The Australia Desk

The guys have been caught out by the Australia Desk segment being brought forward to the start of the news so they have to scurry a bit to get ready. As Steve notes, it's a big news item so no wonder they were brought forward (and no, it's not the news that Tiger Airways have recorded a profit). Qantas A380 VH-OQA had a catastrophic engine failure over Indonesia after departing Singapore's Changi...

A week of heavy rains has brought flooding in the Yarra Valley so Grant's not expecting much ballooning but the damp weather hasn't taken the heat out of the news: Qantas AGM reports no dividend this FY and its market share is down as it gets serious competition from the Middle East & Asia John Borghetti expects improvements are expected for Virgin Blue over the next year along with expansion...

Beautiful weather leads to some great hot air ballooning for Grant in the Yarra Valley but meanwhile there's heaps of aviation news to review down under, including: Australian Department of Transport tells the US DOT that the Delta-V alliance should be given anti-trust immunity because the Australia <-> US route operates under an Open Skies Agreement (like we mentioned last week) V Australia...

Now that the Australian dollar has finally returned to parity with the US dollar (for the first time in decades), Grant has had to drag Steve away from hunting microphones on eBay to record the AusDesk. This episode we cover the following news: US DOT is blocking the Delta-V alliances may go against the US <-> Australia Open Skies agreement Wellington airport is not happy with the proposed V...

Now that we've recovered from the transition to Daylight Saving Time, Steve is making the most of it including going out to watch some RC aircraft. Of course the good weather means Grant's been out crewing a lot so he's running pretty tired but we won't let that get in the way of a good Australia Desk segment: Virgin Blue have switched back to their primary computer system and now the fun really s...

Grant's back from the Gold Coast but Steve's feeling robbed thanks to the change to Daylight Saving Time here in Australia. Meanwhile, there's news to discusss, including: CASA warns pilots about the dangers presented by the locust swarms that are building in NSW, VIC & SA Virgin Blue's recent check-in system meltdown that left them without computers for 21 hours Qantas want to set up their ow...

Grant's up at Tweed Heads with his family and was hanging out at Gold Coast International Airport (YBCG) when Steve called to record the Australia Desk segment. The news items discussed included: The alliance between Virgin Blue and Etihad has been given preliminary approval by the ACCC so now it's possible to start booking tickets for flights provided under the alliance The RAAF's first F/A-18F+...

We briefly touch on a few items: Boeing lifts forecasts for aircraft useage in Oceania Victoria will not get a DC10 water bomber next season but will instead get 2 Convair 580s & another Erickson skycrane British Airways may still want to merge with Qantas but Qantas says "No thanks" John Borghetti's going to fight the US DoT & ACCC decisions and they're asking for 3 weeks extension to res...

Virgin Blue has received some rather bad news this week: US DoT rejects the Delta-V alliance across the Pacific ACCC rejects the Air New Zealand trans-tasman alliance We also talk about how Qantas are putting mainline aircraft on some routes in conjunction with Jetstar flights, trying to balance discount & premium travellers on the same route.

It's Father's Day down here in Australia and we bring our sons in to help record this week's segment. Topics we cover include: A Qantas 747-400 has an uncontained engine failure about 45 minutes after departing San Francisco, leading them to dump fuel and fly back (we include some recordings of the pilots talking to ATC) Following on from last week's news that Virgin Blue and Etihad were getting i...

Grant is recovering from the beatings he sustained at the media scrums for both Air New Zealand's and Virgin Blue's end of year financial results. The news items we cover in this episode were: Air New Zealand's results were slightly down but looking good for next year Virgin Blue's results showed that they earned more from flying with less aircraft than Qantas did for the same period. Also said th...

In recognition of the Airplane Geeks reaching episode 111, we have an F111 flying past as we go for a jog. The topics we cover include: Australian BlackHawk in Mayday emergency landing in East Timor Tiger Airways CEO & some key shareholders have sold down their stakes in Tiger Air New Zealand increases number of charters to Japan Domestic traffic still raising Pacific Flier suspends operations...

Grant's still recovering from the Episode 100 party but needs to get better quickly if the threatened Airplane Geeks "police action" goes ahead. Meanwhile, some big news this week: Qantas have released their annual profits which were lower than last year but within the expected range. The 70% of their profit was due to their Frequent Flyer Program while most of the aviation profit was made in the...

