Qantas Scraps Orders for Boeing 787 Planes

Qantas Airways of Australia said Friday that it would scrap or defer orders for 30 of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner aircraft, dealing a heavy blow to the American manufacturer and highlighting the intense pressure for cost savings at airlines around the world as the industry struggles to adjust to a sharp drop in passengers and freight.

Qantas, still the largest customer of the long-range, wide-body Dreamliner aircraft that is considered the key to Boeing’s future, is canceling orders for 15 of the 787s, in a move that it said would save the airline $3 billion. It is delaying delivery of 15 others by four years.

Alan Joyce, chief executive of the airline, said in a statement that Qantas’ decision was not linked to news Tuesday that the Boeing 787’s first flight had been delayed to allow further minor modifications to be made to what has been touted as the world’s most sophisticated plane.

Those problems were the latest in a series of delays in the Dreamliner project and ignited concerns about the possible effect on initial delivery schedules. The first delivery, to All Nippon Airways, was scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

Qantas said it would retain orders for 50 of the new aircraft, including 15 for its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar. A spokesman for Qantas, Simon Rushton, declined to comment on whether the airline would pay a penalty for the cancellation.

Analysts said the Australian flag carrier’s cancellation was one of the most significant such announcements to date, even in an industry that has already undergone major cost cuts and shake-ups.

“For Qantas to pull or defer deliveries is a major, major step,” said Derek Sadubin, an analyst at the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consulting company in Sydney.

The Qantas decision takes the number of cancellations for the 787 from airlines around the world so far this year to 73, or about 8 percent of total orders for the aircraft, Mr. Sadubin said, adding that more cancellations — of aircraft of all types and makes — are probable.

Mr. Joyce, said, “Qantas announced its original B787 order in December 2005, and the operating environment for the world’s airlines has clearly changed dramatically since then.”

The global economic turmoil has taken a heavy toll on passenger and cargo traffic, with the latest figures from the International Air Transport Association showing passenger numbers in May were 9.3 percent below numbers from a year earlier, and freight demand was down 17.4 percent.

Falling volumes, combined with soaring oil prices last year, forced airlines around the world to reduce staff and flights, park planes and shelve investment plans, including aircraft orders.

Like many of its rivals, Qantas expects sharply reduced profits this year. In April, it announced it would shed 1,750 jobs, in addition to 1,500 job cuts announced last year, and warned it was exploring ways to reduce the number of aircraft it was to receive from Boeing.

“Qantas, like most airlines around the world, is clearly in survival mode,” Mr. Sadubin said.

“We are working Qantas to make changes appropriate to the current climate,” Jim Proulx, a Boeing spokesman in Seattle, told Bloomberg News.

Teens smuggle weapons on flight

TWO boys have smuggled a stolen arsenal of handguns, knives and 3000 rounds of ammunition through two West Australian airports in one of the state’s most serious breaches of airline security.

The boys, aged 11 and 14, packed the weapons in their checked-in luggage on a Qantas flight from Karratha to Perth on Monday night.

On arrival in Perth, they retrieved the baggage and checked in for a 10.55pm Jetstar flight to Cairns, where they were arrested after landing at 4.10am on Tuesday.

Qantas has admitted that “explosive trace detection” X-ray machines failed to pick up the ammunition.

The 14-year-old, who allegedly stole the weapons and ammunition from a shop in Karratha, has been charged and will face the Weipa Children’s Court on Tuesday.

Federal police were tipped off about the theft by Karratha officers. They intercepted the boys and their luggage at Cairns airport where they were waiting to board a flight to Weipa.

Their baggage also contained a Ruger revolver, a .22-calibre pistol, 14 knives and other weapons.

The West Australian Police Minister, Rob Johnson, said: “If that is substantiated, I would certainly have some discussions with the minister and those people with responsibility for security at our airports.”

A Qantas spokesman told The West Australian it was aware of the incident but there was “absolutely no flight security threat”.

Because one of the boys was aged under 13, Qantas and Jetstar staff chaperoned the boys throughout their journey.

Airbus delivers 11th A380 to Qantas, aims for 12 this year

Airbus today handed over its 11th A380 superjumbo to Qantas. Airframe serial number MSN022 was registered VH-OQC and christenedPaul McGinness. The plane was the third A380 for Qantas this year.With just four days left in 2008, Airbus, the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft, is scrambling to make one more delivery, in order to reach its goal of 12 deliveries this year.
That aircraft is expected to be delivered to Emirates, its largest customer for the A380, by Dec. 31

First Qantas A380 on its way

IT is two years late. It resulted in compensation to Qantas of more than $200 million, upset the airline’s fleet plans and handed an arch-rival a bigger than expected competitive advantage.

But it will be all smiles today as Qantas finally takes delivery of its first flagship Airbus A380 in the European plane maker’s home town of Toulouse.

The giant plane is due to take off just before midnight tonight, Toulouse time, and will fly via Singapore to land in Sydney about 9am (AEDT) on Sunday.

The plane is due to enter commercial service on the Melbourne-Los Angeles route on October 20, with Sydney-Los Angeles following four days later.

It is due to go head to head with Singapore Airlines’ A380 service on the Sydney-Singapore-London route from January.

If Singapore is anything to go by, the new plane should slide into service with minimal hiccups.

The double-decker superjumbo has already been flying commercially for almost a year and the Singaporean carrier, which now has half a dozen of the giant planes, says it has been its smoothest ever entry into service.

The A380 is also proving a hit with passengers, who invariably remark on how quiet the cabin is compared to other planes.

Airlines that have the aircraft so far have adopted it as their flagship and kitted it out to be the showpiece of their fleets. This means seating configurations below the Airbus-recommended optimum and new features such as lounges, bars, showers and luxurious first class seats.

In Qantas’s case, this means 450 seats with 14 in first, 72 in business, 32 in premium economy and 332 economy. Everybody will get access to a new Panasonic entertainment system with more than 100 on-demand movies, 350 television selections, 500 audio CDs, 30 PC-style games and a selection of audio books and radio.

And to help passengers adapt to their destination, the new system will feature Lonely Planet guides as well as language tutorials. Just which airline will emerge the victor in the battle of the big planes remains to be seen, but passengers appear to have already scored wins.

Qantas grounds six planes after service ‘issues’

In a statement released tonight, the airline said it would remove the six B737-400s from service while it cross-checked maintenance records relating to work carried out at one of its Australian facilities.

Qantas has been in the spotlight recently over a spate of incidents, most notably an explosion which tore through part of the fuselage of a Boeing 747-400 en route from London to Melbourne.

Last week, a Qantas jet was grounded because of noise from an air-conditioning fault which was found on a plane that was returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia two months ago with 95 defects.

This revelation seriously dents Qantas’ image of a near perfect airline with hardly any incidents.