analysts expected Airline Partners Australia, a private equity group led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and Forth Worth-based Texas Pacific Group, would secure the minimum 50 percent of Qantas shares it needed by 7 p.m. Friday (0900 GMT) to trigger a two-week extension of its bid.
5) If APA did not secure at least 50 percent, the bid failed. If APA received more than 70 percent acceptances, the bid's finance package kicks in and the deal would go ahead.
6) APA made no comment immediately after the deadline passed. In a note to the stock exchange earlier Friday, APA said its stake in Qantas had increased to more than 36 percent by the end of Thursday -- leaving the bidders needing a last-minute surge of acceptances.
7) David Coe, a director of the private group seeking to buy out the iconic airline known as the Flying Kangaroo, said before the deadline that the deal remained "on a knife edge."
8) He warned hedge funds holding chunks of the company against trying to maximize their profits on the deal by gambling that others would push it across the line.
9) "We want them to stop sitting on their hands and not shoot themselves in the foot," Coe was quoted as saying in Friday's The Australian Financial Review newspaper.
10) Shareholders may be holding back in the hope that if APA reaches its 50 percent target, it will increase its offer to reach the 70 percent stage. Others may be waiting for an entirely new bid, analysts said.
11) "I'm sure it has been frustrating for the consortium," Kim Ivey, managing director of Vertex Capital Management, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "If they don't get the 50 percent by 7 o'clock today, this deal is off.
12) "But that does not mean that the consortium will go away. They may come back with a better deal."
13) Qantas stock edged almost 2 percent higher Friday but still closed lower than the bid price at A$5.38.
14) The bid's passage to the Friday deadline was rocky. It faces strong opposition from labor unions and others who fear Qantas, formerly a government-owned company, could be broken up or its ownership taken overseas -- something barred by law.
15) Prime Minister John Howard's government gave the bid the go-ahead after regulators found it did not breach foreign investment laws or specific legislation that aims to keep Qantas an Australian company.
16) The bid has also been controversial because its structure adds a massive debt load to the company while earning board members and takeover partners such as Macquarie huge fees. Moody's Investor Services has warned that Qantas' Baa1 credit rating could be downgraded several notches to Ba3 if the takeover proceeds.
17) The group plans to raise up to A$7.5 billion (US$6.2 billion; euro4.56 billion) in debt and A$3.5 billion (US$2.9 billion; euro2.13 billion) in equity to fund the acquisition, then use its controlling stake to return about A$4 billion (US$3.3 billion; euro2.43 billion) in capital to shareholders within 12 months and burden Qantas with more debt.
18) Some key stakeholders said APA's bid undervalues Qantas -- one of few international airlines making good money that has twice in recent months upgraded its profit forecasts -- and scuttled APA's initial hopes of securing 90 percent of the company with its offer.
19) Full control remains APA's ultimate goal, and analysts believe it will launch an intense campaign to mop up the remaining shares if it reaches its 70 percent ownership target.
20) To date, the 2001 buyout of telecommunications company Optus by Singapore Telecommunications, or SingTel, for about A$14 billion is considered Australia's biggest corporate takeover. But the size of the Qantas deal could be overshadowed by plans by retailer Coles Group for the full sale or breakup of the A$19 billion (US$15.66 billion; euro11.5 billion) company.
Qantas takeover looks finished after regulator refuses to consider bidder ' s appeal
(APW_ENG_20070506.0428)
1) Australian takeover regulators on Sunday refused to step in and save a private equity-backed group's 10.8 billion Australian dollar (US$8.9 billion; euro6.55 billion) bid for Qantas Airways after it missed a deadline to keep the deal alive.
2) The decision appeared to be the last straw for the troubled, five-month-old bid for the company known as the Flying Kangaroo, and could spell fresh trauma for the airline including pressure on senior management to quit for backing the deal.
3) The Takeovers Panel, a body empowered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to rule on buyouts, announced Sunday it would not consider an application by Airline Partners Australia to have a bundle of shares it secured after a Friday deadline counted as part of its stake in the company.
4) Without the bundle, the group -- led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and Allco Finance Group and TPG Inc. from Forth Worth, Texas, -- falls short of the 50 percent minimum stake it needs to keep its bid alive for two more weeks. It needed 70 percent to get the loans it needed for the bid.
5) "The panel has decided not to commence proceedings in relation to APA's application," director Nigel Morris said in a statement, adding another twist to a dramatic weekend for the deal, which would have been one of Australia's largest buyouts.
6) APA initially announced late Friday night that its bid for Qantas had failed, but then reversed itself a few hours later, saying a latecoming stakeholder had given it enough shares -- just -- to keep the bid alive for another two weeks.
7) The panel rejected APA's claim that a single shareholder's late acceptance should be allowed to resurrect the bid.
8) "The panel does not accept that Qantas shareholders have not had a reasonable opportunity to participate in the offer," the panel said. "Shareholders were well aware of the deadlines and the implications of not accepting by the deadlines."
9) Refusing to concede defeat, APA sought an urgent review of the panel's decision.
10) Qantas is due make a statement to the stock exchange before markets reopen on Monday, and may halt trading until the review matter is finalized.
11) Analysts said Qantas' share price will tumble if the bid fails, as hedge funds that bought stock since the bid was launched cut their losses.
12) Qantas shares closed Friday at A$5.38.
13) And board members, including Qantas chair Margaret Jackson and chief executive Geoff Dixon, were likely to face intense pressure over the failure.
14) "I think there's egg on the faces of a lot of people," John Curry, deputy president of the Australian Shareholders Association nonprofit watchdog group, said ahead of the panel's decision.
15) "The board collectively must take responsibility for the fiasco," he told television's Ten Network.
16) The board has been criticized for backing the bid because its structure adds a massive debt load to the company while earning senior management and takeover partners such as Macquarie huge fees.
17) At least one major stakeholder said the A$5.45-a-share offer undervalues Qantas, which has twice upgraded profit forecasts since the bid was launched on Dec. 14 in a surging stock market.
18) Jackson "was an active supporter of the bid, and certainly if the bid fails ... she would have to reconsider her position," said Brent Mitchell of Shaw Stockbroking. "I think it would be difficult for her to continue."
19) Dixon was "also in a very difficult position, (though) it may be that the remaining shareholders would like him to continue," Mitchell told Sky News.
20) Prime Minister John Howard's government approved the bid after a review found it did not breach any foreign investment regulations or laws protecting Qantas from overseas ownership.
21) Transport Minister Mark Vaile on Sunday said confusion about the deal needs to end.
22) "It is now incumbent on the board to make a clear statement of their intention for the way forward in the interests of their shareholders and the traveling public," he said.
23) APA, which initially said the bid was dependent on gaining 90 percent of shares, changed its terms to 70 percent and twice extended the deadline for acceptances after shareholder resistance became apparent.
24) The 2001 buyout of telecommunications company Optus by Singapore Telecommunications for about A$14 billion is considered Australia's biggest corporate takeover. But the Qantas deal could be overshadowed by retailer Coles Group's plans for a full sale or breakup of the A$19 billion (US$15.6 billion; euro11.5 billion) company.
Group behind messy Qantas bid refuses to concede defeat
(APW_ENG_20070507.0662)
1) An investment group trying to buy Qantas Airways for 10.8 billion Australian dollars (US$8.9 billion; euro6.55 billion) refused Monday to concede defeat despite regulators, the government and the airline itself declaring the deal dead.
2) Private equity-backed Airline Partners Australia is asserting that some stakeholders who supported the bid had only offered part, not all of their shareholding, as the offer compelled them to do, Qantas said in a statement late Monday.
3) That could mean that APA had secured the minimum 50 percent of Qantas shares necessary to keep the bid alive.
4) As confusion swirled, Qantas halted trading in its shares until the situation was resolved.
5) APA, led by Macquarie Bank and U.S. takeover specialist TPG Inc., said it was "considering a number of alternatives" including a new bid for the airline.
6) APA had until Friday night to win 50 percent of Qantas shares to get a two week extension to try and garner the 70 percent it needed to seal the deal -- which would have been one of the biggest takeovers in Australian corporate history.
7) Shortly after the deadline, the group said it appeared not to have reached the threshold. Hours later, it said a single shareholder had agreed to sell enough shares to get the bid across the line, and asked corporate regulators to grant the extension.
8) The Takeovers Panel, which rules on buyout disputes, rejected the appeal, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission joined the panel in saying Monday that no exceptional circumstances existed that would allow APA to count the latecoming shares.
9) But a potential lifeline emerged Monday -- a clause in the bid that says any stakeholder who accepted the offer automatically commits all of their shares.
10) "APA asserts that some shareholders did not comply with this term and accepted for part, not all, of their shareholdings," Qantas said.
11) Potentially, a recount could push the deal over the line.
12) Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson, who had strongly supported the bid, said Monday night, "The Qantas Board regrets the current uncertainty, which is not of its making, and is determined to see the issues clarified as soon as possible."
13) Qantas had said Sunday it considered the APA bid to have failed, a view echoed by the government.
14) "The ... bid has failed and I think the important thing now is for the Qantas board to announce what it intends to do in relation to the airline and the company," Treasurer Peter Costello told reporters in Canberra.
15) Observers said APA appeared to be clutching at straws to try to keep the bid alive.
16) "It's unreasonable to coerce shareholders to sell their entire holding," said Michael Adams, a corporate law specialist at the University of Western Sydney. "It comes down to basic contract principles ... the shareholder still has a right to say `I'm not going to sell my entire portion.'"
17) Analysts are predicting the share price will plummet when trading resumes, and pressure mounted Monday on Jackson to quit.
18) Many analysts said Qantas board members were irrevocably compromised for backing a bid that was rejected by so many shareholders.
19) "It seems that the current board has crossed the line from representing shareholders to representing private equity," investment adviser Marcus Padley told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
20) "Shareholders can no longer have confidence in her ability to lead the board," Stephen Matthews, chairman of the Australian Shareholders Association which represents small investors, said of Jackson.
21) APA argued that regardless of the deadline, a majority of shareholders had accepted its offer and it should be allowed to proceed -- indicating the failure was due to a mistake, not the price.
22) "It's admitting that there was a stuff up and that killed the deal," said Fabian Babich, an aviation analyst at investment firm BBY.
23) APA said it might launch a new bid -- at the same price of A$5.45-a-share.
24) Costello said any new buyout plan would have to start at square one, needing approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board and other requirements.
25) Meanwhile, Transport Minister Mark Vaile said Qantas must urgently review its share register to make sure the recent trading activity did not put the company in breach of laws that prohibit foreigners holding more than 49 percent.
26) "If ... the share registry is over that threshold point, that needs to be dealt with," Vaile told Sky television.
27) Critics said APA's offer undervalued Qantas, which has twice upgraded profit forecasts since the bid was launched on Dec. 14 in a surging stock market.
US$9 billion pitch for Qantas is over, but bidder says it may return
(APW_ENG_20070508.0486)
1) The saga of a private equity group's 10.8 billion Australian dollar (US$8.9 billion; euro6.55 billion) pursuit of Qantas shuddered to a messy end Tuesday, dragging down the share price and leaving senior management at one of the world's best-performing airlines tarnished by association.
2) But the sell-off was not as bad as the carnage some analysts had predicted when trading resumed after a halt on Monday to sort out widespread confusion about the bid's status. The stock was buoyed in part by the bidder's comment it may return for another tilt at the airline, analysts said.
3) Qantas shares plunged more than 4 percent in the first hour of trading since Airline Partners Australia's buyout offer fell apart on Friday night. But the price settled soon afterward, and closed 2.97 percent lower at A$5.22 -- above pre-bid levels. More than 165 million shares changed hands.
4) Analysts said they expected the shares to be extremely volatile for some time, but noted that Qantas' underlying economic position was strong.
5) In a statement, APA reluctantly conceded Tuesday its bid had failed, but added it was exploring alternatives "including the possibility of making a renewed offer for Qantas."
6) APA, led by Macquarie Bank and U.S. buyout specialist TPG, said Tuesday it would not pursue a legal loophole that may have allowed it to reach a minimum shareholding threshold before a deadline last Friday -- after earlier flagging a legal battle that may have lasted months.
7) The private equity group said it won 46 percent of shares by Friday's deadline. It needed 50 percent to win a two-week extension to try and garner the 70 percent it needed to seal the deal.
8) APA said although it could claim it reached the threshold under a clause in its offer that required shareholders who agreed to some shares to sell all of them, it would not do so because it want an end to the turmoil.
9) The investor group said the "correct legal interpretation" of the situation wasn't clear, but that it would not pursue the case.
10) "APA believes that Qantas shareholders need more certainty and accordingly, it has determined that its bid should be treated as having lapsed on 4 May 2007," it said.
11) Regulator the Australian Securities and Investment Commission responded by completing paperwork that "put beyond doubt" the death of the bid "in the interest of market certainty."
12) Qantas Chairwoman Margaret Jackson, who faces growing pressure to quit for strongly supporting the offer, said any new bid would have to start from scratch.
13) The board met Tuesday, with Jackson saying "continuity and stability were vital," Qantas said in a statement.
14) "This has been an extremely difficult process since the board decided to recommend APA's bid to shareholders," she said.
15) Ian Curry of the Australian Shareholders Association, which represents small investors, said Jackson should quit "on the grounds that she neglected the interests of shareholders; she promoted and pushed and coerced shareholders to sell."
16) "The Qantas board has aligned itself with the offerer and must he accountable for some of the muck-up that has occurred," Curry told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
17) MM&E Capital analyst Tom Elliott said the prospect of another takeover bid helped soften Tuesday's losses.
18) "That's probably the reason Qantas hasn't fallen much," Elliott said.
19) Meanwhile, the government on Monday warned Qantas it must comply with laws that ban majority foreign ownership of Qantas amid concern that foreign hedge funds may have become a majority bloc in the final days of the bid.
20) "We expect the Qantas board to manage that," Treasurer Peter Costello told reporters in Canberra. "If the Qantas board hasn't done that then (it) will need to have a good explanation."
21) Qantas said it was urgently reviewing the level of foreign holdings.
22) Launched last December, APA's bid was controversial from the start because of the iconic status of Qantas -- known worldwide as the Flying Kangaroo for the bright red logo painted on its plane's tails -- amid fears corporate raiders were after quick profits or might break up the business.
23) Trade unions, many lawmakers and small shareholders were among those who strongly opposed it. Some fund managers simply considered APA offer undervalued the company after it twice upgraded profit forecasts in recent months.
24) The weekend brought a tumultuous end to the bid.
25) Shortly after the deadline, the group said it appeared not to have reached the threshold. Hours later, it said a single shareholder had agreed to sell enough shares to get the bid across the line, and asked corporate regulators to grant the extension. They rejected the plea.
26) The deal's end invited scorn from many observers, who described it as farcical, a shambles, and "Pythonesque" -- a reference to the comedy team Monty Python's sketch about a pet shop owner refusing to believe a parrot returned to his store was dead.
27) "It's the Qantas flying circus," The Sydney Morning Herald's front page headline said.
Qantas Airways chairwoman to step down in wake of failed takeover bid
(APW_ENG_20070518.0304)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Friday its CEO Geoff Dixon will hold his post for at least two more years, despite the resignation of Chairwoman Margaret Jackson in the wake of the failed 11 billion Australian dollar (US$9 billion; euro6.7 billion) takeover bid by a private equity consortium.
2) In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Jackson confirmed that she will leave the Qantas board at the airline's annual general meeting in November, along with fellow director James Packer, the executive chairman of media and gaming company Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.
3) But Dixon has committed to stay with stay with the airline until at least July 2009, along with other members of the airline's senior management.
4) Jackson, and to a lesser degree Dixon and other directors, had been under pressure to quit the Qantas board because they had supported the takeover bid by a private equity group called Airline Partners Australia.
5) On Thursday, APA said it would not renew its offer to buy the Australian carrier after earlier this month it failed to win the 50 percent of shares it needed to secure a two-week extension to try and garner the 70 percent it needed to seal the deal.
6) The consortium, led by Macquarie Bank Ltd. and U.S. buyout group TPG Inc., said "in the current environment and circumstances, a renewed offer on terms acceptable to APA would not be likely to succeed."
7) Jackson said the board had endorsed its support for Dixon's leadership, and would conduct a strategic review of its capital management strategies over the next few months.
8) Jackson was appointed to the Qantas board in July 1992, and became chairwoman in August 2000. She also chairs the company's nominations committee.
Qantas finalizing small acquisition in Asia as it builds regional freight company
(APW_ENG_20070524.0651)
1) Qantas Airways said Thursday it is finalizing a strategic acquisition in Asia as part of plans to create a regional freight and logistics company, and was considering a share buyback or de-merger of some operations to redistribute capital to shareholders.
2) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon the announcements came in a briefing to institutional investors, which was later broadcast on the Internet, that was the first to detail its strategies for growth in the wake of the failed 11 billion Australian dollars (US$8.9 billion; euro6.6 billion) private equity takeover bid.
3) The key strategies include many that were part of the plans the takeover group, Airline Partners Australia, had for the airline.
4) Dixon referred the six-month bid process as a "protracted and difficult" period, but that "the company has come out of the process in very good shape."
5) Qantas shares rose on Dixon's announcements, closing 0.74 percent higher at $5.46 -- just above APA's offer price.
6) Dixon said Qantas was considering opportunities to expand its existing freight operations, which include domestic air and road freight joint ventures, and possible intra-Asian air freight operations with Vietnam's Pacific Airlines and its own Jetstar Asia operations based in Singapore.
7) Qantas will consider either making distributions to shareholders or further growth of its businesses, which may include acquisitions as part of a capital management review currently under way.
8) The review, implemented after the A$5.45-per-share bid from the group, led by Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd. and U.S. buyout group TPG Inc., collapsed earlier this month, would consider changes to the airline's dividend policy, a possible share buyback or de-merger of part of the airline's businesses.
9) Dixon said Qantas was unlikely to replicate APA's "much more aggressive capital management" strategy, which would have stripped up to A$4.5 billion (US$3.7 billion; euro2.74 billion) out of the company in the first year of ownership and replaced it with debt.
10) Simon Mitchell, an analyst with UBS, estimates the airline could undertake a buyback of A$2 billion (US$1.64 billion; euro1.22 billion), without jeopardizing its current BBB+ credit rating.
11) Qantas also said it is reviewing the ownership of its frequent flyer program, which currently redeems over 3 million seats annually to around 4.9 million members. UBS estimates a spinoff of this business could net A$3.5 billion (US$2.87 billion; euro2.13 billion).
12) As part of the repositioning of its international operations, Qantas will continue to transition leisure routes to its discount arm Jetstar under its two brand strategy, and is also considering commencing new services to South America, increasing flights to the United States and introducing daily flights to Shanghai.
13) Dixon said the current operating environment was favorable.
14) But he warned the planned entry by year's-end of Singapore discount carrier Tiger Airways into the domestic market, an expansion of international capacity, and the risk of already high oil and jet fuel prices going higher, posed risks to its continued profitability.
Former Rio Tinto executive named chairman of Australia ' s Qantas Airways
(APW_ENG_20070809.0428)
1) Leigh Clifford, the former chief executive of global mining company Rio Tinto Ltd., will become the new chairman of Qantas Airways Ltd. in November, the airline said Thursday.
2) Clifford, who retired as chief executive of Rio Tinto in April after a 37-year career, will fill a non-executive director vacancy on the Qantas board immediately and will replace current Chairwoman Margaret Jackson after the company's annual meeting.
3) "I have watched the aviation industry and Qantas over the years and have great admiration for Qantas and the team at Qantas," Clifford said in a statement released by Qantas. "I have given the invitation a great deal of thought and am enthusiastic about working with Margaret Jackson, the board and management through a smooth transition period and leading the board as its Chairman from November."
4) Qantas is also due to name another two directors to the board, to replace Jackson and media and gambling mogul James Packer, who will also retire at the November meeting.
Qantas overcomes higher fuel costs to post 50 percent increase in profit
(APW_ENG_20070816.0242)
1) Australia's flagship Qantas Airways Ltd. reported a 50 percent increase in annual profit to a record 719.4 million Australian dollars (US$587 million; euro438 million) Thursday, despite a 19 percent hike in its annual fuel bill because of higher oil prices.
