For the aviation fans

[Alouette3]

Mate of mine flying helicopters in Nepal just received a letter of termination of his contract effective from April due to the economic affect of Corona 

[geomark]

Mate of mine flying helicopters in Nepal just received a letter of termination of his contract effective from April due to the economic affect of Corona 

Its going to be a brutal year for anyone in tourism, transport, hospitality etc world wide I think. 

 

Was discussing it this morning, I think between the western world's change in attitude to flights re global warming plus a likely year of bankruptcies for low cost airlines this year and people adapting to travelling less we've likely seen peak low cost air travel as far as the west is concerned.

[geomark]

Coronavirus: Virgin Atlantic admits flying near-empty planes

Virgin Atlantic has confirmed it has been forced to operate some near-empty flights after bookings were dented by the coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51809318

Edited March 10, 2020 by geomark

[Bateleur1]

Not sure what the current figures are but last week Lufthansa grounded 150 aircraft as demand is down and routes are cancelled.  There is a possibility that the whole A380 fleet might be grounded temporarily.

[Bateleur1]

And with all this going on, Boeings woes with the 737 max is not getting better.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/faa-tells-boeing-that-737-max-wiring-bundles-are-not-compliant.html

[geomark]

And with all this going on, Boeings woes with the 737 max is not getting better.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/faa-tells-boeing-that-737-max-wiring-bundles-are-not-compliant.html

Hadn't thought of that, but yeah, re-launching that into this market is going to be a non starter.

[Long Wheel Base]

Long Wheel Base I heard rumors that SAX will seize (and not suspend?) operations over the weekend, do you perhaps know anything about it? (If you are not at liberty to discuss I will fully understand).

So it seems as though they carrying on as per usual.

 

In other news, they have started with the section 189 retrenchment thing at SAA. Basically need to cut staff by 50%. This will have to follow suit at SAAT. SAA have gone from flying 48 aircraft to a current 19. So SAAT will be losing that work as well as COMAIR leaving slowly(but I have a feeling they will be back in 2 years).

[SwissVan]

So it seems as though they carrying on as per usual.

 

In other news, they have started with the section 189 retrenchment thing at SAA. Basically need to cut staff by 50%. This will have to follow suit at SAAT. SAA have gone from flying 48 aircraft to a current 19. So SAAT will be losing that work as well as COMAIR leaving slowly(but I have a feeling they will be back in 2 years).

Where are Comair taking their planes to?

[Long Wheel Base]

Where are Comair taking their planes to?

They signed a deal with Lufthansa a year ago. It is a 3 year deal but they already complaining it is costing them too much. They got a lot of stuff "for free" here but lufthansa are doing it like a hospital bill, you spill some oil while topping up, they charge for the rag to clean and the oil that got spilled.

A lot of our staff went over there. Salaries are lower but so many wanted out of SAAT. Thing is the staff that went across all signed 3 year contracts(1 year done already) and comair also only signed a 3 year deal. Now what happens after the 3 years is up????

[DJR]

They signed a deal with Lufthansa a year ago. It is a 3 year deal but they already complaining it is costing them too much. They got a lot of stuff "for free" here but lufthansa are doing it like a hospital bill, you spill some oil while topping up, they charge for the rag to clean and the oil that got spilled.

A lot of our staff went over there. Salaries are lower but so many wanted out of SAAT. Thing is the staff that went across all signed 3 year contracts(1 year done already) and comair also only signed a 3 year deal. Now what happens after the 3 years is up????

 I had that feeling with my wifes Mini (at the BMW dstealers)

[SwissVan]

They signed a deal with Lufthansa a year ago. It is a 3 year deal but they already complaining it is costing them too much. They got a lot of stuff "for free" here but lufthansa are doing it like a hospital bill, you spill some oil while topping up, they charge for the rag to clean and the oil that got spilled.

A lot of our staff went over there. Salaries are lower but so many wanted out of SAAT. Thing is the staff that went across all signed 3 year contracts(1 year done already) and comair also only signed a 3 year deal. Now what happens after the 3 years is up????

 

Boeta, business is business (said in your best Abe Cohen voice...) 

 

Thats the difference between state funded and privately owned listed on the stock exchange

[Bateleur1]

Boeta, business is business (said in your best Abe Cohen voice...) 

 

Thats the difference between state funded and privately owned listed on the stock exchange

 

I was also gonna say.  If they move back to SAAT it would propably be the same as this is what SAAT would have to do after the restructuring as well.

[Spokey]

One of my favorite places is the Boeing factory in Everett, north of Seattle. The tour is absolutely amazing and the scale is off the charts. The single assembly hall is 1km long and 500m wide, all under a single roof!

Highly recommended if you are ever in the area. Also Boeing field, where they do refurbs and upgrades AND has a really mind blowing museum.

Boeing Field is where we fly to when we go to Seattle (once or twice a year). I love flying in there. We get free museum tickets from the FBO (handlers). I always pay a visit when there. Everett is amazing but I am not usually in Seattle long enough to head that way again.

[Robbie Stewart]

Thai Airways A330 clips the tail off of a Gulfstream G4...
 

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiOWh0dHBzOi8vc2ltcGxlZmx5aW5nLmNvbS90aGFpLWFpcndheXMtYTMzMC1qZXQtY29sbGlzaW9uL9IBPWh0dHBzOi8vc2ltcGxlZmx5aW5nLmNvbS90aGFpLWFpcndheXMtYTMzMC1qZXQtY29sbGlzaW9uL2FtcC8?hl=en-ZA&gl=ZA&ceid=ZA%3Aen

[Bateleur1]

Thai Airways A330 clips the tail off of a Gulfstream G4...

 

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiOWh0dHBzOi8vc2ltcGxlZmx5aW5nLmNvbS90aGFpLWFpcndheXMtYTMzMC1qZXQtY29sbGlzaW9uL9IBPWh0dHBzOi8vc2ltcGxlZmx5aW5nLmNvbS90aGFpLWFpcndheXMtYTMzMC1qZXQtY29sbGlzaW9uL2FtcC8?hl=en-ZA&gl=ZA&ceid=ZA%3Aen

 

The registration number on the Gulfstream is rather ironic M-YWAY 

[Long Wheel Base]

This is just one of the spots we can park planes. I will still go and take pics of the other parking areas.

These are on different days but it is pretty much the same aircraft, they get moved around to try accommodate other aircraft that need maintenance. Usually there are 4 maybe 5 planes parked here at any given time. This is why they wanted to use Cape Town for parking but they changed their minds for some reason it seems. The hangers are also full with parked planes.