Happy Easter

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family, wherever you are in the world, a wonderful happy Easter. I know this is not the Easter we are used to but together we can make it a memorable one. We are all in this together, and our willingness to stay home, stay safe and support one another has us all in a strong position.
Covid 19 does not discriminate – it affects everyone. 

Every person and every community in every country needs to unite and face this challenge as one. Stay strong, ring loved ones and try to have a lovely Easter.

LET YOUR SMILE CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT DONT LET THE WORLD CHANGE YOUR SMILE

Gold Coast Airport terminal closes its doors.

After Virgin Australia announced last Thursday that it would suspend all domestic flights around the country, (except for one Sydney-Melbourne flight,) the Gold Coast Airport has decided it will temporarily shut its terminal today with no commercial flights coming in or out of the Glitter Strip. The terminal at Gold Coast Airport had already been on reduced hours since the start of the month after travel restrictions led to a significant drop in flights and passengers. Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer Marion Charlton said the terminal would re-open as soon as regular flights started again.

“The aviation industry is at the front line of this crisis, with passenger numbers falling steadily since the beginning of March,” Ms Charlton said. “We will continue to work closely with our partners throughout this challenging time. “Together, we will be ready to return to normal operations as soon as regular passenger flights are reinstated.”
Hours of operation for the runway and associated airfield operations remain unchanged for general aviation and other activities.

The final flights for both Virgin and Qantas left the Gold Coast on Thursday

Happy Birthday Air Canada

IATA ICAO Callsign AC ACA AIR CANADA

Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline in Canada by fleet size and passengers carried. The airline, founded on the 10th April 1937, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 222 destinations worldwide. Air Canada's corporate headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec, while its largest hub is at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The airline's regional service is Air Canada Express running with 137 aircraft.

AIR CANADA EXPRESS DASH 8 Q402 C-GUJZ (CN 4516)

Air Canada also has a low cost carrier (leisure airline) in the name of Rouge running with 65 aircraft.

ROUGE B767-319 C-FMLV (CN 26327)

Air Canada's predecessor, Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) inaugurated its first flight on the 1st September 1937. The 50-minute flight aboard a Lockheed L-10A (which cost $14.20 round trip) carried two passengers and mail between Vancouver and Seattle. In 1964 TCA had grown to become Canada's national airline and it changed its name to Air Canada. The airline became fully privatized in 1989. On the 4th January 2000, Air Canada acquired its largest rival, Canadian Airlines. In 2019, Air Canada, together with its Air Canada Express regional partners, carried nearly 53 million passengers, offering direct passenger service to 222 destinations on six continents.

AIR CANADA B777-333 C-FIVW (CN 42218)

On the 19th October 2004, Air Canada unveiled a new aircraft colour scheme and uniforms. A Boeing 767-300ER was painted in the new silver-blue colour, and the dark green/almost black tail was replaced with a new version of the maple leaf known as the 'Frosted Leaf'. On the 31st October 2004, the last Air Canada Boeing 747 flight landed in Toronto from Frankfurt as AC873, ending 33 years of 747 service with the airline. The Boeing 747-400 fleet was replaced by the Airbus A340 fleet.

AIR CANADA B767-375 C-FPCA (CN 24306)

On the 9th November 2005, Air Canada agreed to renew its widebody fleet by purchasing 16 Boeing 777s (10 -300ERs, 6 -200LRs), and 14 Boeing 787-8s. It placed options on 18 Boeing 777s and 46 Boeing 787-8s and -9s. Deliveries of the 777s began in March 2007 and deliveries of the 787s began in May 2014. On the 24th April 2007, Air Canada exercised half of its options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The on the 9th February 2017, a new modern retro red and black aircraft livery was launched, to coincide with Air Canada's 80th anniversary and Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. The update includes design aspects from the logo used between 1964 and 1992, with an overall white colour scheme, with a black underside, tail fin with red maple leaf rondelle, black "Air Canada" lettering with a red maple leaf rondelle underneath, and a black "mask" surrounding the cockpit windows.