2) Profit for the fiscal year ending June 30 rose from A$479.5 million (US$392 million; euro292 million) the previous year as revenue rose 11 percent to A$15.17 billion (US$12.4 billion; euro9.2 billion).
3) Qantas' pretax profit was A$1.03 billion (US$841 million; euro627 million), in line with market expectations.
4) The airline is expecting pretax profit to be around 30 percent higher for the year ending June 30, 2008 after a strong start to the new year, said Chief Executive Geoff Dixon.
5) "The first six weeks of 2007/08 have been very strong for all our flying businesses and forward bookings are equally buoyant through to the end of the calendar year," Dixon said.
6) Qantas' two brand strategy, with Jetstar as a low-cost offshoot, was a key driver of the improved full year result, he said.
7) Fuel costs remain an enormous challenge for the aviation industry, with the airline's fuel bill rising A$500 million (US$408 million; euro304 million) to A$3.3 billion (US$2.7 billion; euro2 billion) in the last fiscal year, Dixon said.
Australian police probe Qantas safety official accused of forging qualifications
(APW_ENG_20070821.0129)
1) Australian police are investigating a former Qantas employee who conducted safety checks on hundreds of international flights without a valid license, the airline said Tuesday.
2) Qantas' head of engineering David Cox said the employee joined the airline as an engineer in 2002, but won a promotion to a more senior role last year on the basis of forged credentials.
3) Airline officials confronted the man last month when a manager "became suspicious" and discovered that he had not passed civil aviation exams required to work in that role, Cox said.
4) Managers then confronted the man, who had not returned to work since. Qantas said it had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.
5) Cox said Qantas had checked the qualifications of its remaining safety inspectors and found that they were "all above board."
6) However, he said that although Qantas considered the alleged forgery a "very serious matter," the airline was confident that the former engineer's work had not put any passengers at risk.
7) "Qantas has checked everything he has worked on and it checked out," Cox said. "He was not some bloke off the street ... We are comfortable that the work he did was pretty safe."
Australia ' s Qantas and Jetstar start environmentally friendly programs for passengers
(APW_ENG_20070919.0234)
1) Travelers on Australia's flagship airline Qantas can now do their bit to fight global warming by paying into an environmental fund to compensate for their plane's per-passenger emissions, the company announced Wednesday.
2) Both Qantas and its budget subsidiary Jetstar are offering passengers on all their flights the opportunity to buy so-called carbon dioxide offset credits via the Internet to help fund environmentally friendly projects.
3) The voluntary program allows travelers to log into the airlines' Web sites to calculate the carbon dioxide gas emissions produced per passenger from a domestic or international flight, according to a Qantas statement.
4) "An online calculator assesses data about the flight sector and automatically advises customers of their emissions and the cost of offsetting them," it said.
5) The money would be spent on government-approved carbon dioxide abatement schemes, including grants for renewable energy sources, tree-planting projects and improvements to energy efficiency.
6) To launch the program, Qantas said it would plant 90,000 native eucalyptus trees across Australia to offset the carbon dioxide emissions for all its domestic and international flights over a 24-hour period. Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said Wednesday's so-called "Fly Carbon Neutral Day" would offset some 40,000 tons of greenhouse gases from around 950 short and long-haul flights.
7) The aviation industry, which accounts for about 2 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, has come under increasing pressure from environmental campaigners, and airline companies have been racing to improve their green credentials.
8) Some, like British Airways, offer customers the chance to fund environmental projects to offset the CO2 emissions created by their trip, while others -- like Virgin Atlantic -- are investing in new forms of biofuel.
Qantas orders up to 188 new planes from Boeing and Airbus as part of Asia expansion
(APW_ENG_20071114.0423)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Wednesday it has ordered up to 188 new planes from Boeing Co. and Airbus to support its short-haul growth plans in Australia and Asia.
2) The order includes 68 A320 or the larger A321 aircraft, and 31 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The Australian national carrier has also taken out an additional 40 options and purchase rights over the Airbus aircraft and 49 for the 737.
3) The purchase price of the planes wasn't disclosed.
4) Chairwoman Margaret Jackson told shareholders at the airline's annual meeting in Melbourne that the new order will take the company's total aircraft order book to nearly 35 billion Australian dollars (US$31 billion; euro21 billion) at list prices.
5) In August, Qantas is due to receive the first of 20 Airbus A380 superjumbos it has ordered to operate on major international routes.
6) Singapore Airlines brought the A380 from Singapore to Sydney last month in its maiden passenger flight.
7) Qantas' low-fares subsidiary, Jetstar, will also start receiving in early 2009 the first 15 of 65 Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" aircrafts it has ordered for long-term routes.
8) "This decision, together with existing A380 and B787 fleet commitments, secures an order stream for next generation aircraft that will allow the group to meet long-term demand growth and replace older aircraft over the next decade," Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said.
9) The new aircraft will be used to defend the group's 65 percent share of the Australian domestic market, 33 percent of international routes into Australia, and to expand its low-cost services to Southeast Asia, Dixon said.
10) Dixon said the Airbus order for up to 108 aircraft will provide, "aggressive growth for Jetstar and enable it to establish new international bases in Darwin and Perth," to better serve nearby South East Asian markets.
11) Qantas' order is "a big signal to both Virgin Blue and Tiger and any other prospective entrants that it will take no prisoners" in defending its market share, said Derek Sadubin, an analyst at the consultancy Center for Asia Pacific Aviation.
12) Virgin Blue is Qantas' main domestic rival.
13) Dixon said some of the aircraft will be used to supply capacity to the group's Asian associate airlines, which include its 45 percent-owned, Singapore-based budget carrier Jetstar Asia and Vietnam's Pacific Airlines, in which Qantas finalized an 18 percent holding in July.
14) Qantas expects to receive the first of at least 17 A321 aircraft in February, with the B737s expected to be delivered from early 2009.
15) Dixon also reiterated the airline's earnings guidance for the fiscal year, saying it was targeting 30 percent growth in pretax profit, up from A$1.03 billion (US$915 million; euro623 million) last fiscal year.
16) Qantas shares closed slightly down at A$5.77.
Australia ' s Qantas Airways apologizes for price-fixing
(APW_ENG_20071128.0345)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. apologized Wednesday for price-fixing after the Australian carrier became the third international airline this year to admit to the practice in the United States and agree to pay a multimillion-dollar fine.
2) Qantas sought to eliminate competition by fixing the rates for shipments of cargo to and from the U.S. and elsewhere from at least January 2000 through February 2006, according to charges filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
3) During that time, Qantas was the largest carrier of cargo between the U.S. and Australia, earning more than US$600 million from its cargo flights between the two nations, the U.S. Justice Department said.
4) Qantas entered a plea agreement with the U.S. government under which it will cooperate with the Justice Department's ongoing investigation and pay a $61 million (euro41 million) fine. The agreement is subject to court approval.
5) Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon said in a statement Wednesday that Qantas takes seriously its obligation to comply with the law, and expects all its workers to do so at all times.
6) "In this case, Qantas did not meet this expectation," he said. "The conduct was wrong and we apologize unreservedly for this."
7) Dixon said the illegal conduct involved fuel surcharges, and that Qantas is one of more than 30 airlines that are being investigated by the Justice Department and other antitrust regulators for similar violations.
8) Earlier this year, British Airways PLC and Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. each pleaded guilty and agreed to pay separate $300 million (euro201.7 million) criminal fines for their roles in conspiracies to fix the prices of passenger and cargo flights.
9) Four past and two current Qantas employees were excluded from the plea agreement and U.S. officials may further investigate their actions, though this did not mean they would be prosecuted, Dixon said. The two workers still with the company denied breaking the law, he said.
10) Qantas was charged with price-fixing in meetings to discuss the cargo rates charged on certain trans-Pacific routes to and from the U.S., and then levying rates according to the agreements reached.
11) "It was so unnecessary, they didn't really have to collude," said airline consultant Michael Boyd, adding that cargo rate increases and fuel surcharges were justified based on rising oil prices in recent years.
12) Fuel costs accounted for the largest piece of U.S. airlines' operating expenses in the second quarter of 2007 at 25.4 percent, and are expected to represent more than 26 percent of airlines' expenses globally in 2007, according to domestic and international trade groups.
Qantas raises fuel surcharges on international passenger flights from Jan. 17
(APW_ENG_20080107.0273)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Monday that it will increase fuel surcharges on international passenger flights booked from Jan. 17. in response to record oil prices.
2) The Australian national carrier said the increases, the first in six months, will apply to one-way international flights across both its mainline and discount subsidiary Jetstar airlines.
3) A flat rate increase of 10 Australian dollars (US$8.72; euro5.93) will apply to all of Jetstar's international routes. Across Qantas' global network surcharges on most routes will rise about 14 percent.
4) The move by Qantas follows similar moves by key rivals in recent weeks.
5) Domestic rival Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. said late last month it will raise surcharges by over 25 percent per sector from Feb. 1.
6) Key international rival Singapore Airlines increased -- for the second time in two months -- fuel surcharges on all flights from Dec. 4, including those operated by its SilkAir unit.
7) Crude oil futures finally topped U$100 a barrel last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices made a run for the historic mark late last year, but halted short on the perception that supplies were rising while demand was falling.
8) Despite the surcharge hikes, shares in Qantas remained weak Monday, falling as much as 4.6 percent to a five-month low of A$5.19 (US$4.52; euro3.08). They closed at A$5.28 (US$4.60; euro3.13).
9) Investor are worried that the record oil prices will raise fuel costs for airlines and other businesses.
Qantas jet back in service after power failure
(APW_ENG_20080109.0403)
1) A Qantas Airways jumbo jet that lost all electrical power when descending into Bangkok has been returned to service, the airline said Wednesday.
2) The B747-400 aircraft, which was en route from London to Sydney on Monday, automatically reverted to standby power.
3) The pilots on flight QF2 handled the "unusual situation" in line with their training, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said in a statement.
4) He said the incident was triggered by water entering the generator control unit, which caused loss of power.
5) "The aircraft was subjected to stringent inspections and testing in Bangkok before being cleared to fly," Borghetti said.
6) Qantas will carry out its own investigation and will work with Boeing and Australian air safety authorities, he said.
7) "As a precaution, Qantas has inspected its entire B747-400 fleet and all of these aircraft have been cleared to fly," he said.
Boeing 787 delay affects ANA and Qantas ' budget airline
(APW_ENG_20080117.0411)
1) Australia's Qantas says another delay in delivery of Boeing's new 787 will slow the expansion plans of its budget subsidiary, while All Nippon Airways -- in line to get the first plane -- said it was "extremely unhappy" about the delay.
2) U.S. plane manufacturer Boeing Co. ended weeks of speculation Wednesday by announcing the inaugural flight of the 787 will be delayed up to another three months, pushing delivery of the first plane into early 2009 -- the third time the plane has been delayed.
3) ANA, Japan's second-largest airline, which has ordered 50 of the mid-sized, long-haul jets, was originally scheduled to get the first plane midyear and four others before the end of 2008.
4) The company is reviewing plans, including the training of employees, that had been timed with the first 787 deliveries, said spokesman Kazuyuki Imanishi.
5) "We are extremely unhappy," he said.
6) The carrier is still trying to get full details of the delay from Boeing as it just got the news about midnight Wednesday and all it knows is that the delivery won't happen this year and is being delayed into early 2009.
7) Imanishi said other planes in the ANA fleet will be used for the routes on which the Dreamliners would have been used. No major impact on ANA business plans or earnings is expected so far, he said.
8) Meanwhile, Qantas' budget subsidiary Jetstar doesn't expect to get its first 787 until May 2009 -- delayed from August this year. It was to use the planes to expand its domestic operations internationally.
9) "In the meantime, we will look at a range of options including revised retirement dates for some of our aircraft, reallocating existing capacity and potential schedule adjustments," said Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon in a statement Thursday.
10) He said the delay will have no impact on Qantas Group's earnings or the company's overall growth strategy while delaying the international plans of Jetstar "in the short term."
11) Qantas said it would discuss with Boeing the possibility of claiming damages for the delay, which is provided for in the contracts. Qantas has ordered 65 of the plans, dubbed the Dreamliner, has options on 20 others and purchase rights over 30 more.
12) Some analysts estimate Boeing faces as much as a few million dollars (euros) in penalty payments for every plane that is delivered late.
13) It was not immediately clear how many other 787 customers would be affected by the latest delay. Last fall, the company said it was working on revised delivery schedules with about 15 customers. To date, Boeing said 55 airlines have placed 817 orders for the plane.
14) Japan's biggest airline, Japan Airlines Corp., or JAL, said it is still looking into the detailed delivery schedule with Boeing, according to Dow Jones Newswires. It said it will make efforts to absorb delivery delays by adjusting its fleet.
15) JAL has 35 orders for the 787 Dreamliners, with an option to buy 20 addition airplanes.
US, Australia reach `open skies ' aviation agreement
(APW_ENG_20080215.0479)
1) Australia and the United States have reached a bilateral "open skies" aviation agreement, the countries announced Friday, clearing the way for increased competition on some of the world's most lucrative and protected long-haul routes.
2) The bilateral agreement abolishes all restrictions on U.S. and Australian air services for carriers of both countries, ending a virtual duopoly held by Qantas and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. Qantas controls 75 percent of the market share on Australia-U.S. routes, from which it derives around 15 percent of its net profit.
3) The deal will allow Australian carrier Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. to begin flights to the United States by the end of the year -- but leaves Singapore Airlines Ltd., which has long coveted U.S.-Australia routes, still without access.
4) It would also "provide certainty" for Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. and its budget offshoot Jetstar, allowing them to widen the network of American cities they currently serve, Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
5) "Airlines from both countries will be allowed to select routes and destinations based on consumer demand, without limitations on the number of U.S. or Australian carriers that can fly between the two countries or the number of flights they can operate," a U.S. Department of Transport statement said.
6) "The agreement also removes restrictions on capacity and pricing, and provides opportunities for cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-sharing, between U.S. and Australian carriers," it said.
7) The agreement only applies to American and Australian carriers.
8) The Australian government last year denied Singapore Airlines' request to start services in the corridor on the grounds that opening up such routes to the Asian carrier would bring only minor tourism benefits and could hurt the economy. The carrier had hoped a change in government in Australia last November would see a softening of opposition to its ambitions.
9) Singapore Airlines said that hope had been squelched by Friday's agreement.
10) "The agreement to liberalize for Australian and American carriers on the U.S. route is long overdue," Stephen Forshaw, Singapore Airlines' vice president for public affairs said in a statement. "But it is only half a step."
11) The company repeated its accusation that the Australian government was unfairly protecting Qantas from competition by denying Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific routes.
12) At a news conference, Albanese said the government made "no apologies for making sure that Australian interests have been put first in this agreement."
13) Qantas immediately announced it would increase its flights to the U.S. to 51 a week from March from 48 a week now, and Chief Executive Geoff Dixon urged the government to pursue similar agreements with other countries.
14) "Further liberalization of air services arrangements with a number of countries if needed if Australian carriers are to grow operations and match opportunities available to foreign competitors," Dixon said in a statement.
15) The agreement comes after three days of negotiations in Washington and will take effect once formal approval from the U.S. and Australian governments is granted.
16) Virgin Blue, Australia's second-largest airline by revenue, wants to fly 10 Boeing 777-300ER services a week to the west coast of the U.S. through its new international carrier, V Australia.
17) The airline last year got approval from the Australian government to add trans-Pacific routes, but an agreement with the U.S. was still needed.
18) Virgin Blue Chief Executive Brett Godfrey said the agreement was a "great outcome" for Australian travelers and would begin a new era of competition for air services between the countries.
19) "We'll certainly see some better pricing than we've seen," Godfrey told Sky News Business television. "But in terms of a price war ... I wouldn't quite see that."
20) Shares in Qantas fell as investors mulled the increased competition threat but recovered some ground to finish 2.53 percent lower at 4.63 Australian dollars. Virgin Blue surged 2.76 percent to A$1.49.
Qantas profit more than doubles during half-year through December
(APW_ENG_20080221.0346)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday it is well cushioned against any U.S.-led economic slowdown after fiscal first-half earnings more than doubled to 617.6 million Australian dollars (US$568 million; euro388 million) from a year earlier.
2) Australia's largest airline by revenue and passengers carried also unveiled plans to sell, but retain control, of its travel services businesses.
3) The result for the six months through December beat profit forecasts of around A$582.7 million for the half year, according to a survey of seven analysts by Dow Jones Newswires.
4) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon told reporters the company, which dominates traffic on the lucrative route between Australia and the United States, had "very good contingencies" in place to respond to any U.S. economic slowdown.
5) "We'd be ready to move very quickly if we felt a recession in the U.S. was starting to impact Qantas, but are not seeing any reduction in demand from the U.S., neither are we seeing it from some of our other major markets," he said.
6) There was "no significant dampening in demand in most markets," from the global economic slowdown, particularly its key domestic Australian and outbound international travel markets, the company said. There had been "some softening in the U.K. and continued weakness in Japan."
7) Dixon said further cost reductions of A$1.5 billion (US$1.37 billion; euro930 million) are targeted by June 2010 to better compete with foreign government-owned rivals.
8) The airline, which controls 68 percent of domestic and 32 percent of international traffic in Australia, said it is confident full year profit before tax for the year to June 2008 will be at least 40 percent higher than last year's record A$1.03 billion, up from December's forecast of around 40 percent growth.
9) Qantas shares surged nearly 4 percent before falling back to close 2.3 percent higher at A$4.45 -- well below a record high of A$6.06 set in December.
10) Qantas said it will sell its holidays and business travel operations to Jetset Travelworld Ltd. in return for a 58 percent stake in the enlarged travel agency.
11) Under the deal, subject to Jetset shareholder approval in April and clearance from competition and foreign investment regulators, Qantas will appoint four of seven directors to Jetset, which is anticipated to generate revenues of over A$800 million (US$730 million) a year.
12) The national carrier also separately disclosed earnings from its discount arm Jetstar, more than quadrupled its pretax earnings to A$113 million (US$104 million; euro71 million) from A$24.5 million a year ago.
Qantas: Latest Boeing 787 delays disappointing, but expected
(APW_ENG_20080410.0155)
1) Qantas Airways said Thursday it was disappointed at the latest delay to the delivery of Boeing's 787 jetliner but that it had put in place plans to lease extra planes so capacity would not be affected.
2) Qantas will be entitled to substantial liquidated damages as a result of the delay, Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon said in a statement. He did not say how much.
3) Boeing Co. announced Thursday it was pushing back its 787 deliveries by another six months, postponing the jet's debut in commercial service until the third quarter of 2009. It is now more than a year behind schedule.
4) The delay -- the third revision of its delivery schedule -- was a further jolt to Boeing's credibility and would likely cost it billions of dollars (euros) in additional costs and penalties.
5) In a note to the Australian Securities Exchange, Dixon said Qantas was not surprised but was "very disappointed" by the latest delay.
6) He said Qantas had already secured a lease agreement for six Airbus A330 planes as a contingency plan for possible Boeing delays. The A330s will operate on international routes for Qantas' budget carrier Jetstar.
7) "These aircraft are the same as currently used by Jetstar for its long-haul flying and will provide adequate growth for Jetstar until the arrival of the Dreamliner," Dixon said.
8) Qantas has committed to buy up to 115 of the new 787 aircraft, with 65 firm orders, and plans to operate the first 15 deliveries on Jetstar's international routes.
Qantas, Pacific strike strategic partnership to develop low-cost carrier
(APW_ENG_20080414.0230)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways and Pacific Airlines of Vietnam announced plans Monday to develop the Asian carrier into a low-cost airline through massive expansion during the next six years.
2) Under a strategic and commercial partnership agreement, the new airline will be renamed Jetstar Pacific and operate as part of the Qantas budget carrier's brand, Qantas said in a statement.
3) Up to 30 Airbus A320 planes will be added to the fleet by 2014, Qantas said.
4) "The first A320 is proposed to enter Jetstar Pacific's operations in August 2008, initially within Vietnam before expanding later this year into markets such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia," Qantas said.
5) Pacific will take on its new name on May 23.
6) The new airline is part of Jetstar's expansion in Asia. Jetstar began flying within Australia in 2004, and launched international long haul flights within Asia in 2006 and has a regional base in Singapore. It flies throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and Hong Kong.