Steve & Grant plan the defence of Australia against the pending Jetwhine invasion. In the midst of the plotting, we discuss the few items that came up in what was otherwise a quiet week: Tiger is channeling RyanAir's business model, well, at least the part about making "out there" comments in public to gain media attention Mobiles may be used on Australian aircraft (if they have a PicoCell ins...

Grant is flying high on pain killers after damaging his shoulder so Steve's considering calling him a clunker & cashing him. Meanwhile, things are getting hot over the Tasman airspace: AirAsiaX may leap into trans-Tasman market United doesn't think Delta-V is a huge threat Qantas sees Bombardier's C-Series as potential 717 replacement We're now appearing on Flight Time Radio (WBOB in Florida)...

Grant's health is improving as he kicks the flu and the weather is getting warmer. So too is the news: Australian & International Pilots' Association makes Jetstar's Asian crewing plans an election item David Warren, inventor of the Black Box (and an Aussie) dies MRH-90s were grounded but are now back and flying

Grant's hauled himself to the microphone to record despite having a nasty cough & sore throat but the show must go on: Air New Zealand may be going to buy a chunk of Virgin Blue shares over & above their planned Trans-Tasman alliance There's a delay in change to Virgin Blue's name & relaunch due to issues with the Virgin Group (as opposed to Singapore Airlines as you might think) Qanta...

The boys manage a miracle and produce a short OzDesk episode for this most bodacious episode number. Kicking off across the ditch in New Zealand, Air New Zealand has taken their Bare Essentials safety video one step further and issued a challenge to Southwest Airlines to join them in shedding everything but some body paint. Sadly, that invitation video is no longer available to view but it turns o...

Grant's been meeting with a bunch of Qantas shareholders preparing for the Qantas Annual General Meeting and they're not happy, with torches and pitchforks being made ready for the big event that this year is being held in Perth. Retreating to a handy wombat hole, Grant joins Steve to discuss: Shareholder analysis groups are recommending that Qantas shareholders vote NO for the executive remunerat...

The boys are celebrating with a screaming mass of people because Australia's population just exceeded 22 million. So, in a country that's almost as big as the USA there's still lots of space for them (if only it weren't all desert...). The RAAF, RNZAF and Air New Zealand have been providing relief assistance following earthquakes in Sumatra and a tsunami in Samoa. Australia and New Zealand are dis...

Steve's discovered that there's more than one 4 o'clock in the day but it was worth it to fly a Piper Warrior in the Royal Victorian Aero Club's Dawn Patrol. Matt Hall has reached third place in the Red Bull Air Race at Porto, Spain. Virgin Blue and Qantas have experienced delays at Sydney due to three Air Traffic Control staff in Sydney being unable to work due to illness and Airservices not bein...

Three stories this week: A Qantas' 747-400 from Singapore to Sydney had to perform an emergency landing in Perth after fuel began leaking from the Number 4 engine. The aircraft involved (VH-OJK) is the one that had an oxygen tank blow out some years ago. The RAAF's pending purchase of 100 F-35As is in trouble due to the Global Financial Crisis with the purchase possibly being reduced to 75. Austra...

Dan Webb encroaches into the Australia Desk despite the boys’ best efforts but they manage to recover and continue on with this week’s stories: Qantas take delivery of their fourth A380 with their fifth & sixth will be added later this year. Qantas are not happy about the delays in the 787 Dreamliner project as they are having to run older aircraft for longer than they wanted. Qantas maintenan...

Grant’s still flying solo today as Steve’s in the USA and recording live with the Geeks. Meanwhile, here’s a couple of articles for you: Virgin Blue obtain more capital through a successful share offer that raised $133 million from institutional investors. Not bad given their recent bad news when a tire fell off a Virgin Blue 737 and CEO Brett Godfrey has announced he will retire in a year. V Aust...

Steve’s on a V Australia 777 heading to the USA for a family vacation so Grant’s running this one solo: V Australia & Delta Airlines code sharing agreement is starting to be called Delta-V and both Tiger Airlines and Air New Zealand are complaining about it. A Qantas 737 was forced to return to New Zealand following a depressurisation while on the way to Brisbane. Jetstar are in trouble in New...