AIR CANADA B787-8 C-GHPQ (CN 35257)

Air Canada has a fleet of Airbus A330, Boeing 767's, 777's, and Boeing 787 Dreamliner wide-body aircraft on long-haul routes and uses the Airbus A320 family aircraft (including the A319, A320, and A321 variants), Boeing 737 MAX 8, and Embraer E190 family aircraft on short-haul routes. Air Canada's other operating divisions include Air Canada Cargo, Air Canada Express, Air Canada Jetz (private jet charters), and Air Canada Rouge. Its subsidiary, Air Canada Vacations, provides vacation packages to over 90 destinations. Together with its regional partners, the airline operates on average more than 1,602 scheduled flights daily.
Air Canada is a founding member of the Star Alliance.

Air Canada's slogan is "Fly the Flag"

Current Fleet

The Air Canada mainline fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of March 2020).

Aircraft               In service   Orders      Notes
Airbus A220-300          4            41
Airbus A319-100        16            —       1 in Trans-Canada Air Lines retro livery
Airbus A320-200        37            —       2 painted in Star Alliance livery
Airbus A321-200        15            —       1 painted in Star Alliance livery
Airbus A330-300        14              3       1 painted in Star Alliance livery
Boeing 737 MAX 8    24            26      
Boeing 737 MAX 9    —            11
Boeing 767-300ER       5           —         Replaced by Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 787-9
Boeing 777-200LR       6           —
Boeing 777-300ER     19           —
Boeing 787-8                8           —
Boeing 787-9              29           __         Order with 13 options and 10 purchase rights.
Embraer 190               14            —        To be phased out in 2020.

Total                        191            81

Information sourced from Wikipedia and Air Canada Website

Another first for Brisbane

CONDOR B767-3Q8 D-ABUO  (CN 29387)

With Covid 19 grounding airlines all over the world, some airlines are introducing repatriation rescue flights, and Brisbane has seen three airlines call in here that we have never seen before or would ever see. First it was Qatar who started coming in on the 30th March and continue to come in daily around 5pm, and will do so for another week. 

QATAR B777-3DZ A7-BES (CN 64089)

Then last Thursday it was a one off flight from Nepal Airlines 

NEPAL AIRLINES A330-243 9N-ALZ (CN 1878)

Then yesterday we had another first in the way of Condor Airlines. 

Condor arrived here at 9pm on Saturday night and depart yesterday at 3.45pm for Frankfurt via Phuket. Condor called into Sydney a few days earlier as well and they will be getting a few more flights. Condor is participating in the repatriation of German citizens from around the world. And, as a result Condor has opened up a temporary crew and aircraft base in Phuket, Thailand. While airlines are cutting regular operations, repatriation services are leading some to run some interesting flights. Sydney has seen airlines like LOT, Austrian Airlines and KLM call in in the last few weeks. (KLM pulled out of Sydney 20 Yrs ago.) While Condor is now flying to places it previously didn't, the airline is taking a step further with a new base in Phuket. On these long-haul repatriation flights, the workhorse for these operations is the airline’s Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. According to Condor, these aircraft have a range of 10,550 kilometers (6,555 miles). Bali and Australia, both popular tourist destinations, are just out of range for the 767 to operate nonstop. As a result, the carrier is operating these flights with a stop in Phuket, Thailand. To support the number of flights the airline is running from Denpasar (four more in the next week) and four 767s coming out of Australia, it made sense for Condor to open a base there. This allows for crews to change and stopover.

Qantas, Virgin start repatriation flights for April

                                                                                     File Photo

Routes to four popular international destinations will temporarily re-open to help bring stranded Australians home.
Qantas and Virgin Australia will mount a series of repatriation flights to London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Auckland as part of the Federal Government's push to bring home Australians who remain stranded overseas. The special flights will run across this month, and passengers will have to to pay their own airfares. It's been suggested that flights may depart Australia empty of passengers, with the government subsidising the cost of fuel and crew, although below decks the aircraft are expected to be loaded up with outbound cargo to assist the Australian export market, with imported freight and medical supplies on the return leg. Virgin Australia will run two flights a week between Brisbane and Hong Kong, on Mondays and Fridays, with one weekly flight between Brisbane and Los Angeles (departing LAX on Thursday) – both will operate on a Boeing 777-300ER.
Further details of the flights have not yet been released.
“We are continuing our constructive discussions with Qantas and Virgin on flights to less accessible destinations, including South America and the Pacific," says Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs, whose office led the initiative after Qantas and Virgin wound down all international flights last week.