7) Qantas hopes to extend Jetstar's international operations to Europe and the United States, but analysts say they are being hampered by delays to the delivery of Boeing's 787 jetliners.
8) Qantas bought 18 percent of Pacific Airlines in July 2007 and under the business plan will increase its stake to 30 percent in 2010. The airline did not say how much the extra stake was expected to cost.
9) Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said that by joining Jetstar, the Vietnamese carrier would help form one of the largest and fastest growing airline brands in the region.
10) "Jetstar Pacific will be able to access and leverage the significant expertise and resources within the Qantas Group that will help enable its planned future growth," Dixon said.
11) The airline currently runs almost 130 flights a week between seven destinations in Vietnam, using four Boeing 737-400s.
Qantas to raise fares, suspend share buyback program due to fuel price rises
(APW_ENG_20080428.0355)
1) Australian national carrier Qantas announced Monday it will raise international and domestic airfares by at least 3 percent and suspend its share buyback program because of rising fuel prices.
2) However, the airline said it remains confident it can meet its forecast of at least a 40 percent gain in pretax profit for the year to mid-2008, compared with the previous year.
3) Fares on international flights will rise about 3 percent and domestic airfares would rise 3.5 percent, effective May 9, Qantas said in a statement.
4) Qantas' budget subsidiary Jetstar also was reviewing its fares, the company said.
5) Qantas Airways Ltd. shares rose 1.2 percent to A$3.41.
6) The airline said it had hedged 34 percent of its fuel needs for the year to mid-2009 at a price of US$90 per barrel, mostly for the first half of the fiscal year. It also lifted fuel surcharges in January.
7) "An increase in base fares is now necessary to partially bridge the widening gap between the actual increase in the cost of fuel and the amount we offset through surcharges or non-fuel cost improvements," chief executive Geoff Dixon said.
8) "We will continue to monitor fare and surcharge levels and review our network and schedule to optimize capacity."
9) He said the company viewed it as prudent to suspend its share buyback.
10) Qantas announced last August it planned to buy back up to 10 percent of its issued capital, depending on market conditions.
11) The group said Monday it has returned more than 500 million Australian dollars (US$466 million; euro300 million) to shareholders since the buyback commenced in September 2007.
12) ABN Amro Morgans analyst Bill Bishop said investors reacted positively to the announcement because Qantas was "taking steps to protect themselves" in anticipation of continuing high fuel prices.
Qantas to raise fares and increase fuel hedging due to record oil prices
(APW_ENG_20080522.0420)
1) Australia's flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday it will increase fares from June 4 in response to record oil prices, and has also increased its fuel hedging program for next year.
2) The airline said international fares will rise by around 4 percent and domestic fares by around 3 percent following increases of around 3 percent and 3.5 percent respectively from May 9.
3) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement that the increases were unavoidable given continuing high oil prices.
4) In the face of the higher costs, the airline will also review its network and schedules across its mainline, regional and discount Jetstar flying brands.
5) "Oil and jet fuel prices continue to break records, with West Texas Intermediate spot crude oil passing US$134 a barrel overnight and Singapore Jet Fuel today trading at nearly US$166 a barrel," Dixon said.
6) Qantas has increased its fuel hedging and has covered 59 percent of its expected crude oil requirements for the year to June 2009, at US$111.81 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate spot, inclusive of option premium.
Qantas to trim jobs, close routes, retire aircraft due to rising fuel costs
(APW_ENG_20080528.0381)
1) Qantas announced Wednesday it would shed jobs, shut down some flight routes and retire aircraft in an effort to control costs as the price of jet fuel soars.
2) The airline said in a statement that it faces a 2 billion Australian dollar (US$1.9 billion; euro1.2 billion) increase in its fuel bill in the 2008-2009 financial year, representing about 35 percent of its annual expenditure.
3) "Despite our fuel hedging strategy, fuel surcharges, two separate across-the-board fare increases and a recruitment freeze, we are not bridging the widening gap between the actual increase in the cost of fuel and the amount we offset," chief executive Geoff Dixon said in the statement.
4) Under its plan, Qantas will retire one B737 aircraft, ground two B767s and one Jetstar A320, and cancel the delivery of one Jetstar A321 plane. It will also move faster toward retiring four B747-300 aircraft.
5) Jetstar is Qantas' discount arm.
6) Dixon said Qantas will scale back frequencies and capacity of some domestic and international routes, and cancel other routes.
7) He also warned there would be staff cuts, starting with an accelerated leave program and voluntary redundancy.
8) "It is inevitable that a reduction in staff numbers will be necessary in selected parts of our business," he said.
9) Qantas' decision to cut capacity by five percent is equivalent to grounding about six aircraft, the statement said.
10) "Qantas remains a fundamentally strong company, with a good balance sheet and a commitment to investment that includes a $35 billion order for aircraft," Dixon said.
11) Qantas shares rose 4.86 percent to A$3.45.
12) Merrill Lynch research analyst Kevin O'Connor said Qantas' plans reflected moves by other airlines across the globe.
13) "Worldwide you have seen a number of airlines talk about capacity cuts, in the U.S., New Zealand, Europe and Asia," O'Connor said. "The simple fact is that because of rising fuel prices they need to push up ticket prices."
14) But airlines are having difficulty doing that "in a softening economic environment," he said, and have to combine price increases with cutbacks in capacity.
Qantas engineers ' strike disrupts Australian domestic, international flights
(APW_ENG_20080529.1512)
1) Temporary strikes by Qantas engineers carried over into Friday, further disrupting some domestic and international flights as their union held meetings over a wage dispute.
2) The engineers, who began their strike Thursday, are asking for a 5 percent annual pay increase. Qantas has offered them 3 percent.
3) To press their demand, about 100 engineers in Sydney refused to certify aircraft for four hours Thursday morning; about 100 more in Brisbane went on strike for four hours in the evening.
4) Another 100 stopped work in Melbourne for four hours Friday until noon (0200 GMT), forcing Australia's flagship airline to cancel eight flights
5) The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association said the stop-work was necessary to safeguard the pay and service standards of the airline.
6) Qantas prepared for the strike ahead of time by canceling some of its flights for Thursday and Friday. Ten flights were canceled Thursday in Sydney and Brisbane.
7) CEO Geoff Dixon said Thursday he would not negotiate with the union while strikes were ongoing.
8) Earlier Thursday, he told Fairfax Radio Network that he would not give in to the engineers' demands.
9) "I think their claim is out of order and we're not going to entertain it," Dixon said.. "We've got the long-term future of the company in mind more than anything else and if it means that some of our passengers have some discomfort for a while that will be the case."
10) The engineers and their union say Qantas' profit record proves it can afford the salary increase, and they point out that Dixon received a 22 percent pay raise last year.
11) "Wages have been growing at less than half the rate of profit over a number of years now," Australian Council of Trade Unions President Sharon Burrow told reporters Thursday.
12) "They're asking for simple maintenance of their living standards," Burrow said of the engineers.
13) "It's about time Qantas realized the fuel pressures, the price pressures overall cut both ways. They can hedge their price pressures, working families can't and all we're asking for is a real wage increase," she said.
14) The strike comes Qantas announced Wednesday it faces a 2 billion Australian dollar (US$1.9 billion; euro1.2 billion) increase in its fuel bill in the 2008-2009 financial year. The airline will retire aircraft, close some routes and shed jobs in an effort to control costs.
15) Qantas' shares closed 1.7 percent higher in Sydney Thursday at A$3.51, after dropping more than 2 percent in early trading on news of the strike.
Australia ' s Qantas cuts international schedules in face of high fuel costs
(APW_ENG_20080605.0352)
1) Australia's Qantas Airways said Thursday it would discontinue or reduce a number of international services, mainly to Japan and Southeast Asian destinations, to cut costs in the face of high oil prices.
2) The announcement comes a week after Qantas unveiled changes to its domestic network in order to cut capacity by around 5 percent.
3) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement that the cost of fuel had changed the way the Qantas Group had to do business over the next two years.
4) The airline will cancel its thrice-weekly service between Melbourne and Tokyo starting in September; reduce the number of weekly return flights between Sydney and Tokyo to seven from nine; and end the Jetstar service from Cairns to Osaka and Nagoya starting in December.
5) It will also replace 14 weekly Cairns to Tokyo flights with daily flights on Jetstar, its discount carrier.
6) "At current fuel prices, the Group would lose more than A$100 million (US$95 million) operating to Japan under our existing schedule," Dixon said.
7) He said the new schedules still offer significant capacity of more than 11,500 seats a week between Japan and Queensland.
8) Jetstar will withdraw its Sydney to Kuala Lumpur service and replace Qantas on Perth to Denpasar and Jakarta flights starting in December.
9) Dixon said there would be a small number of jobs lost in Australia and Japan as a result of the changes, in addition to job losses from last week's domestic changes that are "expected to be in the low hundreds."
10) Last week the airline unveiled changes to its domestic network after announcing a 2 billion Australian dollar (US$1.9 billion) increase in its fuel bill in the 2008-2009 financial year. The airline will retire aircraft, close some routes and shed jobs in an effort to control costs.
11) "We will continue to work with individual markets and look for opportunities as conditions improve to address capacity issues and reinstate services where and when we can," Dixon said.
12) Airlines around the region, including such leaders as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, have been trying to cut costs as rising fuel prices over the past year have eaten into profits.
13) Jet fuel prices have risen to record levels this year as the price of crude oil doubled on the New York Mercantile Exchange to a record of US$135.09 a barrel in May.
Qantas engineers plan series of strikes in Australia next week under pay dispute
(APW_ENG_20080619.0319)
1) Engineers for Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday they would launch rolling strikes against Australia's national carrier next week as part of a pay dispute. Qantas said the union action would force some flights to be canceled.
2) The airline canceled 17 domestic flights and delayed many others last month when similar strike action was taken.
3) The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association wants a 5 percent wage rise for about 1,500 engineers employed by Qantas. The airline is offering a 3 percent raise. The union is also claiming that Qantas is docking the pay of engineers who refuse to work overtime.
4) The association said in a statement that engineers will begin with four-hour strikes in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia's two biggest cities, and the tourist city of Cairns on Monday.
5) The work stoppages will hit other cities and will continue until Qantas "starts to play fair," union Federal Secretary Steve Purvinas said.
6) "It is unfortunate that it has got to this point," Purvinas said. "Qantas engineers are committed to the airline and have campaigned hard to maintain high safety standards, but by driving down wages and conditions, Qantas is putting its international reputation at risk."
7) In a statement, Qantas accused the union of timing the strike action to cause the maximum amount of trouble for passengers, and said its claims that Qantas was bullying employees and putting the airline's safety record at risk were bogus. School term breaks start in most Australian states in early July.
8) "The union is determined to disrupt the travel plans of Qantas customers, and we are equally determined to minimize the impact of its strike action," senior executive Kevin Brown said.
9) He said some flights would have to be canceled, but the statement did not give details.
10) Qantas announced last month that it would cut routes and jobs, retire aircraft and freeze executive salaries because of rising fuel costs.
Qantas cancels some flights in Australia due to engineers strike
(APW_ENG_20080623.0050)
1) Qantas canceled six flights Monday between Australia's two largest cities and prepared for broader turmoil, as engineers launched strikes against the national carrier in a pay dispute.
2) The engineers union planned rolling strikes in several cities Monday and Tuesday to pressure Qantas Airways Ltd.
3) Six of the carrier's flights from Sydney and Melbourne were canceled Monday, and another 18 flights in those cities as well as Brisbane and Cairns would be canceled on Tuesday, the airline said.
4) The strikes currently affect only domestic Australian flights.
5) Qantas executives say they have contingency plans in place to keep disruptions to passengers to a minimum, but did not release details.
6) Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association is demanding a 5 percent wage rise for its members, while Qantas has offered a 3 percent rise and says it will not negotiate further.
7) Qantas' executive general manager for people, Kevin Brown, warned Monday the dispute could go on for some time.
8) "I don't think that there is a settlement at hand here," Brown told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We are a fair way apart."
9) He accused the union of holding "a gun to our head" by bringing the strike action, and said union officials kept raising their wage demands.
10) He said all passengers on canceled flights had been placed on other flights, all within one hour of their scheduled service
11) Steve Purvinas, the engineers' union national secretary, said Qantas management was being inflexible on the proposed wage increase.
12) "They came in and said, `3 percent -- take it or leave it,'" Purvinas told the Macquarie Radio network. "This has been their position all along. Something has to change."
Qantas chief invokes fuel rises in pay dispute, saying costs are
(APW_ENG_20080624.0271)
1) Qantas' boss on Tuesday said skyrocketing fuel prices were "almost out of control" and are forcing the world's airlines to make major changes in the way they do business.
2) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon invoked rising fuel costs in the Australian carrier's battle with engineers who are striking for more pay, saying it would not contemplate their demand for a 5 percent increase.
3) "We will have a record profit this year but we'll also have in the year coming up ... 2 billion Australian dollars (US$1.9 billion) more in our fuel bill than the current year," Dixon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
4) "Everybody, apparently except the engineers, realize that fuel is almost out of control, that all airlines around the world are making major changes to their business and we have to do the same," he said.
5) He said the fuel crisis was the biggest challenge to the airline industry in up to 40 years -- more serious than the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist hijackings and the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, because it would be longer lasting.
6) Qantas canceled at least 18 domestic flights because of escalating strikes in several cities by its engineers union, and the company warned that up to 30 flights of the airline's 350 daily flights could be affected in coming days.
7) Qantas Airways Ltd. is offering a 3 percent pay raise, but the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Associated wants a 5 percent raise and began brief job walk-offs on Monday.
8) The airline said it may consolidate flights by using larger aircraft and combining two or more scheduled flights.
9) Some passengers on international flights experienced delays of up to six hours Monday when the strikes began, as the strikes hit domestic flights that connected some people to international ones, Qantas said.
10) The union withdrew the threat of strikes planned for Wednesday and Thursday after Qantas launched a court challenge to the strikes' legality.
11) Union president Paul Cousins said members were concerned about safety implications of managers doing the work of engineers. "We feel that there is an amount of competency required," Cousins said.
12) Qantas executive general manager of engineering David Cox said the airline was not compromising safety.
Qantas cancels Australian flights Thursday due to aircraft shortage
(APW_ENG_20080625.1483)
1) Qantas has canceled more domestic flights in Australia Thursday because striking engineers have created a shortage of serviced aircraft, an airline official said.
2) Australia's flagship airline scratched 14 flights Thursday after 29 were canceled Wednesday, although the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association has delayed further strikes until Friday, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
3) "We have still got flow-on effects as a result of strikes on Monday and Tuesday, including a number of cancellations," the spokeswoman said. She declined to give her name, citing company policy.
4) Many aircraft have not been maintained because of the strike, causing flow-on delays.
5) The union is seeking a pay increase of 5 percent for its 1,500 engineers while Qantas is offering 3 percent.
6) ALAEA federal president Paul Cousins said Wednesday his union had given Qantas notice of further stoppages Friday.
7) "The last thing Qantas engineers want to do is inconvenience the traveling public, but it is unacceptable for a company that is making record profits to expect these hardworking, highly skilled engineers to take a real pay cut," he said, referring to the pay offer which is below Australia's 4 percent inflation rate.
Australia ' s Qantas Airways to cut 1,500 jobs worldwide to offset crisis of rising fuel prices
(APW_ENG_20080718.0322)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. announced Friday it was slashing its work force by 1,500 people worldwide, the latest in a string of measures to try to offset skyrocketing fuel costs.
2) Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the cuts -- about 1,300 of them coming in Australia -- represent 4 percent of its total work force. The airline will also close call centers in Tucson, Arizona, and London, causing the loss of 99 jobs.
3) Dixon said the cuts were necessary to ensure that Qantas survives what he called a crisis in the aviation industry caused by large rises in the price of fuel.
4) "I think it's as tough as I've seen it," Dixon told reporters. "It's not just aviation being hurt by oil prices, it's other things, such as food. It's tough -- there's no doubt about it."
5) Fuel accounts for about 35 percent of Qantas' expenses, and rising fuel costs are expected to add more than Australian dollars 2 billion (US$2 billion) to the company's fuel bills to the year ending mid-2009.
6) The airline's work force of 36,000 people accounts for another 30 percent of costs.
7) "The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although operational positions will also go," Dixon said. "Over 20 percent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut."
8) The first step in the job-shedding plan would be to ask for voluntary redundancies, Dixon said.
9) "But unfortunately with these numbers we will have compulsory redundancies," he said, adding that the redundancies would be completed by December.
10) Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would provide assistance to those who lose their jobs.
11) "Certainly the government is disappointed with any job losses and we want to make sure that the workers are given every support," Albanese said.
12) To reduce costs even more, Qantas will maintain an executive pay freeze for the foreseeable future.
13) The airline is also abandoning plans to increase its capacity by 8 percent in the 12 months to mid-2009, with no growth whatsoever now expected in that period, Dixon said. Also, 22 older planes in Qantas' 228-strong fleet would be retired.
14) Qantas' budget subsidiary Jetstar would also be hit by the cuts, with its hiring program suspended. A Jetstar cabin crew and pilot base in the southern city of Adelaide will be shut by September.
15) "Acting now, on top of the measures already taken, will protect our competitive position, protect the great majority of over 36,000 jobs and enable us to grow profitably when conditions improve," Dixon said.
16) Qantas has already increased fares twice and cut capacity twice in recent months.
17) Brent Mitchell, an analyst with Shaw Stockbroking, suggested that further rises in oil prices could lead to more cuts. The airline was also affected by lower yields from overseas ticket sales because of the high value of the Australian dollar, he said.
18) "It's not going to be easy for them going forward," Mitchell said. "They've done all the things: they've reduced the cost base, they've put up ticket prices, they've reduced capacity. I think more and more, you'll see services move from Qantas to Jetstar."
19) Mitchell said the aviation industry needed to cut capacity and undergo further consolidation.
20) "Airlines are in problems worldwide, and we need to see some consolidation of the airline industry," he said.
21) Crude oil, from which jet fuel is derived, had been trading above US$140 a barrel before slipping back this week, dropping to near US$130 amid concerns about a slowing US economy. The price is still up more than 30 percent so far this year.
22) The Australian Services Union, which represents airport check-in workers and administrative staff, said Qantas service standards would fall with the new cuts.
23) "To cut 20 percent of back office staff undervalues what they do, it's not as if people are sitting around doing nothing," said ASU assistant national secretary Linda White.
24) Unions -- particularly an engineers' union that has been striking this year -- have complained that Qantas is being stingy in light of its forecast for 2007-08 profit that will be at least 40 percent higher than the previous year.
25) Qantas said Friday it had reached an in-principle agreement with the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association but the details would remain confidential until next week. The union has led several strikes in the last two months, resulting in canceled and delayed flights.
26) Qantas shares moved slightly through the day but closed flat at A$3.30.
Qantas chief says fuel crisis, globalization will transform aviation industry worldwide
(APW_ENG_20080722.0269)
1) Much higher fuel prices in the long term and an agreement on loosening U.S. foreign ownership regulations could lead to a consolidation of the global airline industry into just a few companies, Qantas Airways' chief said Tuesday.
2) "Right now the global aviation industry faces ... a permanent transformation," Geoff Dixon, the chief executive of Australia's national carrier, told a gathering of business leaders.
3) The United States and the European Union began talks in May on the possibility of a trans-Atlantic aviation agreement that could spell the end of U.S. rules banning foreign control of American airlines and capping foreign ownership of voting stock at 25 percent.
4) Dixon, who has repeatedly warned that the rising cost of fuel is a very serious problem for airlines worldwide and who announced last week that Qantas was shedding 1,500 jobs next year to help address the issue, said such deregulation of the U.S. market would be a "groundbreaking development."
5) "It would open the way for airlines to engage in meaningful cross-border investments, and sooner or later it will happen," Dixon said.
6) "We believe strongly at Qantas that over time, consolidation will transform aviation," he said. "It will produce a few very large and extremely efficient global airlines with a portfolio of interests and a portfolio of brands."
7) No airline would be safe from the possibility of takeover, he said.
8) "Consolidation when it starts will be very erratic and I don't believe any airline, particularly in this part of the world, will be able to avoid consolidation," Dixon said.
9) He said Qantas had positioned itself to avoid being swallowed up by investing in its business, cutting costs, ordering more fuel efficient aircraft and developing a strong brand.
10) "The work that Qantas has done to date means that we will avoid any such dark destiny," he said.
Large hole in fuselage forces Qantas flight to make emergency landing in Manila
(APW_ENG_20080725.1199)
1) The 346 passengers were cruising at 29,000 feet Friday when an explosive bang shook the Qantas jumbo jet. The plane descended rapidly. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as debris flew through the cabin from a hole that had suddenly appeared in the floor.
2) It wasn't until they were safely on the ground after an emergency landing that they realized how lucky they had been: A hole the size of a small car had been ripped into the Boeing 747-400's metal skin and penetrated the fuselage.
3) The eerie scene aboard Flight QF 30, captured on a passenger's cell phone video-camera, showed a tense quiet punctuated only by a baby's cries as passengers sat with oxygen masks on their faces. The jerky footage showed a woman holding tightly to the seat in front of her as rapidly approaching land appeared through a window. Loud applause and relieved laughter went up as the plane touched down.
4) There were no injuries and only a few cases of nausea, airline officials said. An official of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said initial reports indicated no link to terrorism.
5) Investigators appeared to be focusing on a structural problem.
6) "From the pictures that we've seen out of Manila during the course of the day, it would seem that one of the panels to the outer skin of the aircraft has literally come away from the rest of the fuselage," Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Aviation, told The Associated Press.
7) "As a consequence of this, the aircraft experienced rapid decompression," he said.
8) While it is not uncommon for metal panels to be lost from aircraft in flight, he said: "It's relatively rare that when a bit falls off the airplane it causes the sort of instance that we saw in relation to Qantas. In other words that it causes the aircraft cabin to depressurize."
9) Yates said investigators will examine closely the fracture points that showed up on the skin of the aircraft to determine whether metal fatigue or manufacturing defect caused the panel to peel away.
10) The passengers, on a flight from London to Melbourne, had just been served a meal after a stopover in Hong Kong when they described hearing a loud bang, then their ears popping as air rushed out the hole. The pilots put the plane into a quick descent to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), where the atmosphere is still thin but breathable.
11) The Manila airport authority, quoting pilot John Francis Bartels, said the plane suffered an "explosive decompression."
12) "One hour into the flight there was a big bang, then the plane started going down," passenger Marina Scaffidi, 39, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press by phone from the airport. "There was wind swirling around the plane and some condensation."
13) She said a hole extended from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin.
14) After the pilots' initial rapid descent, "the plane kept going down, not too fast, but it was descending," Scaffidi said, adding the staff informed passengers they were diverting to Manila. TV screens on the backs of seats allowed them to track their route to the Philippine capital.
15) "No one was very hysterical," she said.
16) June Kane of Melbourne agreed, telling Australia's ABC radio: "It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm."
17) Amazingly calm, in fact.
18) Video footage showed people looking almost as if nothing was wrong as they glanced from side to side, their nearly untouched meals still in front of them. The cabin crew continued to work, smiling as they walked down the aisles to reassure nervous passengers.
19) After the plane touched down safely amid applause, one of the pilots could be heard saying over the intercom: "Fire vehicles and emergency vehicles are going to take a look at us."
20) What they found was a stunning sight. A 9-foot-wide hole gaped at the joint where the front of the right wing attaches to the plane. Luggage from the cargo hold strained against the webbing used to keep it from shifting during a flight.
21) A curved line of rivets was still visible on the plane's body at the front edge where the missing sheet once was; a straight line of rivets was along the other.
22) Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said it was too soon to determine what caused the hole, but the company was providing technical assistance as part of an investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
23) "We are dispatching four personnel from Boeing, an investigator and three engineers," who were leaving immediately, she said.
24) The probe into the 17-year-old aircraft was likely to be lengthy, Verdier said, and the Boeing team expects to interview the crew and examine the structure of the plane, among other things.
25) Friday's incident carried some echoes of a 1988 case in which a large section of an older Aloha Airlines jetliner was torn off over Hawaii because of metal fatigue. Although the pilots were able to land, a flight attendant died and many of the 89 passengers were seriously injured.
26) Geoff Dixon, the chief executive officer of Qantas, Australia's largest airline, praised the pilots and the rest of the 19-member crew for how they handled Friday's events.
27) "This was a highly unusual situation and our crew responded with the professionalism that Qantas is known for," he said.
28) The passengers were taken to several hotels in Manila, then left just before midnight on another plane to Melbourne.
29) Qantas boasts a strong safety record and has never lost a jet to an accident, although there were crashes of smaller planes, the last in 1951. Since then, there have been no accident-related deaths on any Qantas jets.
30) However, the airline has had a few scares in recent years.
31) In February 2008, a Qantas 717 with 84 passengers on board sustained substantial damage in a heavy landing in Darwin, Australia. And the year before, Qantas acknowledged that an unlicensed mechanical engineer had conducted safety checks on more than 1,000 international flights over a 12-month period at Sydney airport.
32) In September 1999, a Qantas Boeing 747-400 with more than 400 people on board overshot a runway in Bangkok, Thailand, during bad weather.
33) Union engineers -- who have held several strikes this year to demand pay raises -- say that safety is being compromised by low wages and overtime work.
34) As of December 2007, Qantas was operating 216 aircraft flying to 140 destinations in 37 countries, though in recent months it has announced it will retire some aircraft and cancel some routes -- as well as cutting 1,500 jobs worldwide -- due to skyrocketing fuel prices.
Australia ' s Qantas Airways names new chief executive officer; Dixon to retire in November
(APW_ENG_20080727.0704)
1) Qantas Airways said Monday it has appointed the head of its offshoot airline Jetstar, Alan Joyce, as chief executive officer.
2) Joyce will replace Geoff Dixon, who plans to retire after the company's annual meeting on Nov. 28, the airline said in a statement.
3) Joyce assumed the role of chief executive designate on Monday and will work with Dixon over the next four months to ensure a smooth transition, Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford said.
4) "Alan is, we believe, the best person to take Qantas forward in what is a very challenging environment," Clifford said in the statement.
5) Dixon, who was appointed chief executive in 2000, will remain available as a consultant to the airline until March 31. Clifford praised Dixon, saying he had led Qantas through numerous challenges.
6) Joyce has been with the Qantas group since 2000 and worked in senior management roles for defunct domestic carrier Ansett and Ireland's Aer Lingus.
Qantas CEO: Cause of a mid-air emergency was
(APW_ENG_20080728.0216)
1) Whatever caused a mid-air emergency aboard a Qantas jetliner carrying 350 passengers last week was more than likely beyond the control of the airline, the company's chief executive said Monday.
2) Qantas chief Geoff Dixon stressed that investigators had not yet determined what caused part of the Boeing 747-400's fuselage to rip off at 29,000 feet (8,840 meters) on Friday, but his comments suggested the airline believed it was a mechanical fault -- not human error.
3) "We don't know and we can't speculate on what happened to this aircraft," Dixon told a news conference Monday.
4) "Obviously there is every chance it is something to do with the aircraft, and it is something that may have well been out of our control. More than likely it was," he said.
5) He described Friday's events as "a very, very bad accident," although no one was hurt.
6) Dixon also said that a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration directive in April warning about oxygen tank concerns on airliners "was not anything to do" with the potential cause of Friday's incident.
7) David Cox, Qantas' head of engineering, told reporters on Monday that the FAA directive applies to a different type of oxygen system than the one being scrutinized in the Qantas emergency. The cylinders covered under the directive are located in a different part of the plane than where the Qantas aircraft sustained damage.
8) Three of Qantas' aircrafts were affected by the directive and all were inspected by January 2007, Cox said.
9) Investigators are focusing on an oxygen bottle missing from the cargo hold of Friday's QF30, which was ripped open in mid-flight over the South China Sea, sending debris flying through the cockpit and causing passengers' emergency face masks to drop into use.
10) The plane made an emergency landing in the Philippines.
11) Sydney-based Qantas Airways was ordered to urgently inspect every oxygen bottle aboard its fleet of 30 Boeing 747s, which is expected to take several days.
12) Cox said Boeing had advised the airline that the airplane maker had never heard of a case of an oxygen bottle disintegrating on one of its planes.
13) "However, we don't know that that was the root cause, so we are not going to speculate," Cox said. "The fact that that has never happened may be relevant, it may not be relevant."
14) Months before the Qantas incident, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines to inspect oxygen cylinders on their planes.
15) The air-worthiness directive, issued in April and effective in May, followed a report that certain oxygen cylinder supports in Boeing 747-400s may not have been properly heat-treated, which the FAA said could cause oxygen leakage and subsequent fire hazards.
16) Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority issued its own directive mirroring the FAA's in April.
17) An FAA spokesman warned that the cause of the Qantas emergency may be unrelated to the oxygen cylinder issues.
18) "That may or may not have anything to do with this incident," spokesman Les Dorr said Monday. "It's far too early to speculate on what the cause might be."
19) CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said an oxygen bottle explosion was one of several possibilities being investigated as a cause for the damage to the plane, and one that would be highly unusual.
20) "As far as we can determine this has never happened before on a passenger aircraft," Gibson told Australia Broadcasting Corp. radio.
21) Passengers described the plane being shaken by a loud bang. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling due to rapid decompression caused by the 9-foot (2.7-meter) hole in its fuselage, and the plane descended rapidly. The plane, en route from London to Melbourne, Australia, made a stopover in Hong Kong an hour earlier.
22) Four Australian Transport Safety Bureau specialists were inspecting the aircraft in Manila, with assistance from Boeing and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
23) Officials have ruled out a bomb as the cause.
Report: Qantas flight forced to return to airport in Australia after mechanical problems
(APW_ENG_20080728.0795)
1) Passengers on board a Melbourne-bound Qantas jet have told an Australian broadcaster their flight was forced to return to Adelaide's airport because of a mechanical problem.
2) Passenger Rocco Russo told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Radio that he heard a rattling noise about 10 minutes after the plane took off Monday night. Russo says the pilot told passengers there was a problem with a door closing above the plane's wheel.
3) Qantas did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Tuesday morning.
4) The incident comes just three days after a Qantas jumbo jet made an emergency landing in the Philippines with a hole the size a small car in its fuselage.
Malaysia Airlines inspects Boeing 747-400 fleet following Qantas scare
(APW_ENG_20080729.0413)
1) Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday that it was inspecting its fleet of Boeing 747-400 planes following a midair crisis in which a Qantas jet was forced to make an emergency landing with a hole in its fuselage.
2) The investigation into what caused the hole in the 747-400 last Friday continues to narrow on a missing oxygen tank that appears to have burst while the plane was flying at 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) over the South China Sea.
3) In a reply to queries from The Associated Press, Malaysia Airlines said it was carrying out initial checks on the support bracket of the oxygen cylinder on four of its 13 Boeing 747 aircraft and will conduct further inspection pending the findings of Qantas investigations.
4) "The failure of the bracket can cause a leak in the oxygen system and can become a fire hazard. It will deplete the supply of oxygen to the pilots or the passengers," said Mohamad Roslan Ismail, senior general manager for engineering and maintenance at the flagship carrier.
5) "We aim to complete the initial checks by the end of the week. We will continue to work with Qantas and Boeing, and will call out any (other) inspections as necessary," he said.
6) The Qantas 747-400 jet, carrying 345 passengers from London to Melbourne, Australia, was forced to make an emergency landing in the Philippines with a car-sized hole in its fuselage. No one was hurt.
7) Qantas chief Geoff Dixon said Monday that investigators had not determined what caused the hole, but his comments suggested the airline believed it was a mechanical fault -- not human error.
8) Sydney-based Qantas was ordered to urgently inspect every oxygen bottle aboard its fleet of 747-400s following the scare.
9) Mohamad Roslan said inspection of the four Malaysia Airlines' planes was also in compliance with an April airworthiness directive from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Qantas says holed jumbo jet can be repaired
(APW_ENG_20080731.0428)
1) Australian airline Qantas will preserve its track record of never losing a jet plane in an accident by repairing a gaping hole in the side of a jetliner caused by an exploding oxygen bottle, the airline said Thursday.
2) The explosion last Friday during a flight from London to the Australian city of Melbourne forced the pilots of the Boeing 747-400 to rapidly descend thousands of feet (meters) and make an emergency landing in the Philippines with four instrument systems disabled, accident investigators said Wednesday.
3) But the world's second oldest airline after KLM Royal Dutch Airlines -- regarded as one of the world's safest airlines -- will repair the damaged jet, an airline spokesman said.
4) "We certainly believe it is repairable," the spokesman said under the company's usual condition of anonymity.
5) Paul Cousins of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, which represents 1,500 engineers employed by Australia's flagship airline, agreed that the aircraft appeared to be salvageable.
6) "I would expect Qantas to guard fairly closely their reputation for never having lost a jet aircraft, but in this particular case, from what I've seen from pictures, the aircraft is repairable," Cousins said.
7) Qantas raised eyebrows by spending almost US$100 million on repairs to a 747-400 that ran off a runway during a storm in Bangkok in 1999 rather than writing the aircraft off.
8) But Cousins said engineers and pilots agreed that that aircraft "was as good as new" after the repairs.
9) A Qantas-leased Boeing 717 jet came close to being written off after a heavy landing in the Australian city of Darwin in February. But Cousins said the airframe was found to be undamaged and that aircraft was also repaired. No one was injured.
10) While Qantas has never lost a jet, a propellor-driven Lockheed Super Constellation owned by the airline crashed and burned during an aborted takeover at Mauritius in 1960. There were no casualties.
Boss says Qantas ' probably safest ' airline
(APW_ENG_20080804.0075)
1) Qantas Airways' chief executive Geoff Dixon said Monday that his airline is "probably the safest" in the world after Australia's aviation agency launched a review of its safety standards.
2) The Civil Aviation Safety Authority announced the review Sunday after a Boeing 767 with 200 passengers on board returned to Sydney airport soon after takeoff Saturday because air traffic controllers saw fluid streaming from a wing.
3) On July 25, an explosion on board a Qantas Boeing 747 en route from London to Australia blew a hole in the fuselage and caused rapid decompression in the passenger cabin. Last week, an Australian domestic flight was forced to return to the southern city of Adelaide after a wheel-bay door failed to close.
4) "We have no evidence to suggest there are problems within Qantas, but we think it's prudent and wise to go in with a new special team and take an additional look at a range of operational issues within Qantas," Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said Sunday.
5) Dixon said there was no pattern behind the three malfunctions.
6) "We do know we have no systemic problem in this company," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
7) Still, he said the Australian flagship airline's reputation for safety was suffering from media coverage of the mechanical failures. "It is our job to make sure we get that reputation back," he said.
8) Qantas is one of the world's oldest airlines and boasts of having never lost a jet aircraft in an accident. Qantas executive general manager of engineering David Cox said the incidents were part of the "normal run" of business.
9) "We're not afraid of the scrutiny," Cox told ABC.
10) Dixon will be replaced in November by Alan Joyce, who currently heads Qantas' discount carrier Jetstar. Joyce said Sunday that rumors that Qantas would shift to the budget market were incorrect.
Qantas airplane suffers engine problem in flight
(APW_ENG_20080814.0135)
1) A Qantas Airways flight landed safely after a problem with one of its engines on a flight from Australia to New Zealand, the company said Thursday, the latest in a series of mechanical incidents for the airline.
2) One of four engines on a Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was "reduced to idle" speed while the airplane approached Auckland Airport on Wednesday night, Qantas spokeswoman Holly Williams said.
3) However, the pilot managed to land the aircraft with 219 passengers and 16 crew safely, she said.
4) "A faulty fuel-flow regulator was replaced overnight and the flight (to Los Angeles) is due to depart ... this (Thursday) afternoon," she told The Associated Press.
5) Also Wednesday, Australia's airline safety body expanded an investigation of Qantas after the company announced it temporarily pulled six Boeing 737-400 airplanes from service because of irregularities in maintenance records.
6) In another incident Wednesday, a Boeing 747 had to be taken out of service to replace a screw in the plane's tail. The airline confirmed that urgent maintenance was needed.
7) Williams also confirmed another Qantas Boeing 747 was grounded temporarily in Melbourne on Wednesday because of a problem with a flap indicator in the cockpit.
8) Wednesday's problems were the latest in a spate of incidents for the airline since one of its planes made an emergency landing in Manila last month after an explosion tore a large hole in the fuselage. Nobody was hurt in that mid-air incident.
Engine access panel falls off Qantas flight
(APW_ENG_20080815.0164)
1) An engine access panel fell off a Qantas Airways jumbo jet en route to Singapore from Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, the latest in a string of incidents for the airline.
2) Inspectors conducting a routine check in Singapore on the Boeing 747-400 noticed the small panel had become detached, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
3) "This had absolutely no flight safety implications," said the spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as is customary.
4) The panel -- which is used by engineers to access various parts of the engine for inspections -- was replaced, and the flight continued on to London after a delay of about six hours.
5) Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said planes are not affected if the panels detach, noting that it's "quite legal" to continue flying without them. The force of air can sometimes pull the panels off if an engineer hasn't latched them tightly enough, he said.
6) The airline has been plagued by problems since an explosion on one of its planes forced an emergency landing in Manila last month. Since then, another plane was forced to return to Adelaide because of an issue with its landing gear, and a Boeing 767 returned to Sydney soon after takeoff when air traffic controllers saw fluid streaming from a wing.
7) On Wednesday, one of four engines on a Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was "reduced to idle" speed as the plane approached Auckland Airport in New Zealand, a Qantas spokeswoman said. The pilot managed to land the aircraft with 219 passengers and 16 crew safely.
8) Also Wednesday, the safety authority said it would expand its investigation of Qantas after the airline announced it temporarily pulled six planes from service because of irregularities in maintenance records. Qantas said it was a record-keeping issue and there were no safety implications for the aircraft.
Qantas boss predicts airline will inevitably merge
(APW_ENG_20080822.0144)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. will inevitably merge with another major airline as part of a global restructure of the aviation industry, the company's chief executive officer said Friday.
2) Geoff Dixon, who retires from the helm of Australia's flagship carrier in November, said the world's 10th largest airline must become larger within a decade to remain competitive.
3) "Other airlines are starting to merge and we must be part of that," Dixon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
4) "We still are not big enough in five to 10 years to do it on our own. I believe it will be sooner rather than later," he added.
5) Singapore Airlines Ltd. has been named in the past as a potential suitor. Dixon said he was not looking at any rival in particular.
6) "I am not saying there is anybody out there at the moment," he said.
7) "All I am saying is that many airlines are now merging in situations where they probably would not have considered it three or four or even five years ago," he added.
8) Dixon's comments follow his Sydney-based airline posting on Thursday a 44 percent rise in annual net profit, despite a slowing Australian economy and high fuel costs.
9) Qantas recorded a net profit of 969 million Australian dollars (US$847 million) for the year ended June 30, up from A$673 million (US$588 million) the previous year. The result was slightly lower than market forecasts of A$1.02 billion (US$891 million).
10) Sales rose 7.5 percent to A$16.2 billion (US$14.2 billion) from A$15.1 billion (US$13.2 billion) a year ago.
11) In a statement Thursday, Dixon predicted fuel costs for the airline would rise by A$1.6 billion (US$1.4 billion) in the current financial year.
12) Dixon also acknowledged the recent spate of problems that have plagued the airline, including an explosion on board a Qantas jumbo jet over the South China Sea last month that forced an emergency landing in Manila.
13) Dixon will be replaced as chief executive by Alan Joyce, who currently heads Qantas' discount subsidiary Jetstar.
Qantas review finds problems with maintenance
(APW_ENG_20080901.0251)
1) Australia's aviation agency on Monday ordered Qantas Airways to improve its maintenance system following a review prompted by a series of safety problems that have plagued the airline in recent months.
2) The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it found deficiencies and "signs of emerging problems" in the way Qantas manages and delivers maintenance to its planes.
3) "The review found maintenance performance within Qantas is showing some adverse trends and is now below the airline's own benchmarks," the authority's deputy chief executive officer of operations, Mick Quinn, said in a statement. "By taking action now future safety problems will be avoided."
4) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline would work closely with the aviation authority to implement the review's recommendations, and acknowledged that a recent industrial dispute between Qantas and the engineers' union had affected aspects of the airline's performance.
5) "These issues are not about safety or compliance and we are working to bring our network performance back to the standards which have earned us a reputation as one of the best and most reliable airlines in the world," Dixon said in a statement.
6) The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association led several strikes over the past few months, resulting in canceled and delayed flights, as it pursued a pay increase of 5 percent for 1,500 engineers. Two weeks ago, the union said it had accepted an offer of 4 percent.
7) Last week, air safety investigators confirmed that an exploding oxygen cylinder ripped a gaping hole in a Qantas jet's fuselage mid-flight in July, forcing it to make an emergency landing in the Philippines.
8) Since that incident, the airline has experienced a series of problems, including a loss of hydraulic fuel that led to an emergency landing, landing gear failure and detached panels, all of which prompted the aviation authority's review.
9) But Quinn said the review had not found any links between those incidents, calling them "unrelated events."
10) "There has been no increase in the rate of incidents and over more than a year the number of monthly air safety incident reports was about the same," he said.
11) The aviation authority said it planned to conduct two additional "intensive audits" of Qantas.
12) The first audit would involve a physical examination and a check of maintenance documentation for one of each major aircraft type in the Qantas fleet -- a 747-400, 737-400 and 767-300.
13) The second audit will examine the effectiveness of Qantas maintenance systems in managing and implementing airworthiness directives.
14) The aviation authority's spokesman did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
15) On July 25, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, carrying 365 people, was flying over the South China Sea when an explosion blew a hole in the fuselage 79 inches (2 meters) wide and 60 inches high (1.52 meters). The plane -- en route from London to Melbourne, Australia -- rapidly descended thousands of feet (meters) and flew to Manila, 295 miles (475 kilometers) away.
16) No one was injured in the incident, but questions were raised about the much-lauded safety of Qantas, which has never lost a jet aircraft because of an accident.
17) Dixon said several recent audits by various aviation groups gave the airline a clean bill of health. Australia's Transport Minister Anthony Albanese also defended the airline Monday.
18) "Qantas is rightly regarded as an airline with a reputation for safety that is second to none," Albanese said during a question-and-answer session in Parliament. "As the minister for transport, safety will always be my number one priority. The government will never be complacent about safety."
New problems on 2 Qantas planes cause delays
(APW_ENG_20080905.0202)
1) A Qantas Airways flight from Melbourne to Sydney was canceled Friday after fumes were detected on board, while passengers on another Qantas flight found themselves stranded in Melbourne overnight because of damage to their plane's wing.
2) The problems are the latest in a string of mechanical issues to plague the Australian airline in recent months, including a loss of hydraulic fuel that led to an emergency landing, failure of landing gear, and detached panels.
3) The most serious incident happened in July when a Qantas flight from London to Melbourne was forced to make an emergency landing in the Philippines after an oxygen tank exploded on board, ripping a gaping hole in the fuselage.
4) On Friday morning, fumes were detected during engine start-up on a Boeing 767 scheduled to fly from Melbourne to Sydney, Qantas spokesman Joe Aston said. The flight was canceled, and the plane taken out of service while engineers tried to determine what went wrong.
5) The 220 passengers were rebooked on later flights, Aston said.
6) Meanwhile, 308 passengers on a flight from Melbourne to London that was scheduled to leave Thursday spent the night waiting at Melbourne's airport after officials realized an access panel on the wing was damaged. Qantas didn't book passengers in a hotel overnight because officials thought the problem would be fixed promptly, Aston said.
7) The Boeing 747-400 finally departed Friday morning.
8) In August, Qantas temporarily pulled six planes from service because of irregularities in maintenance records. Qantas said it was a record-keeping issue and there were no safety implications for the aircraft.
9) Qantas -- Australia's largest airline -- has been on the defensive since the emergency landing in the Philippines. Although no one was injured, questions were raised about the safety of the airline, which has never lost a jet aircraft because of an accident.
10) Earlier this week, Australia's aviation agency said a review of Qantas found deficiencies in the way the airline maintains its planes. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority ordered Qantas to make improvements but noted the review had found no link among the airline's recent problems.
11) Qantas was forced to defend itself again this week, after Britain's advertising watchdog began investigating the company's promotions in the U.K. that claim Qantas is the "world's most experienced airline."
12) The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority said it received several complaints about the ads. Some viewers called the promotions misleading because they believed other airlines were established before Qantas.
13) In a statement, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said the airline stood by the ads.
14) "We're defending our assertion that Qantas is the world's most experienced airline," he said. "Not only has Qantas been in full operation longer than any other airline in the world, but the depth and breadth of our experience as a long-haul carrier back this up."
Airbus CEO pledges to stick to A380 schedule
(APW_ENG_20080919.0596)
1) Airbus will meet its target of delivering 12 A380 super jumbo aircraft this year, the company's CEO pledged Friday, brushing aside reports that manufacturing and engineering difficulties had again put the project behind schedule.
2) The 525-seat, A-380 has been plagued by delays due to missteps, technical setbacks, communication failures and financial improprieties that have tarnished Airbus' image. The first in a series of costly delays was announced in June 2005.
3) In May, the European planemaker cut its delivery forecast by one aircraft this year and by four in 2009, due to continued problems with the giant aircraft's wiring.
4) "I'm ready to take a bet that we will deliver more than 10 aircraft, more than 11 aircraft," CEO Tom Enders said Friday. "The target is 12. I confirmed it two days ago, I confirm it today."
5) Enders spoke at a ceremony in the southern French city of Toulouse marking the hand-over to Australian carrier Qantas Airways of the first of the 20 A380s it has on order.
6) Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline was forced to "aggressively" adapt its flight schedules because of the Airbus delays, but said he was so pleased with the A380 that he was already considering ordering more.
7) Without the delays, Qantas would already have eight to 12 A380s by now, Dixon said,
8) "It's two years and two months behind," Dixon said. "But that's history, we've adapted. We'd have liked to have the aircraft, but we're getting it now, and we'll probably get more."
9) Dixon declined to say exactly how many additional A380s Qantas was thinking about ordering. Qantas expects to receive three more of the superjumbos by the end of this year.
10) The airline is also beginning talks with Airbus about a possible order for the planemaker's A350 long-haul aircraft. The talks will take place over the next six months, Dixon said.
11) Airbus workers, meanwhile, briefly went on strike Friday in Toulouse and Saint-Nazaire, in the northwest of the country.
12) In Toulouse, up to 300 workers walked off the job for two hours but did not disrupt the Qantas delivery ceremony. The strikers were protesting a planned restructuring.
Qantas ' first Airbus lands at Sydney 2 years late
(APW_ENG_20080920.0844)
1) Qantas Airways became the third airline to add an Airbus A380 to its fleet when its first super jumbo aircraft landed at Sydney airport Sunday two years behind schedule.
2) The giant aircraft carrying 70 Qantas and Airbus staff plus journalists was welcomed at Sydney Airport by hundreds of applauding well-wishers after a 21-hour flight from the factory in Toulouse in France via Singapore.
3) The Airbus, which has a 525-seat capacity but which Qantas has configured to carry 450 passengers, will make its inaugural commercial flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Los Angeles on Oct. 20, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said in a statement.
4) On board the delivery flight, Capt. Peter Probert, whose father brought the first Boeing 747 jumbo to Australia in 1971, told passengers the flight had been a career highlight.
5) "It's one of the greatest experiences I've ever had in my life flying the Qantas A380 down to Sydney," he said.
6) Before touchdown, the aircraft flew circuits over some of Sydney's iconic landmarks, including the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House.
7) The airliner was originally scheduled for delivery to Qantas on July, 2006. But a series of missteps, technical setbacks, communication failures and financial improprieties that have delayed the roll out.
8) At the official hand over in France on Friday, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon his airline was considering increasing its current order from 20. He did not say how many more planes he wanted.
9) Qantas is scheduled to receive three this year.
10) The A380 has been in service since Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first of the double-decker A380 planes late last year. Singapore Airlines operates five of the 19 planes it ordered on long-haul routes to Asia, Australia and Europe.
11) Last month, Dubai-based Emirates Airlines took delivery of the first of the 58 Airbuses it was ordered.
Faulty Qantas jet tails rival from across Pacific
(APW_ENG_20081029.0874)
1) A Qantas airliner that discovered its weather radar was faulty tailed an Air New Zealand jet across the Pacific on a Wednesday flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, an official said.
2) The Air New Zealand flight crew provided information about the weather ahead to the Qantas Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet carrying 284 passengers as the two aircraft made the 12-hour journey to Auckland in New Zealand, a Qantas spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy.
3) The fault is the latest in a series of high-profile malfunctions and near-misses for Australia's flagship carrier in recent months that have drawn attention to its safety standards. The Qantas flight later continued on to Sydney, its scheduled destination.
4) The Qantas plane was a few hours into its flight when it "experienced a weather radar defect," the company's spokeswoman said.
5) "An Air New Zealand flight ... was a short distance ahead and it provided the Qantas aircraft with information from its own radar system throughout the journey," she said.
6) Passenger Sean Lygo said he became curious when the pilot announced that the flight would be diverted to Auckland.
7) "He explained they'd been flying blind and he'd found an Air New Zealand jet to guide them in," Lygo, a Sydney resident, told Network Nine television news. "There was no drama, no panic."
8) Network Seven television news reported another passenger said the Air New Zealand jet came into view as it flew ahead of the Qantas jet.
9) The Qantas jet first landed in Auckland, which was the Air New Zealand plane's scheduled destination, she said. It arrived Sydney about four hours late.
10) Seven reported that a defective aerial was repaired in Auckland. The spokeswoman said she did not know if the fault was repaired in Auckland or after arrival in Sydney.
11) She said the fault had never posed any danger.
12) "None at all. Otherwise they wouldn't have operated the flight," she said, indicating that the jet would have returned to California.
Qantas jets damaged when they collide on tarmac
(APW_ENG_20081118.0230)
1) A Qantas jetliner that was damaged by a midair explosion in July collided Tuesday with another of the airline's planes on an Australian airport tarmac, airline officials said.
2) Both Boeing 747 jets were damaged when they ran into each other while being towed at the Qantas maintenance base at Avalon Airport outside Melbourne, Qantas general manager of engineering David Cox said in a statement. No passengers were aboard.
3) Television news footage showed that the nose of one of the jets hit the left wing of the other. The nose cone caved in and the wing had a large dent.
4) "Both aircraft sustained some damage, and the extent of this is being assessed," Cox said.
5) The maintenance staff involved had been suspended from duty pending a full inquiry, he said. Qantas has not said how many personnel were involved.
6) On July 25, an oxygen tank exploded aboard one of the jets, ripping a hole in the fuselage and causing rapid cabin decompression as the plane flew over the South China Sea. None of the 365 people aboard was injured and the pilot safely made an emergency landing in Manila in the Philippines.
7) The jet was repaired in Manila and only returned to Australia last week, a spokesman said, on the company's usual condition of anonymity.
8) It was undergoing final maintenance work at Avalon, Qantas' maintenance base for 747s in Australia before returning to service, the spokesman said.
9) The collision is the latest in a series of accidents and malfunctions in recent months that have embarrassed Australia's' flagship carrier and have raised questions about its maintenance standards.
Australia ' s Qantas cuts capacity, profit forecast
(APW_ENG_20081125.0266)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. slashed its full-year profit forecast and will cut flights to cope with plumetting demand because of the global economic downturn.
2) Chief executive Geoff Dixon said Qantas now expects profit before tax for the year ending June 2009 to be around Australian dollars 500 million ($316 million), down from an August forecast of AU750 million ($474 million). The new forecast is still within the AU$430 million to AU$1 billion ($270 million to $630 million) range the airline had said was possible for the current fiscal year.
3) Dixon, who stands down as CEO in late November, said Tuesday that the Australian flag carrier would reduce capacity to the equivalent of grounding 10 planes, and that "actual flying" in the next six months would be 4 percent less than the same period in the previous year.
4) "We are in unpredictable times and the international business market, in particular, has slowed," he said in a statement.
5) To meet the capacity cuts, the company would not take up the planned lease of two A330-200 planes, change flying patterns of the remaining fleet, and halt all planned domestic market growth for Qantas and its budget stable mate, Jetstar.
6) There would be no job cuts in addition to 1,500 previously announced, but the company would "be seeking further efficiencies by implementing an accelerated leave program," Dixon said.
7) Incoming chief executive Alan Joyce said Qantas had benefited from cheaper fuel in recent months but this was offset by falls in demand since September.
8) Joyce said Qantas still plans to take delivery of two more A380 planes that would fly routes to London and Singapore. The airline's only A380 currently flies between Australia and the United States.
9) Qantas shares fell more than 3 percent after the announcement to close at AU$2.24.
Australia plans larger foreign stake in Qantas
(APW_ENG_20081202.0246)
1) The Australian government plans to increase the level of foreign ownership allowed in flagship carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. but will not permit a takeover, according to a policy document released Tuesday.
2) Australian law limits the stake foreigners can buy in the world's 10th largest airline to 35 percent.
3) No single rival airline can own more than 25 percent of Qantas, which was once government owned.
4) The government proposes to lift the foreign ownership limit to 49 percent under the policy proposal released Tuesday.
5) "That may open additional options for structuring investment while ensuring the airline remains Australian-run and Australian-based," the document said.
6) The proposed relaxation comes after former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon, who retired last month, said recently that the airline will inevitably merge with another major airline as part of a global restructuring of the aviation industry.
7) The government has released the document for public comment before it finalizes a policy position late next year.
8) Qantas did not immediately comment on the proposal.
9) Transport Minister Anthony Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the change was needed to help Qantas compete with its rivals.
10) Qantas last week announced that reduced demand for seats would cut profit to about AU$500 million in the current fiscal year.
11) The Sydney-based airline posted a net profit of 969 million Australian dollars ($847 million) for the year ended June 30, up 44 percent from A$673 million ($588 million) the previous year.
British Airways in merger talks with Qantas
(APW_ENG_20081202.0983)
1) British Airways PLC said Tuesday it is in talks with Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. about a potential merger, sending its shares soaring as it confirmed expectations of consolidation in the hard-hit aviation industry.
2) BA, which is already pursuing a revenue-sharing deal with American Airlines and Spain's Iberia SA, said it is exploring a "potential merger" with Qantas "via a dual-listed company structure."
3) In a brief statement released in response to market speculation, BA did not provide any reasoning for the prospective deal but chief executive Willie Walsh has long advocated industry consolidation, arguing that closer cooperation will help airlines cut costs in the current difficult economic climate.
4) BA, the third-largest airline in Europe, added that its discussions with Iberia on a potential merger are continuing.
5) "There is no guarantee that any transaction will be forthcoming and a further announcement will be made in due course, if appropriate," BA said in the statement to the London Stock Exchange. It provided no further detail on the structure of the potential deal with Qantas but confirmed that talks began in August after it was approached by Australia's largest airline.
6) The London-based carrier's stock jumped after the announcement and was trading 10 percent higher at 153.6 pence ($2.29) in late afternoon trade.
7) Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has already objected to the BA-American-Iberia tie-up, said that BA was attempting to increase its dominance to the detriment of competition.
8) "One day it's Iberia, then it's American, and now Qantas," said Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway. "The only strategy BA seems to have is to lock-up some of the busiest routes in the world, against the consumer interest."
9) BA and Qantas are already code sharing partners in the oneworld global alliance, which brings together 10 of the world's carriers including Japan Airlines.
10) The confirmation from BA on the talks comes a day after the Australian government revealed that it plans to increase the level of foreign ownership allowed in Qantas, but will not permit a takeover. Australian law currently limits a single foreign holding to 25 percent, while a group of foreign holdings can total 35 percent.
11) A federal government policy paper released Monday proposes lifting the foreign ownership limit -- whether by one company or a group of companies -- to 49 percent. That would allow Qantas and BA to swap equal stakes in each other.
12) Qantas last month slashed its full-year profit forecast to around 500 million Australian dollars ($316 million), down from an August forecast of AU$750 million. It also said it would cut flights to cope with plummeting demand, despite a recent easing in the oil price.
13) Walsh last month warned that that the industry was still "heading into the eye of the storm," shortly after BA reported a first-half net loss of 49 million pounds ($77 million).
14) Analysts have been expecting greater consolidation in the airline industry after the global economic crisis combined with soaring oil prices earlier this year to severely crimp passenger demand.
15) The International Air Transport Association has reported international passenger traffic declined 1.3 percent in October compared with 2007, following a 2.9 percent drop in September, and forecasts industrywide losses of $2.3 billion this year.
16) Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC on Monday launched a new takeover bid for Aer Lingus, seeking to capitalize on labor unrest at its Irish rival along with the country's economic difficulties.
17) BA has already filed for worldwide antitrust immunity from U.S. authorities for a revenue-sharing deal with American and Iberia that would see the trio set prices together and share seat capacity on trans-Atlantic flights. American would be the non-merged member of the BA-Iberia linking.
18) The agreement is the closest alliance the trio can form under strict U.S. airline ownership laws that all but rule out a full merger and follows two earlier failed attempts by BA and AMR Corp.'s American to forge closer ties.
19) Virgin Atlantic claims that proposed deal will seriously damage the competitiveness of the lucrative trans-Atlantic route and increase fares for passengers.
20) But American and BA contend that the partnership will merely allow the trio to better compete with the other major airline alliances, Star and SkyTeam, which already have antitrust immunity on trans-Atlantic flights and a large presence at other European airports.
21) BA and American have failed in the past to win an exemption from U.S. competition laws to work more closely together because of their dominance at London's Heathrow Airport, where the pair have more than half the capacity to and from the U.S.
22) Walsh has argued that the competitive situation has changed since the "open skies" agreement between the U.S. and the European Union came into force in March, allowing airlines to fly to and from any point in the U.S. and any point in the EU.
Qantas shares surge on merger talks with BA
(APW_ENG_20081202.1487)
1) Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd. surged nearly 9 percent as soon as the Australian stock market opened Wednesday, buoyed by the overnight announcement that the Australian flagship airline was in merger talks with British Airways.
2) Qantas shares, which closed down 10 cents the day before, added 20 cents, or 8.89 percent, to 24.5 Australian dollars.
3) CMC Markets Stockbroking general manager Andrew West said a tie-up between the carriers would be a positive move for Qantas, particularly in currently tough airline market.
4) "If the deal goes through it will create a formidable airline that has a major share of major routes to the U.S., UK and Asia," he said.
5) British Airways shares also soared in London trading following the announcement Tuesday London time.
6) British Airways previously held a stake in Qantas but sold its share in 2004 after more than a decade of ownership to repay debt.
7) News of the merger talks between the Oneworld alliance members came a day after the Australian government revealed plans to increase the level of foreign ownership allowed in Qantas to 49 percent.
8) Australian law currently limits a single foreign holding to 25 percent, while a group of foreign holdings can total 35 percent.
9) Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said Wednesday that the government would not alter a requirement that the airline be 51 percent locally owned.
10) "Our bottom line is that Qantas remains in majority Australian ownership," Swan told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
11) Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said a merger could ensure that Qantas remains competitive, noting that consolidation had kept some airlines in business.
12) Qantas was a competitive, world-class airline, Smith said. "But like a lot of airlines in recent times it's ... been through tough times, so it's no surprise that it may be looking for a partnership."
13) Qantas last week announced that reduced demand for seats would cut profit to about AU$500 million in the current fiscal year.
14) Analysts have been expecting greater consolidation in the airline industry after the global economic crisis combined with soaring oil prices earlier this year to severely crimp passenger demand.
Qantas, BA fined for cargo price fixing
(APW_ENG_20081211.0329)
1) Qantas Airways and British Airways were fined by an Australian court Thursday for their involvement in a price-fixing cartel in the global air freight industry, a national competition watchdog said.
2) The Federal Court in Sydney ordered Qantas to pay 20 million Australian dollars ($13 million), a fine the airline had agreed to when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against it in October.
3) The court also fined British Airways AU$5 million after it admitted an illegal arrangement in the airfreight market, over the same time period with Lufthansa.
4) The two airlines revealed earlier this month they are in preliminary talks about a merger.