Homeward bound

“Many Australians will be able to get to one of these four destinations. They can do so knowing there will be an Australian airline to get them home,” Payne adds. “We recognise that, in some cases, this will not be possible. We will continue to work closely with airlines and our overseas consular assistance network in these situations." “Where there are no commercial options available, the Government will consider supporting, on a case-by-case basis, non-scheduled services to other overseas destinations." Qantas has also been in discussions with the UK Government about flights to London, which were suspended last week following a brief re-routing from the long-standing Singapore stopover to Darwin. “We are liaising with Qantas to keep flights operational” noted Vicki Treadell, British High Commissioner to Australia, in an email sent on March 29 to British travellers still in Australia. “We are working tirelessly with airlines to ensure planes keep flying, as well as with the Australian Government and international partners to keep commercial routes to the UK open.”





Full story taken from here
https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/qantas-virgin-repatriation-flights-to-london-lax-hong-kong-nz

Australian's coming home locked down in hotel

NEPAL AIRLINES A330-243 9N-ALZ (CN 1878)

Last Tuesday the Australian authorities cleared Nepal Airlines to fly to Brisbane, to repatriate Australian tourists stuck in Nepal. The 250 Australian and New Zealand tourists aboard a Nepal Airlines flight that landed at Brisbane Airport yesterday have gone straight into quarantine. They were lucky they got back into the country before today's tough new border restrictions come into effect. State Disaster Co-ordinator Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the passengers were treated like any other international flight, but he noted that come Friday, any international visitors arriving by plane who do not have an exemption or residency will be turned around on the air bridge.  They are being put through the process of understanding who they are, if they have an exemption to come back into Queensland or not, if they are a resident, and ... they are being placed into quarantine." The Nepal Airlines flight was the the first and final flight to Australia from the south-east Asian nation for the foreseeable future, according to the Australian Embassy. It's not clear on whether any passengers were showing novel corona-virus symptoms upon their arrival in Brisbane. The carrier had originally planned to land at the Sydney airport but the plan changed after the Australian government refused to issue landing permit citing poor quarantine facility in Sydney, which has reported most infected cases of Covid-19.

Another rare visitor to Brisbane

On the back of Qatar calling into Brisbane for the very first time a few days ago, Brisbane was once again treated to another very rare visitor. Nepal Airlines performed a repatriation flight from Kathmandu via Kuala Lumpur bringing home stranded Australians and New Zealanders.

NEPAL AIRLINES A330-243 9N-ALZ (CN 1878)

Due to work commitments I was unable to attended this rare event so my beautiful amazing wife went out on my behalf. Below are some more photos she took today.

QANTAS A330-303 VH-QPJ (CN 0712)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-YFR (CN 41012)

SKYTRADERS A319-132 VH-VHP (CN 3757)

CORPORATE SAAB 340B VH-VEO (CN 340B-366)

ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS BEECHCRAFT B200 VH-FDO (CN BB-2020)

LIFEF LIGHT LEARJET 45 VH-CXJ (CN 152)

ALLIANCE FOKKER F28 MK 70 VH-JFE (CN 11545)

JET CITY LEAR JET 45 VH-LJX (CN 056)

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VXJ (CN 33480)

LIFE FLIGHT AUGUSTAWESTLAND AW 139 VH-XIH (CN 41430)

AIR NEW ZEALAND B787-9 ZK-NZI (CN 37966)

JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VFK (CN 5334)

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VZK (CN 34204)

QANTASLINK DASH 8 Q400 VH-LQD (CN 4371)





                VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-VUH (CN 34440)

Special thanks to my wife for spending a few hours out at the airport for me today getting these photos