5) Qantas acknowledged "understandings" with other airlines on fuel surcharges relating to air cargo between 2002 and early 2006, the commission said in a statement posted to the Australian stock exchange.
6) The airline said at the time the price fixing did not relate to its passenger service.
7) The statement said Qantas had undertaken an exhaustive probe of the incidents after being made aware of the conduct.
8) U.S. authorities fined the airline $61 million last year over the same price-fixing scandal and sentenced a Qantas executive to eight months in jail.
9) "Cartels -- particularly those that are engaged in by large businesses with broad application over a period of time -- have a significant effect on consumers," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said in the statement. "They are an unseen fraud on the community that must be uncovered and punished."
10) Both Qantas and British Airways have been restrained from engaging in similar conduct for three years and ordered to pay AU$200,000 each toward the ACCC's costs.
11) There was no immediate reaction from Qantas. In October, the airline said the fine would settle the airline's liability in Australia.
12) Similar investigations are being conducted by antitrust regulators in Europe.
Malaysia Airlines in partnership talks with Qantas
(APW_ENG_20081216.0348)
1) Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday it is in talks with a number of airlines including Australia's Qantas Airways on possible partnerships amid the global economic downturn.
2) Managing Director and Chief Executive Idris Jala said the state-owned carrier aims to "pursue strategic partnerships to create additional value" under its business transformation plan.
3) "We are in talks with a number of airlines, including Qantas. This ranges from joint ventures and code shares to interlining partnerships," he said in a statement.
4) "More details will be announced as and when we have finalized the terms of any of these partnerships. At this stage, we have no further comment," he said. No further details were immediately available.
5) Qantas recently launched merger talks with British Airways but a deal may be tough to reach amid foreign ownership constraints in the Australian carrier.
6) The Malaysia Airlines' statement followed comments by Finance Minister Najib Razak that the national carrier was spearheading talks with Qantas on a strategic tie-up.
7) Najib, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, told The Malaysian Reserve newspaper that the government was agreeable to a cooperative agreement between Malaysia Airlines and Qantas if it leads to a win-win situation.
8) "We are nationalists and we are nationalistic, but we should not be xenophobic in the sense that we cannot look in terms of how foreigners can add value to your company and to the country," Najib said in the report. "Present conditions in the world (tell) us to be creative and innovative."
9) Analysts have been expecting consolidation in the aviation industry because the global economic crisis combined with soaring oil prices earlier this year have severely crimped passenger demand.
10) Malaysia Airlines' net profit in the July-September quarter fell to 38 million ringgit from 364 million ringgit a year ago.
Qantas, British Airways say no merger as talks end
(APW_ENG_20081218.0937)
1) British Airways PLC and Qantas Airways Ltd. called off their merger talks Thursday after failing to agree on the terms of a potential deal. The move left the British airline free to pursue other agreements with European carriers as the industry braces for a significant slowdown.
2) In statements to the London and Australian stock exchanges, the two airlines said they were unable to decide on "key terms" despite the "potential longer term benefits" of any deal.
3) BA revealed earlier this month it was in talks with Qantas about a possible consolidation following an approach from the Australian airline.
4) Carriers around the world have been seeking out deals to cope with a global financial crisis that has severely crimped passenger demand. BA, the third-largest airline in Europe, is already pursuing a revenue-sharing deal with American Airlines and Spain's Iberia SA.
5) The discussions with Iberia helped derail the Qantas talks, along with Australian government restrictions on foreign ownership.
6) "While the proposed merger may have looked good on paper, the legal requirement that Qantas must remain majority-owned by Australian investors was always going to be an insurmountable hurdle unless British Airways had been prepared to take a lesser stake in the combined operation," said IHS Jane's aviation analyst Chris Yates.
7) He added that the separate talks between British Airways and Iberia "also presented a stumbling block, since Qantas could not agree to a three-way merger."
8) Qantas' new chief executive Alan Joyce warned two weeks ago that a consolidation of the two airlines -- a deal that would have created an $8 billion-plus carrier by market value and a fleet of about 500 planes -- was not guaranteed.
9) The two airlines explored a potential merger by way of a dual-listed company structure in which each company would retain its name and branding. They gave no other details.
10) But the Australian government had insisted that Qantas, the world's 10th largest airline, remain majority Australian-owned.
11) If BA merged with Iberia before Qantas, it could have made it difficult for Qantas to comply with the Qantas Sales Act, which requires the company to be headquartered in Australia, have a board made up of two-thirds Australian citizens and have an Australian chairman.
12) Analysts have been expecting consolidation in the aviation industry because the global economic crisis has severely crimped passenger demand. International passenger traffic declined 1.3 percent in October compared with 2007, according to the International Air Transport Association, which has also forecast industrywide losses of $2.3 billion this year.
13) Among consolidation moves across Europe, Air France and Lufthansa are battling for new ties with Alitalia, the bankrupt carrier that is being relaunched in January by a group of Italian investors, the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) consortium, as a smaller carrier.
14) BA's chief executive Willie Walsh has long advocated industry consolidation, arguing that closer cooperation will help airlines cut costs in the current difficult economic climate. Walsh has said the British airline is eyeing a relationship with CAI, but says BA will not seek an equity stake in the new company.
15) In other consolidation moves, Aer Lingus has been fending off a hostile takeover from fellow Irish carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC.
16) Earlier this week, Malaysia Airlines said it had begun talks with various carriers, including Qantas, to form ties including joint ventures.
17) BA and Qantas will continue to work together on services between Australia and Britain under their joint services agreement and as members of the Oneworld alliance, which links 10 of the world's carriers in a code-sharing partnership.
Qantas half-year net profit slumps to $132 million
(APW_ENG_20090204.0106)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Wednesday its net profits slumped 66 percent in the first half of its financial year to 210 million Australian dollars ($132 million) as the global financial downturn sent passenger numbers tumbling.
2) The airline, which dominates Australia's domestic market and operates lucrative routes to the United States and Europe, also announced plans to raise at least A$500 million ($315 million) in new capital via an equity share issue to pay off debt and fund new planes.
3) Qantas earned an after-tax profit of A$210 million ($132 million) for the six months to Dec. 31, 2008 compared to A$618 million for the same period a year earlier, it reported to the Australian Securities Exchange. Pretax profit crashed more than 68 percent to A$288 million ($182 million.)
4) Group revenue rose 2 percent to A$7.9 billion ($5 billion) from A$7.8 billion in the earlier period. Earnings per share were A$0.109 and the company announced an interim dividend of A$0.06 per share.
5) Qantas reaffirmed its profit before tax outlook of about A$500 million ($315 million) for the 12 months to June 30 this year.
6) Chairman Leigh Clifford said earnings were hit by the global economic downturn and volatility in currency and oil prices, but he insisted the company remained strong and profitable.
7) "Our revenues have come under pressure, but through calibrating our network, stimulating demand through attractive pricing, maximizing the performance of our diversified businesses and restraining costs we have achieved a very good result in challenging times," Clifford said in a statement. The airline said it was also reducing capacity on some services.
8) Qantas said among the key drivers of the earnings were the volatility of crude oil prices -- which fluctuated $107 per barrel during the period -- a 31 percent decline in the value of the Australian dollar and a slump in passenger revenue as lucrative premium and international travel shrank.
9) Chief executive Alan Joyce said the aviation industry is struggling during the financial crisis, but Qantas is doing better than many airlines.
10) "Numerous airlines have failed over the past year, while many are unable to produce profits and are at risk of becoming unsustainable," Joyce said in the statement.
11) Qantas was different because of "its high degree of structural flexibility."
12) Profit before tax for the airline's Qantas brands fell 76.2 percent to A$199 million ($125 million). Passenger revenue fell 3.4 per cent to A$5 billion ($3 billion).
13) Before-tax profit for low-cost subsidiary Jetstar fell more than 48 percent to A$72 million ($45 million), though passenger numbers rose almost 14 percent, growing revenue by more than 15 percent to A$716 million ($452 million).
14) Debt increased 49 percent from the earlier period to A$6.21 billion ($3.9 billion).
15) Under the capital raising plan, existing shareholders in Australian and New Zealand will be able to subscribe for up to A$10,000 worth of the new shares, which will rank equally with existing shares but will not pay dividends. The offer opens on Feb. 18 and closes March 9.
16) The money will be used to reduce debt, diversify funding sources and support Qantas' fleet renewal program, which includes adding four more A380 superjumbos in 2009 to the three introduced in the past six months.
17) Qantas said the outlook remained tough, with the savings from declining fuel costs being offset by weaker demand.
Qantas slashes profit forecast, cuts more jobs
(APW_ENG_20090414.1422)
1) Qantas Airways slashed its annual profit forecast Tuesday and will cut up to 5 percent of its work force as the carrier grounds some aircraft in the face of a slump in business and first-class travel.
2) The Australian national airline dropped its full year pretax profit outlook to between 100 million and 200 million Australian dollars ($73 million and $146 million), from its previous forecast of AU$500 million.
3) Chief Executive Alan Joyce said Qantas, which employs more than 34,000 people, would remove 500 management positions in the latest round of cost cutting.
4) On top of the management layoffs, "up to 1,250 equivalent full-time positions" will also be affected, he said.
5) Some of the cuts to ordinary staff would be made through attrition by not replacing workers who leave the company. Other jobs could be reduced to part-time positions while the airline will also encourage leave without pay and explore job sharing.
6) "Market conditions have deteriorated, especially in our international business," said Joyce. "We have no choice but to lower our profit forecast and make major changes to ensure Qantas can weather the current commercial environment."
7) The airline's statement said the global economic downturn has particularly hit business and first-class travel -- the most profitable seats for international airlines.
8) Qantas "will not be withdrawing from routes" to achieve its cost cuts, Joyce said.
9) The cost-cutting measures include a 5 percent reduction in flying capacity, cuts to freight capacity, grounding the equivalent of 10 aircraft and making them available for sale and reducing capital expenditure by at least AU$800 million in 2009/2010.
10) Qantas said it has negotiated the deferral of four Airbus A380s for up to a year, and 12 Boeing 737-800s for an average of 14 months. The statement said negotiations are continuing regarding the delivery of 15 Boeing 787-800 aircraft.
11) The latest job cuts come after 90 management positions were dropped in March and 1,500 other jobs were eliminated late last year.
12) The Australian Council of Trade Unions called for immediate talks with Qantas in order to minimize the job losses.
13) "It's essential that Qantas preserves jobs. Its skill base is essential to Australian industry and that needs to be preserved," council secretary Jeff Lawrence told reporters.
14) "Qantas needs to be open with the ACTU and the unions about its intentions about its agenda ... then we can work collectively to preserving as many jobs as we can."
15) Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would "stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with those who lose their jobs and would provide employment services and training to help them find new positions.
16) Qantas announced in February that its net profit fell 66 percent in the last half of 2008 as it paid high fuel costs and the global financial downturn sent business and first-class passenger numbers tumbling.
17) "Qantas expects the current volatility in operating conditions to continue for some time," Joyce said.
18) Qantas shares fell nearly 9 percent after the announcement but closed 1.3 percent higher at AU$1.985.
Malaysia Airlines, Qantas scrap repair venture
(APW_ENG_20090415.0314)
1) Malaysia Airlines said Wednesday it has dropped a proposed joint venture with Australia's Qantas Airways for aircraft maintenance and repair.
2) Managing Director Idris Jala said discussions were halted after a preliminary agreement for the Malaysian project inked in 2007 lapsed recently.
3) The news came amid new woes at Qantas, which on Tuesday slashed its annual profit forecast and said it would cut up to 5 percent of its work force as it grounds some aircraft due to a slump in business and first-class travel.
4) "It is very clear that all airlines have immediate problems (amid the economic crisis) ... therefore, there are no active discussions between us," Jala told reporters.
5) The Malaysian carrier had said in December it was in talks with a number of airlines including Qantas on possible partnerships. Jala did not say if the two are still in tie-up talks.
6) Airlines globally have been hit as the global economic malaise hurts demand for air travel.
7) Qantas on Tuesday cut its full year pretax profit outlook to between 100 million and 200 million Australian dollars ($73 million and $146 million), from its previous forecast of AU$500 million.
8) The carrier, which employs more than 34,000 people, also said it would ax up to 1,750 positions in the latest round of cost cutting.
9) Jala said Malaysia Airlines' long-haul business has also suffered a beating but travel within the domestic and Asian markets remained resilient.
10) The flag carrier Wednesday launched nine bargain deals under a "stimulus package" for travelers, offering cheaper fares, free tickets and extra privileges to spur sales.
11) "The idea of one size fits all doesn't apply in times of crisis ... we have to tailor products based on the size of the wallet, that's the way to survive," Jala said.
12) Malaysia Airlines remained in the black last year but net profit shrunk to 244 million ringgit ($67.8 million), down from a record 851 million ringgit ($263 million) in 2007. In the last quarter alone, profit plunged 81 percent as the economic slump hurt air travel.
13) The International Air Transport Association last month predicted Asia Pacific carriers will see losses surge from $500 million in 2008 to $1.7 billion this year. This was much worse than the $1.1 billion loss that it forecast earlier.
7 slightly injured as Qantas plane hits turbulence
(APW_ENG_20090622.0052)
1) A Qantas flight struck turbulence over Malaysia and suddenly lost altitude, leaving seven people with minor injuries, the airline said Monday.
2) The Airbus A330 with 219 passengers and crew aboard was flying from Hong Kong to the Australian west coast city of Perth overnight when it struck "severe turbulence" over Malaysian Borneo, Qantas said in a statement.
3) Six passengers and a crew member were treated for minor injuries on board as the airliner continued to Perth, Qantas corporate affairs manager David Epstein said.
4) The captain reported minor damage to two overhead panels in the cabin, and two oxygen masks were dislodged, he told Fairfax Radio.
5) An uninjured passenger, who identified himself only as John, said he heard a loud bang before the jet suddenly lost altitude.
6) "I was sitting at the exit door and I had this lady, (who) was waiting at the restroom and she flew up and hit the ceiling and came crashing down to the floor," John told Fairfax Radio.
7) "It was just a matter of a few seconds, but it (the turbulence) was really sudden and things went flying," he added.
8) Australian government safety officials were investigating the incident.
9) Qantas said there is not reason to link the incident to other recent in-flight incidents involving A330 aircraft.
10) A computer malfunction on a Qantas A330 flying from Singapore to Perth on Oct. 7 last year caused the jet to nose-dive twice, leaving 12 passengers and crew seriously injured.
11) The Australian airline underwent a safety review last year after a series of problems, including an oxygen tank explosion on a Boeing 747-400 that ripped a hole in the jet's fuselage last July, forcing it to make an emergency landing in the Philippines. No one was injured.
Qantas cancels orders for 15 Boeing 787s
(APW_ENG_20090626.0660)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. said Friday it had canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787s and delayed the delivery of a further 15 aircraft due to turbulent market conditions.
2) Still, Boeing noted that Qantas remains a big customer.
3) Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the decision had not been influenced by Boeing's announcement earlier this week of a design issue in the 787 and further delay to the aircraft's first flight. He said discussions with Boeing about the order had started some months ago.
4) Qantas said it had reached a mutual agreement with Chicago-based Boeing Co. to defer the delivery of 15 Boeing 787-8 aircraft by four years and cancel orders for 15 Boeing 787-9s (which are slightly larger) scheduled for delivery in 2014 and 2015.
5) Joyce said Qantas remained committed to the 787 as the right choice for the international expansion of Jetstar, its low-cost subsidiary, and as an eventual replacement for Qantas' Boeing 767 fleet.
6) The 787 is the first commercial jet made mostly of light, sturdy carbon-fiber composites instead of aluminum. Large parts of the plane, such as the fuselage sections and wings, are made in factories around the world and flown in a huge modified 747 to Boeing's widebody plant in the Seattle area, where they are essentially snapped together.
7) Boeing said Tuesday that it needed to reinforce small areas near the connection of the wings and fuselage before conducting a test flight of the jet.
8) Boeing spokesman Miles Kotay said Friday that Qantas remains one of its largest customers for the 787, with 50 still on order.
9) "They are committed to the 787 for their own growth and to replace their aging airplanes," he said.
10) Qantas' cancellation of orders for 15 787-9s would reduce the group's aircraft capital expenditure by $3 billion based on current list prices, Joyce said.
11) He said Qantas announced its original 787 order in 2005 and the "operating environment for the world's airlines has clearly changed dramatically since then."
12) "Delaying delivery, and reducing overall B787 capacity, is prudent, while still enabling Qantas and Jetstar to take advantage of growth opportunities and market demands, both domestically and internationally," he said in a statement.
Qantas records net profit of AU$117 million
(APW_ENG_20090819.0063)
1) Australian national airline Qantas Airways Ltd. announced Wednesday a program to cut costs by 1.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion) over the next three years after recording an 88 percent drop in annual profit.
2) Despite the hefty decrease, CEO Alan Joyce said Qantas' diversity made it one of the few airlines in the world to record a profit during the economic downturn.
3) "Through unprecedented and significant shifts in operating conditions and demand, we have remained financially strong," Joyce said in a statement. "This has been due to our strategy built around two strong flying brands in Qantas and Jetstar, a portfolio of airline-related businesses, and an ongoing focus on managing costs and driving efficiencies."
4) The airline's full-year profit before tax was $181 million, down 87 percent, and its net profit for the year ended June 30 was AU$117 million, down 87.9 percent.
5) Qantas' sales fell 6.9 percent to $14.55 billion, affected by weaker domestic and international demand for tickets, while budget partner Jetstar increased capacity.
6) Joyce said the Qantas Group would take four or five A330-200 aircraft for delivery from November 2010 to provide for growth of Jetstar's international operation.
7) The cost-reduction program, called Q Future, starts with a target of AU$500 million in the current financial year.
8) "Q Future will focus on Qantas' operations and improving efficiencies across a range of areas, including sales and distribution, fuel conservation, aircraft utilization and schedule, and procurement," Joyce said. "We are also keeping a close watch on oil and fuel prices."
9) The statement said that while the number of passengers seemed to be rising, the market was still too uncertain to provide profit guidance.
10) The company said no final dividend would be paid for the 2008/09 year. Qantas did pay an interim dividend of six cents per share.
11) Qantas shares were up 3.85 percent to $2.70 in early trading after the announcement.
Qantas reverses profit slump as travel picks up
(APW_ENG_20091221.0144)
1) Australian airline Qantas said Monday that passenger numbers were picking up after plummeting during the economic downturn, helping to reverse a profit slump this year.
2) Qantas Airways Ltd. expects profit before tax of between Australian dollars 50 million and AU$150 million ($44.5 million-$133 million) in the six months to Dec. 31, the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.
3) Qantas earned AU$210 million in profit after tax for the same period a year earlier, but earnings plunged after that. It reported a net profit of AU$117 million for the full year to June 30, 2009, a decrease of 88 percent from the previous year.
4) Qantas said passengers on the company's two airlines -- Qantas and the budget carrier Jetstar -- were 6.9 percent higher in the year to November.
5) "Operating conditions have improved when compared to the second half of 2008/09 financial year with passenger volumes and yield improving," the statement said.
6) In a separate statement, CEO Alan Joyce said Qantas would start adding more flights between key Australian cities in response to rising domestic demand. The airline will add some 340,000 seats on domestic flights in the next 12 months to restore capacity that shrank in response to the economic downturn.
7) "We are seeing some improvements in domestic demand and so the time is right to begin restoring capacity to ensure we are well placed to meet that demand," Joyce said in the statement.
8) Qantas declined to give a profit outlook for the full 2009-2010 year, saying economic conditions, passenger demand, fuel prices and other factors were still volatile.
9) Qantas shares rose on the news and closed more than 5 percent higher at AU$2.88.
Qantas: Passengers not at risk in flight mishaps
(APW_ENG_20100401.0508)
1) Australian carrier Qantas said Thursday passengers were not at risk this week when a A380 superjumbo jet burst two tires on landing and another plane was forced to abort a flight after an engine failure.
2) The two accidents in as many days have put the spotlight on the airline safety standards ahead of a planned strike over the coming Easter long weekend by engineers who accuse Qantas of using inexperienced managers on overnight shifts.
3) David Epstein, of Qantas corporate affairs, told reporters that passengers were never in danger.
4) Two tires under the A380's left wing burst on landing in Sydney after a flight from Singapore on Wednesday night. Video footage showed sparks and smoke flying from the wheel area.
5) The 244 people aboard were taken by bus to the terminal because the plane could not immediately taxi from the runway.
6) Qantas said an issue with the braking system caused the blowout. The plane was cleared to fly again and departed Thursday night for Singapore.
7) "Tires do burst on aircraft, that's why aircraft have multiple safety systems and multiple tires," Epstein said, noting that the A380 has 20 tires in total.
8) The plane is one of six A380s that Qantas has put in service since 2008.
9) Airbus Australia declined comment, saying the issue only concerned Qantas.
10) On Tuesday evening, a Qantas 747 jumbo with 414 people aboard bound for Singapore was forced to turn back to Sydney 45 minutes after takeoff because of an engine problem.
11) It landed safely after dumping fuel, and about four hours later passengers were put on another flight to Singapore.
12) Epstein said engine surges were a known phenomenon on Boeing 747 jets.
13) "The fact is, it was an engine surge on one engine out of a four-engine aircraft," he said. "The aircraft was able to be returned quite safely."
14) The airplane troubles come as the union of professional engineers that service the Qantas fleet plans its weekend strike to protest what it describes as inexperienced managers filling in on overnight shifts.
15) "Qantas continues to bring in inexperienced workers to cover the roles of our specialist senior professional members," union spokeswoman Alison Rose said when the strike was announced Wednesday.
16) Rose said the substitute managers had little or no experience with the A380s.
17) In late 2008, Australia's aviation safety agency ordered Qantas to improve its maintenance system following a review prompted by a series of safety problems.
Qantas posts 4 pct drop in annual profit to $100M
(APW_ENG_20100812.0025)
1) Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday posted a 4.3 percent fall in annual net profit to 112 million Australian dollars ($100 million) but said market conditions were improving.
2) Australia's largest carrier's net profit for the fiscal year to June 30 was down from AU$117 million in the previous year.
3) Underlying pretax profit for the year was AU$377 million, within its guidance of between AU$300 million and AU$400 million, the airline said in a statement.
4) That compares to an underlying pretax profit of AU$100 million in the previous corresponding period.
5) Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said if present conditions continue, the airline's first half underlying pretax profit for 2010-2011 may be "materially stronger" than the first half of 2009-2010.
6) However, changes in fuel prices, currency exchange rates and general trading conditions could rapidly impact earnings, he warned.
7) "It is therefore not possible to provide a more specific forecast at this time, given the volatility and uncertainty of the aviation market," Joyce said in the statement.
8) Qantas expects to increase its capacity in the first half of 2010-2011 by 9.6 percent compared to the previous corresponding period as conditions improve, he said.
9) "International demand and yield across the business and leisure sectors continue to improve and domestic business demand is also strengthening," Joyce said.
10) "The domestic leisure market continues to be highly competitive. However we expect this too will improve in the first half of the year," Joyce added.
11) All business segments were profitable in the year to June, Joyce said.
12) In February, Qantas posted a 72 percent dive in first half net profit to AU$58 million, blaming a drop in demand.
13) The airline reported a net profit before tax of AU$90 million for the six months.
Report: Qantas plane makes emergency landing
(APW_ENG_20101104.0112)
1) A local television station says a troubled Qantas jetliner has made an emergency landing in Singapore.
2) Channel News Asia reported that the plane landed in Singapore Thursday but gave no other details.
3) Earlier, Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns said one of its four engines shut down over western Indonesia but that it was able to fly safely with three.
Qantas jumbo makes emergency landing in Singapore
(APW_ENG_20101104.0169)
1) A Qantas superjumbo jet made an emergency landing Thursday in Singapore with 459 people aboard, after one of its four engines failed over western Indonesia and following witness reports of a blast that sent debris hurtling to the ground.
2) The carrier said there had not been any explosion, and that the plane landed safely with no injuries.
3) Qantas had no immediate comment on whether the engine troubles were related to eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi over the past 10 days. Given the timing of the malfunction, 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore and before the flight had time to approach the mountain, there appeared to be no connection.
4) A Qantas statement said the double-decker Airbus 380 plane experienced an "engine issue" soon after taking off from Singapore for Sydney. It made a safe emergency landing in Singapore at 11:45 a.m. local time with 433 passengers and 26 crew on board, the statement said.
5) "Some media reports suggested the aircraft had crashed. These reports are incorrect. No Qantas aircraft has crashed," it said.
6) Separately, Singapore's Changi airport said in a statement that flight QF 32 left for Sydney at 9:56 a.m., and "for technical reasons the aircraft turned back to Changi," landing safely one hour and 50 minutes later.
7) The flight is a regular service that flies between Sydney, Singapore and London. The route is usually flown by one of Qantas' six Airbus A380 that were introduced into service in 2008. Qantas' A380s can carry up to 525 people.
8) Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney, Australia, said there were no reports of injuries or an explosion on board. When asked if the engine trouble was related to ash hurled from Merapi, Kearns said she had no further details.
9) A series of powerful eruptions from Indonesia's most volatile volcano, which was spewing massive clouds of gray ash 310 miles (500 kilometers) west of Jakarta, earlier prompted officials to close some air routes above the mountain.
10) "We have no way of knowing what at this point caused the problem," said Tatang Kurniadi, the chief of The National Transportation Safety Committee, when asked if volcanic ash could have clogged the Qantas airliner's engine.
11) Witnesses on the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore and 850 miles (1,400 kilometers) west of Merapi, reported hearing a large blast and seeing pieces of debris -- including panels painted white and red -- falling onto houses and a nearby shopping mall.
12) Pictures of metal, some the size of a door, were shown on Indonesia's MetroTV broadcaster, with people milling around.
13) "I heard a big explosion at around 9:15 a.m. and saw a commercial passenger plane flying low in the distance with smoke on one of its wings," Rusdi, a local resident, told MetroTV.
14) "The debris started falling on my house."
15) A British Airways flight suffered engine failure in 1982 after it had flown into a volcanic cloud in western Sumatra and was forced to make an emergency landing in Jakarta.The flight from Singapore to Perth, Australia, plunged several thousand feet (meters) before the engines restarted in the June 24, 1982 incident.
16) The Airbus superjumbo has been in service since Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first of the A380 planes in late 2007. Qantas now has six of them in service.
17) Qantas' safety record is enviable among major airlines, with only one fatal crash in its 90-year history -- seven people died when a small plane plunged into the sea off Papua New Guinea in 1951.
18) But there have been a run of scares in recent years across a range of plane types. The most serious -- when a faulty oxygen tank caused an explosion that blew a 5-foot hole in the fuselage of a Boeing 747-400 over the Philippines -- prompted aviation officials to order Qantas to upgrade maintenance procedures.
19) On March 31, a Qantas A380 with 244 people on board burst two tires on landing in Sydney after a flight from Singapore.
Qantas jumbo makes emergency landing in Singapore
(APW_ENG_20101104.0733)
1) Qantas grounded its Airbus A380 fleet after one of the superjumbo jets blew out an engine Thursday, shooting flames and raining large metal chunks before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard.
2) It was most serious midair incident involving the double-decker A380, the world's largest and latest airliner, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney -- the same route that Qantas flight QF34 was flying when it was stricken.
3) Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses aboard the plane and on the ground reported blasts. Officials in Indonesia said the engine trouble could not have been related to recent volcanic eruptions of Mount Merapi, some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east.
4) After the plane touched down in Singapore, the engine closest to the fuselage on the left wing had visible burn marks and was missing a plate section that would have been painted with the red kangaroo logo of the airline. The upper part of the left wing also appeared damaged, indicating that one or more pieces from the engine gouged a hole in the wing.
5) Passenger amateur video from inside the plane showed white vapor coming out of the wing as the A380 landed.
6) One passenger, Rosemary Hegardy, 60, of Sydney, told The Associated Press that she heard two bangs and saw yellow flames from her window shortly after takeoff.
7) "There was flames -- yellow flames came out, and debris came off. ... You could see black things shooting through the smoke, like bits of debris," she said.
8) Although it was nearly 90 minutes from the time of the explosion to the plane landing, there was no panic inside the aircraft, she said.
9) The captain addressed the passengers immediately by saying "'I'm sure you realize there's a problem. We have to find out what the problem is,'" she said. Shortly after that, the captain explained that an engine had failed and needed to dump fuel before landing.
10) "The crew were fantastic, really -- I am so amazed that everyone stayed calm," she said. "We were all sort of really shaken up, but what could you do?"
11) In another seat, Tyler Wooster watched as part of the skin of the wing peeled off, exposing foam and broken wires.
12) "My whole body just went to jelly and I didn't know what was going to happen as we were going down, if we were going to be OK," Wooster told Australia's Nine Network news.
13) Residents on the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, helped authorities pick up more than 100 pieces of debris scattered in 15 locations in Batam. The pieces, mostly small, torn metal but some the size of doors, were brought to police headquarters for the investigation.
14) The trouble with one of the plane's four engines happened 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore at 9:56 a.m. The plane landed after one hour and 50 minutes.
15) "The shutdown of the Qantas engine had no connection with Mount Merapi," said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for Indonesia's Transportation Ministry. "It was too far from the volcano -- the sky over Singapore and Sumatra island is free of dust."
16) The flight is a regular service that flies between Sydney, Singapore and London. Qantas' A380s can carry up to 525 people, but flight QF34 was carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, all of whom were evacuated by a stepladder in an operation that lasted two hours.
17) Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney said there were no injuries or an explosion on board. The airline described the problem as an "engine issue" without elaborating.
18) "We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told a news conference.
19) Joyce appeared to blame the engine, made by Rolls-Royce.
20) "This issue, an engine failure, has been one that we haven't seen before. So we are obviously taking it very seriously, because it is a significant engine failure," he said.
21) Singapore Airlines later said in a statement it would be "delaying all flights operating our A380 aircraft" after Rolls-Royce and Airbus advised it to conduct precautionary technical checks.
22) Germany's Lufthansa, which operates three A380s, said that it would keep its A380 that was scheduled to depart Frankfurt for Johannesburg on Thursday grounded to carry out checks on its motor, as recommended by Rolls-Royce. But spokesman Boris Ogursky said Lufthansa plans to fly as scheduled with its A380 from Frankfurt to Tokyo on Friday.
23) Experts said the problem appeared to be an "uncontained engine failure," which occurs when turbine debris punctures the engine casing and the light cowling that covers the unit.
24) Aviation expert Tom Ballantyne told the AP that Thursday's troubles were "certainly the most serious incident that the A380 has experienced since it entered operations."
25) But "it's not like the aircraft is going to drop out of the sky," Ballantyne, Sydney-based chief correspondent at Orient Aviation Magazine, said by telephone from Brunei.
26) He said the engine shutdown couldn't have caused a crash. The planes are designed to fly on just two engines, and the pilots are trained to handle engine failures, he said.
27) Rolls-Royce said it was aware of the situation, noting that the investigation was still at an early stage. Its shares fell 5 percent on the London Stock Exchange.
28) Airbus said in a statement that it was providing all necessary technical assistance to the investigation and a team of specialists from Airbus was being dispatched to Singapore.
29) Martin Fendt, a spokesman for the consortium, declined to comment on Qantas' grounding of all its A380s, but he said no airworthiness directives have been issued mandating a halt to flights by the superjumbo.
30) Still, the incident is likely to raise safety questions about one of the most modern aircraft, which has suffered a series of minor incidents.
31) In September 2009, a Singapore Airlines A380 was forced to turn around in mid-flight and head back to Paris after an engine malfunction. On March 31, a Qantas A380 with 244 people on board burst two tires on landing in Sydney after a flight from Singapore.
32) Last August, a Lufthansa crew shut down one of the engines as a precaution before landing at Frankfurt on a flight from Japan, after receiving confusing information on a cockpit indicator.
33) The other issues with the A380s have all been relatively minor, such as electrical problems, Ballantyne said.
34) Qantas' safety record is enviable among major airlines, with no fatal crashes since it introduced jet-powered planes in the late 1950s.
35) But there have been a run of scares in recent years across a range of plane types. The most serious -- when a faulty oxygen tank caused an explosion that blew a 5-foot hole in the fuselage of a Boeing 747-400 over the Philippines -- prompted aviation officials to order Qantas to upgrade maintenance procedures.
36) Airbus has delivered a total of 37 A380s so far. Thirteen are in service with Emirates, 11 with Singapore Airlines, six with Qantas, four with Air France and three with Lufthansa.
37) Emirates airlines, which has 13 A380s in operation, said all of them are flying as scheduled. It noted that its planes are powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines.
38) Thursday's incident appeared unrelated to mail bombs sent recently on cargo planes, allegedly from Yemeni militants.
Qantas 747 lands in Singapore after engine trouble
(APW_ENG_20101105.0679)
1) A Qantas Boeing 747 with 431 people on board returned to Singapore with an engine problem shortly after takeoff Friday, a local TV station reported.
2) Channel News Asia quoted Qantas as saying that flight QF6 operating from Singapore to Sydney "experienced an issue with its number 1 engine" shortly after takeoff.
3) Qantas added that as a precaution, the captain of the jumbo jet sought priority clearance to return to Singapore, CNA reported. The aircraft landed safely, it said.
4) It said there were 412 passengers, three flight crew and 16 cabin crew.
5) According to Qantas website, Flight QF6 is a Boeing 747-400, which is fitted with four Rolls-Royce RB211-524G-T engines. The daily flight operates between Frankfurt and Sydney with a stopover in Singapore.
6) The website said the flight is now expected to depart at 11:35 p.m. local time, more than 3 1/2 hours after its scheduled departure. The information indicated that the problem with the engine was not serious and the flight will continue on its onward journey.
7) The incident comes a day after an Airbus A380 superjumbo jet belonging to the Australian airline made an emergency landing in Singapore after one of its four engines suffered a blowout. That aircraft was also going to Sydney.
8) Qantas grounded its fleet of A380s, and other airlines made checks of their planes that have the same Rolls-Royce engine. The A380 shed debris from the busted engine onto the thickly populated Indonesian island of Batam.
Rolls-Royce loses stock value after engine fire
(APW_ENG_20101106.0102)
1) A day after a massive engine failure on the world's largest jetliner, manufacturer Rolls-Royce watched a billion dollars vanish from its market value, while another of its engines on a different plane caught fire in flight.
2) The Australian airline Qantas blamed the British aerospace company for the violent mid-flight disintegration on Thursday of an engine on the Airbus A380. Another Qantas plane equipped with Rolls-Royce engines suffered an engine problem shortly after takeoff late Friday, producing a loud bang and shooting fire before it turned back to Singapore.
3) Modern passenger jets are designed to fly after one or more engine failures, and both Qantas planes landed safely.
4) On Thursday, one of the A380's four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines failed minutes into a flight to Sydney, shedding pieces of metal over Indonesia before it returned to make a safe emergency landing in Singapore.
5) Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the problem was "most likely a material failure or some type of design issue" and not related to maintenance.
6) Rolls-Royce Group PLC, a London-based aerospace, power systems and defense company separate from the car manufacturer, made no public comment. Its stock price took a beating for the second day, ending more than 5 percent lower.
7) Experts said an engine flaw could be responsible, with one pointing to a shattered piece of turbine as the possible failure point.
8) Qantas has six of the double-decker Airbus A380s, the world's largest airliner.
9) It is as tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying 853 passengers, although most airlines use it for about 500.
10) Twenty planes operated by Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines use the Trent 900 -- a new, immensely powerful and highly complex piece of equipment as tall as a single-story house.
11) The engine on the Qantas Airbus suffered what aviation experts call an uncontained engine failure, in which high-energy debris from the rotating parts break through the engine casing. Some of the pieces sliced into the plane's wing.
12) Such accidents, rare these days due to improvements in design and metallurgy, usually are caused by engines sucking in objects like runway debris or a bird, or maintenance crews failing to replace parts that wear out.
13) "The possible danger of an uncontained failure is shrapnel from the turbines or compressors exiting the engine case and puncturing portions of the wing and fuselage," said Patrick Smith, a commercial airline pilot and aviation author. "A worse-case scenario could have pieces of hot metal going into the fuel tanks or into the cabin, causing a leak or fire or cabin depressurization."
14) Late Friday, a Sydney-bound Qantas Boeing 747-400 fitted with four Rolls-Royce RB211-524G-T engines landed safely in Singapore after an engine caught fire minutes after taking off, the airline said.
15) "There was a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine," passenger Andrew Jenkins, a 43-year-old Australian banker, told The Associated Press.
16) William Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation based in Alexandria, Virginia, said the latest incident was very different from Thursday's engine disintegration, the most serious midair incident involving the A380 since it debuted in 2007.
17) The 747-400 is a much older plane with an entirely different engine even though both are made by Rolls Royce, Voss said. The second engine failure was much more routine, while the uncontained engine failure on the A380 was "more exceptional," Voss said.
18) "The engines that are on the A380 are new engines, and because they are new ... we are obviously very cautious about the operation of that aircraft," Qantas' Joyce told reporters Saturday.
19) Qantas' 747 fleet will not be grounded because of Friday's incident, he said. Qantas' six A380s won't fly until full safety checks are completed over the next few days, he added.
20) Voss said it appeared credible that a design or construction flaw was the cause of the A380 engine failure.
21) He said if the problem was shared by all Trent 900 engines, it is likely to be caught in inspections carried out by Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines after Thursday's accident.
22) All of the airlines temporarily grounded their A380s, but Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines resumed flying them Friday after they passed safety inspections.
23) Airbus said it had asked all airlines operating the A380 planes with Rolls-Royce engines to carry out inspections "to ensure continuous safe operations of the fleet." Airbus has delivered a total of 37 of the A380s, but the 17 operated by Emirates and Air France use engines from a different manufacturer.
24) The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued orders twice this year advising airlines about extra inspections or repairs needed to deal with potential problems with the Trent 900.
25) Joyce said such directives are commonplace -- an airline could receive 100 per year across a range of planes -- and that Qantas was in full compliance.
26) One August order indicated that routine wear could cause the turbine discs -- rings the turbine blades are attached to -- to come into contact with stationary parts of the engine, resulting in an in-flight shutdown, or even an oil fire.
27) But EASA spokesman Jeremie Teahan said the agency did not believe that problem could lead to a breakup of the type that occurred Thursday.
28) Nevertheless, a news photo of the stricken A380 showing a turbine disc broken nearly in half, its blades missing, indicates that a turbine disc may have failed, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and an expert on aircraft maintenance.
29) The location of the break appears to indicate that it was the disc that failed, Goglia said. The photo didn't show any signs of discoloration on the disc that would indicate overheating.
30) There are several reasons why a disc might fail, but they usually involve the metal used to make the disc or the manufacturing method, Goglia said. He cautioned that he was looking at one photo, which was not enough information to make a definitive judgment.
31) Another Rolls Royce engine, the Trent 1000, also experienced an uncontained engine failure during testing in August for use on Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner." Boeing temporarily stopped shipments of the engines from Rolls-Royce, but the shipments have resumed, Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx said in an e-mail.
32) Proulx declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the engine failure, referring questions to Rolls-Royce.
33) However, he said that based on recent findings during engine testing at a Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, England, a series of hardware and software improvements to the Trent 1000 are being incorporated before the first 787 delivery.
34) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading an investigation into Thursday's incident with help from Qantas, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and aviation authorities in several countries.
35) With its image of safety battered by recent events, Qantas got a high-profile endorsement Saturday from Hollywood actor John Travolta -- a qualified pilot who owns a former Qantas passenger jet and works for the airline as an international ambassador.
36) "The Qantas brand around the world is very strong," Travolta told reporters, standing in front of one of the airline's grounded A380s shortly after landing in Sydney to take part in Qantas' 90th anniversary celebrations.
37) He did not comment directly on the recent engine failures, but said he had "respect for Qantas' ability to do it right, and to do it with integrity and pride and honor."
Qantas jumbo jet returns to Sydney due to fault
(APW_ENG_20101115.0178)
1) Qantas defended its decision to keep its A380 superjumbos grounded 11 days after a mid-air engine failure prompted a global safety scare, and the airline suffered more problems Monday when an electrical fault sent smoke into the cockpit of a different type of plane.
2) The latest incident was unrelated to the superjumbo drama, but it was the third time a Qantas jetliner has aborted flights because of faults since the Nov. 4 explosion on the A380, which raised concerns about the world's largest passenger plane.
3) The Airbus incident has prompted extra attention on Qantas, which prides itself on its safety record. Qantas says the three faults since Nov. 4 were far less serious than problems with the A380 and that the turnarounds were precautionary.
4) The airline said a Boeing 747 carrying 221 passengers and crew was an hour into a flight from Sydney for Buenos Aires, Argentina, when smoke started coming from an instrument panel in the cockpit. Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told reporters the problem was a "minor electrical fault" that caused a "minimal" amount of smoke in the cockpit. No smoke entered the passenger cabin. The crew followed safety procedures and turned the plane around, she said.
5) The plane dumped its fuel before landing safely in Sydney, Qantas said. Television footage showed fire trucks tailing the plane as it taxied to the terminal, though they were not put to use. Qantas said the passengers would be put on other flights, and repairing the plane was not expected to take long.
6) On Friday, a Qantas Boeing 767 turned back on a domestic flight in Australia after pilots detected abnormal vibrations in one of the plane's two General Electric engines. A week earlier, a Sydney-bound Qantas Boeing 747 landed safely in Singapore after an engine caught fire minutes after takeoff.
7) Both 747 planes were fitted with Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.
8) The A380 scare is being blamed on a fault in the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine. Leaking oil caught fire in the motor of a four-engine Qantas A380, heating metal parts and causing the disintegration over Indonesia before the jetliner returned safely to Singapore. Experts say chunks of flying metal damaged vital systems in the wing of the Sydney-bound plane, causing the pilots to lose control of the second engine and half of the brake flaps on the damaged wing in a situation far more serious than originally portrayed by the airline.
9) Qantas grounded its six A380s within hours and said four days later that the checks had revealed suspicious oil leaks on three engines on three different grounded A380s. Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, which both use A380s with Trent 900 engines, have conducted checks on their superjumbos and all but one have returned to service, the airlines say.
10) Qantas' six planes -- the backbone of the airline's longest and most lucrative international routes between Australia and Los Angeles, Singapore and London -- remain grounded despite what experts say is financial pressure to fly them again.
11) "We are taking our normal and extremely conservative approach to safety and will not operate our A380 fleet until we are completely confident that it is safe to do so," Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton said on Monday.
12) Qantas was still hopeful of returning the A380s to service "in days, not weeks," Rushton said.
13) Britain's Rolls-Royce Group PLC, the world's second-largest engine maker, said Friday that it would be replacing an unspecified module, or collection of linked parts, on the Trent 900. Airbus said Rolls-Royce would also be equipping the engines with software to shut them down before an oil leak could cause an engine to disintegrate.
14) Rushton said three engines had been removed from Qantas A380s as part of a detailed inspection program ordered by Europe's air safety regulator and recommendations by Rolls-Royce. He declined to comment on an unsourced newspaper report that Rolls-Royce had advised Qantas that seven more engines may have to be removed, something that would cause longer delays and potential revenue losses.
15) Each A380 is fitted with four engines, each of them massive and extremely complex machines.
16) Singapore Airlines, which grounded three of its 11 A380s after checks found oil leaks in three Trent 900s, said Monday that two were back in service after engine changes and that work was continuing on the third.
17) Meanwhile, the lead investigator into the Qantas incident said the automatic audio recording of conversations between the pilots during the mid-air emergency had been erased, though this would not be a significant setback.
18) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the plane's voice cockpit recorder ran for more than two hours after the incident because the explosion caused one of the plane's other engines to fail to shut down after it landed, meaning earlier conversations were overwritten.
19) The flight data recorder was recovered and includes the entire occurrence, and had provided extensive flight and engine data, the ATSB said. Data from other in-flight recorders was also being analyzed.
20) "Despite initial difficulties as a result of damage to the aircraft's electrical system, the ATSB, in collaboration with Airbus, Qantas, the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of Singapore and the aircraft condition monitoring system manufacturer, have successfully recovered all pertinent data," the ATSB said in a statement.
2 Qantas planes land safely after minor incidents
(APW_ENG_20101117.0201)
1) A bird and a bolt of lightning were the latest problems to strike Qantas, the airline said Wednesday, causing the fourth flight turnaround since an engine blowout on one of its Airbus superjumbos caused a global safety scare.
2) The string of incidents on Qantas' older fleet of Boeing planes is unrelated to the A380 scare and were caused by various glitches and uncontrollable events that are not uncommon to any major carrier, the airline and a commercial aviation analyst said. But the events have happened in an unusual cluster and have drawn extra attention following the superjumbo blowout.
3) In the latest incident, a Boeing 747 carrying 171 passengers bound for Sydney turned back to Johannesburg after a bird slammed into one of the jumbo's four engines shortly after takeoff late Tuesday, Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said. It landed safely, but suffered damage to turbine blades in one engine that would take a day or two to repair, he said.
4) Also on Tuesday, a Qantas Boeing 717 sustained minor damage to its fuselage when it was struck by lightning during a domestic flight between the Outback cities of Alice Springs and Darwin. The plane did not have to turn back because of the strike, and continued safely to its destination of Darwin, Woodward said.
5) Four Qantas flights have turned back to port since the A380 incident because of various faults and problems. The airline says none of them were as serious as the superjumbo problem, and the turnarounds were in line with Qantas' routine safety procedures.
6) The day after the A380 problem, a Qantas Boeing 747 bound for Sydney turned around and landed safely in Singapore after an engine caught fire minutes after takeoff. Last Friday, a Boeing 767 turned back on a domestic flight in Australia after pilots detected abnormal vibrations in an engines.
7) On Monday, the flight crew aboard a Qantas Boeing 747 bound for Argentina donned oxygen masks and returned to Sydney after an electrical fault sent smoke into the cockpit.
8) Peter Harbison, the head of the respected consultancy the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, said the various problems Qantas flights have experienced since the A380 incident are the kind of things that all airlines experience from time to time.
9) "None of them is uncommon in its own right, though it is relatively uncommon to have such a string of them so quickly, with no common cause," he said. "It's just one of those times -- when you're unlucky, you're unlucky."
10) Extra attention has focused on Qantas -- which has a reputation as one of the world's safest airlines -- since the Nov. 4 A380 incident, when one of the plane's four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines disintegrated in flight and sent shrapnel ripping through the wing before it returned to Singapore and landed safely.
11) Aviation officials have identified an oil leak near a turbine as the flaw that caused a fire and the engine failure, and Qantas' six A380 -- the world's largest passenger plane -- remain grounded while the airline carries out checks and repairs. The other carriers using Trent 900s on their A380s, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, have returned their planes to service.
12) Meanwhile, investigators called off their search for missing parts from the stricken A380 that fell off when the engine disintegrated -- including a chunk of a turbine disc that shattered into pieces in the explosion.
13) The failure sent shrapnel searing through a wing and scattered debris across Indonesia's Batam island. Many parts were found by residents, and investigators found more, though they said they were being hampered by thick jungle.
14) "A number of small engine components were recovered during the search, including some turbine blades and blade attachments; however, other significant parts of the liberated No. 2 turbine disc have not been located," the bureau said in an update on the investigation posted on its web site.
15) The stricken engine has been removed from the plane in Singapore and was being dismantled for closer scrutiny, the ATSB said. Examination of a part of the turbine disc that was recovered from the plane has been completed, it said.
16) The bureau is due to deliver a preliminary report on the incident by Dec. 3.
Report: Qantas oxygen tank blowout ' unique '
(APW_ENG_20101122.0101)
1) An oxygen bottle explosion that tore a hole in a Qantas jumbo during a flight two years ago was a unique event that is extremely unlikely ever to happen again, investigators said Monday in their final report into the incident.
2) But the investigators concluded the exact cause of the incident would never be known because the key piece of evidence -- the oxygen tank -- fell into the South China Sea and was never recovered.
3) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the July 2008 incident is unrelated to the blowout of a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas superjumbo earlier this month, but both events are part of a string of safety incidents in recent years that have tested the Australian airline's reputation as one of the world's safest.
4) The latest incident also involves parts not likely to be recovered, with some of the Airbus A380's engine parts still lost after the blowout over an Indonesian island. However, safety bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan said he did not expect a similarly inconclusive result for the superjumbo investigation. A preliminary report on that investigation is due next week.
5) "We've got most of the necessary engine when it comes to the 380 and we've got significant components that have given us enough information already to establish reasonably clearly what's going on there and that will be reflected in our interim report," Dolan told reporters.
6) On the Boeing 747 oxygen bottle explosion, investigators had been unable to replicate that rupture in experiments with similar U.S.-manufactured steel tanks.
7) "Given the widespread and long-term use of this type of cylinder, it was clear that this occurrence was a unique event," Dolan said. "It is our view that the risk of a similar rupture and consequent aircraft damage remains extremely remote."
8) Investigators speculated that the tank's flaw lay in the manufacture of the steel with which it was made, and that that fault could have been impossible to detect, Dolan said.
9) Qantas welcomed the report's finding that the emergency was unique and without precedent.
10) "Importantly, the report makes no findings in relation to Qantas' engineering and maintenance operations," the airline said in a statement.
11) The Boeing 747 was flying across the South China Sea carrying 369 passengers and crew from London to Melbourne, Australia, when the oxygen bottle -- one of a bank of seven stowed in a cargo hold to supply passengers' oxygen masks in an emergency -- split in two.
12) The lower part blew a gaping hole 79 inches by 60 inches (2 meters by 1.5 meters) in its fuselage, while the top shot through the passenger cabin floor and sheared off an emergency door handle before it bounced off the ceiling and ricocheted back through the floor. The explosion caused rapid cabin decompression and damaged navigational instruments.
13) No one was injured and the jet landed safely in the Philippines, but questions were raised about the much-lauded safety record of Qantas, which has never lost a jet airliner in an accident.
14) It was among a series of high profile incidents that prompted Australian air safety regulators to order Qantas in September 2008 to improve its maintenance system.
15) The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it found deficiencies and "signs of emerging problems" in the way Qantas manages and delivers maintenance to its planes.
16) Questions over Qantas safety flared anew when one of the airline's Airbus A380 superjumbos was damaged by an engine explosion over Indonesia on Nov. 4. Qantas' fleet of six A380s remain grounded while the airline swaps out some parts of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine they use and conducts safety tests. Other airlines using the A380 with Trent 900 engines are still flying the planes.
17) In its report Monday, the transport bureau said the cylinder design was "inherently robust" and there was no evidence suggesting Qantas' handling, operating or maintenance procedures had contributed to the failure. It said it has found no record of any other related instances of aviation oxygen cylinder rupture.
18) The jet involved has returned to service, but has continued to attract unwelcome attention for Qantas. After it was repaired in Manila, it collided with another 747 on a Melbourne airport tarmac in November 2008 while airline staff were towing it. There were no passengers aboard either jet and no one was injured.
19) The same jet was diverted during a flight from Singapore to Sydney in September 2009 when cockpit instruments registered a fuel leak. The jet landed safely with 290 passengers aboard in the western Australian city of Perth.
Qantas to return A380s to service
(APW_ENG_20101123.0182)
1) Qantas said Tuesday it would put some of its superjumbos back into service but will keep A380s off routes from Australia to the United States while it investigates whether extra thrust it uses to power those flights puts too much stress on the engines.
2) CEO Alan Joyce announced that two of Qantas' six A380s would resume commercial flights starting Saturday -- 23 days after the disintegration during flight of a Rolls-Royce engine on one of its planes triggered the most serious safety scare yet for the world's largest and newest jetliner.
3) The blowout caused serious damage to some of the plane's flight systems, and pilots scrambled for an hour to deal with a cascade of warnings before making a safe landing in Singapore. Qantas grounded its superjumbo fleet within hours.
4) Joyce said two A380s would be flown without passengers to Sydney from Los Angeles, where engines had been replaced or modified and exhaustive checks carried out, and then they would resume passenger flights from Sydney to London via Singapore.
5) "After those extensive checks with Airbus and Rolls-Royce we are completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney on Tuesday. "We believe it is appropriate to start the services this week."
6) A380s would be kept off routes to Los Angeles from Australia's two largest cities -- Sydney and Melbourne -- while Qantas conducts tests on the engines of those planes returned to service. Joyce said Qantas wants to be sure the airline is not using too much power to get the giant aircraft off the ground.
7) The Australia-U.S. flights are among the longest non-stop commercial flights in the world, and the A380s must load up on more fuel than on other flights to make them. That means the planes heavier when they take off, and need more thrust from the A380's four engines.
8) Joyce said the thrust settings Qantas uses is within the certified specifications of the Trent 900 engine fitted to its planes, and the manufacturers and the European regulator responsible for ensuring safety standards consider it is safe to fly those routes.
9) "We're imposing this restriction on ourselves until we're comfortable with the history and the information we'll get from the continued operation over the next few weeks," Joyce said. "Once we're comfortable with that we'll operate them again."
10) "We want to make sure that we're 100 percent sure of the aircraft before we put them on the LA route, which requires this extra use of thrust. So it's very precautionary on behalf of Qantas," he said.
11) Investigators say leaking oil caught fire in the Qantas engine on Nov. 4 and heated metal parts, causing them to disintegrate before the jetliner returned safely to Singapore with 466 people aboard. Experts say chunks of flying metal cut hydraulics and an engine-control line in the wing of the A380, causing a cascade of problems including the loss of control of a second engine and some braking power, fuel leaks and more than 50 on-board warnings.
12) It was the most serious safety scare for the world's largest and newest jetliners, and prompted Qantas to ground its fleet. Other airlines using the Trent 900 engine aboard A380s, Singapore Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa, also briefly grounded some planes while safety checks were carried out.
13) Between them, the three airlines fly 20 A380s with four Trent 900 engines apiece.
14) Some experts say the extra stress caused by the thrust Qantas uses on its longest-haul flights may have contributed to the problem showing up first in the Australian airline's A380s. A detailed investigation by air safety authorities is still underway and has not released any conclusions yet.
15) Peter Marosszeky, a jetliner maintenance expert at the University of New South Wales, said the decision to keep the A380s suspended from the long flights suggests Qantas is being extra careful rather than raising concerns there may still be a problem with the engines or with Qantas' thrust settings.
16) "They are trying to limit stressing the engine to its maximum, to prevent any aggressive deterioration or anything like that," Marosszeky said. "It is a very wise decision. You don't want to operate something at its maximum thrust capability then find out that you are prematurely creating a problem."
17) In addition to the two A380s from the existing fleet returning to the skies, Qantas would take delivery of two new superjumbos from Airbus that the airline will put immediately into service, Joyce said. Qantas expects to by flying four A380s by the time the busy Christmas holiday period starts.
18) The rest of Qantas' fleet will remain on the ground as it waits for new or modified engines to be supplied. So far, 16 engines on Qantas planes have been removed, Joyce said. The damaged plane will remain in Singapore for repairs.
19) Qantas has declined to say publicly what its thrust settings for its A380s are. The airline reportedly uses a maximum thrust setting of 72,000 pounds for A380s taking off on the two Australia-United States routes. That's below the engine's certified maximum of 80,000 pounds, according to Rolls-Royce documents.
Qantas A380 to fly again after engine troubles
(APW_ENG_20101127.0028)
1) A Qantas A380 superjumbo will return the skies for the first time since the airline's fleet was grounded after a midair engine explosion.
2) The airline says the flight carrying some 350 passengers will take off Saturday from Sydney bound for Singapore and London.
3) Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is expected to be aboard the flight for the first leg in a gesture meant to reassure customers about the plane's safety.
4) Qantas grounded its six A380s after a Rolls-Royce engine on one of them disintegrated after takeoff from Singapore on Nov. 4.
5) That prompted a global safety review of the Trent 900 engine used on 20 A380s across three airlines.
6) Qantas has replaced at least 14 engines on its fleet, and so far is returning only two of its A380s to service.
Qantas A380 returns to air after engine blowout
(APW_ENG_20101127.0693)
1) A Qantas A380 carrying more than 450 passengers, including the airline's chief executive, took to the skies Saturday in the first flight by one of its superjumbos since a midair engine explosion three weeks ago triggered a global safety review.
2) Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said he was flying the first leg of the Sydney-Singapore-London flight as a sign of the airline's conviction that it had completed all modifications and other checks on the Rolls-Royce engines, and the planes were safe to fly.
3) "We are 100 percent comfortable with it," Joyce told reporters. "If we weren't, we wouldn't be restarting the operations today."
4) But Australia's flagship airline suffered another public relations setback the same day when a Boeing 747 flight from Sydney to London via Bangkok was grounded in Sydney overnight due to a "wiring issue," Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said.
5) Flight QF1 with 351 passengers aboard was taxiing toward take off at 6:05 p.m. local time (07:05 GMT) when the pilot detected a problem with one of the jet's four Rolls-Royce engines, he said.
6) The flight was canceled at 9 p.m. because there was insufficient time to fix the fault before an 11 p.m. curfew for planes taking off and landing at Sydney airport, he said.
7) Qantas grounded its six A380s after a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine on one of the superjumbos disintegrated shortly after takeoff from Singapore on Nov. 4, sending shrapnel slicing through a wing and causing multiple problems for the pilots before they managed to safely land the jetliner back in Singapore.
8) Investigators say leaking oil caught fire in the engine and heated metal parts, causing them to disintegrate. Experts say chunks of flying metal cut hydraulics and an engine-control line in the wing of the A380, causing the loss of control of a second engine and loss of some braking power, fuel leaks and more than 50 on-board warnings.
9) It was the most serious safety incident for the world's largest and newest jetliners. Other airlines using the Trent 900 engine on A380s -- Singapore Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa -- also briefly grounded some planes while safety checks were conducted.
10) Qantas' checks have been more exhaustive than those of the other airlines. It has replaced 16 of the Trent 900 engines -- each A380 has four of the bus-sized engines.
11) Qantas is putting just two of its A380s back into service while modifications are made on engines on the other aircraft in its fleet. The plane that suffered in the midair blowout is still in Singapore, where investigations are continuing.
12) Qantas says it will eventually pursue compensation from Rolls-Royce for the failure and losses from grounding its fleet, but that it is confident the problem has been fixed.
13) The airline is due to take delivery of two more A380s with Trent 900 engines in coming weeks, and Joyce says they will be put directly into service.
14) But Qantas has suspended A380s from its longest-haul flights -- from Australia direct to Los Angeles -- while it tests whether extra thrust for takeoff on these routes creates too much stress on the engines.
15) The Australia-U.S. flights are among the longest nonstop commercial flights in the world, and the A380s must load up on more fuel than on other flights to make them. That means the planes are heavier at takeoff and need more thrust.
16) The thrust Qantas uses is within the certified specifications of the Trent 900, and the manufacturers and the European regulator that ensures safety standards consider it safe to fly those routes. Qantas says the suspension is precautionary because it wants to conduct its own tests.
17) Saturday's flight used a reduced thrust setting.
18) "We are reducing the thrust as a precaution, and that's all it is," said Capt. David Evens who was piloting Saturday's flight. "We are 100 percent confident -- otherwise I wouldn't be here today," he told a news conference with Joyce shortly before the flight.
19) Woodward said Saturday's flight left Sydney a few minutes late on Saturday but with no problems.
20) The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading an international investigation into the Nov. 4 blowout, is due to release its initial report by Dec. 3. The bureau's final report could take up to one year.
Rolls-Royce wins Hawaiian Airlines order
(APW_ENG_20101201.0360)
1) Shares in Rolls-Royce Group PLC, the manufacturer of the plane engine that blew apart midair on a Qantas superjumbo, has won a $420 million engine order from Hawaiian Airlines.
2) The London-based company said Wednesday that the deal to provide Trent 700 engines for six Airbus A330 aircraft adds to an existing order from the carrier for engines for 10 of the airliners.
3) Shares are up 1.1 percent at 615.5 pence ($9.60) -- they have lost around 6 percent since the blowout on the Qantas A380 almost a month ago.
4) Since then, Rolls-Royce has announced a string of orders, including deals worth a total of $3 billion with Air China and China Eastern Airlines.
5) It is working with Qantas, Germany's Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines to replace faulty Trent 900 engines.