Qantas adopts Alliance Embraer E190 for regional routes

Over time Qantas is evolving into a brand rather than an airline in the sense it was in the past.  Now you can fly on Qantas branded aircraft that are operated by subsidiaries (Network, Eastern, JetConnect etc) or contracted (Cobham).  You can also fly on Qantas coded flights operated by someone else completely (Alliance, Emirates etc).  To date, they have handled this well with consistent product standards and that is what remains important. If standards start to diverge on product, safety etc then brand damage is a risk.

Does anybody know if Alliance cabin crew are certified across both the F100s and E190s?  If so, it is possible that across a shift an Alliance crewmember may operate on an F100 for VA and an E190 for QF.

My guess would be that the contracts prohibit cabin crew from operating for both the QF and VA brands even if crew are technically certified on multiple aircraft, similar to the status quo for most regional airlines operating for major carriers in the States.

Well said, I agree with you with exception to 'brand damage'.

Please don't be offended, but in my experience, Qantas don't give a toss about brand damage.

Think back to regular times... regular customers calling during regular hours would be on hold for at least 2 hours only to find themselves talking to a South African call centre. I can't begin to describe how bad this is.

Qantas is turning our airline into an overseas 'everything' whilst trying to retain 'national airline' status.
To hell with Aussie jobs, let's set up an SMS service in the Philippines etc etc.

From a booking and customer support perspective, Qantas is the worst airline that I've ever dealt with, time and time and time again. 

From an inflight perspective, I've never had a bad experience.
With that said, I try and avoid Qantas wherever possible and in the event that I am forced to use their service, I'll book through Emirates or Latam just to avoid Qantas customer service.

Alan Joyce doesn't give a stuff about Australians or Australian jobs, just look at his history.
Everyone seems to forget the day that he attempted to circumvent the Fair Work Act by forcing a bargaining outcome through the Federal Government by grounding the fleet. This came at the expense of people who were flying to weddings, travelling to say final goodbyes to loved ones who were dying in hospital, families who'd saved for years to afford their first overseas holiday and had taken time off work etc etc. 

Qantas don't really care about brand damage, they simply use their position as 'national carrier' to leverage outcomes without any real regard for Australians or the travelling public. 

I recall it's very rare for anyone to successfully (business wise) operate small jets like the E190 as part of the 'mainline' operation.

They only seem to work successfully when operated by a contractor like Alliance or an arms-length subsidiary which doesn't have the parents cost structure.

VA had this issue, going further back Kendell CRJ's operation had massive savings over the BaE146 Ansett was operating at the time.

VA's E190s, alongside 6x E170s were ordered back in the Virgin Blue days of the Godfrey (pre-JB) era in Virgin's first attempt at expansion in the Australian regional market with mixed results.

They also came into Virgin factory fresh which meant they were expensive and had to earn a reasonable rate of return on.  Alliance have bought their E90s from airlines who need to sell quickly due to financial stress so have got a great deal.  As an estimate, Alliance has bought their initial fleet including spares for the approximate price Virgin will have paid for just 2 new E190s.   

Alliance's experience will be similar to their buying of used F100s and that means it will be hard for them not to make money from their fleet.

Hi, 

Airnorth use the E190 really well on a expanding network. 

Flyman Airnorth have E170, not E190

Whilst I agree with you, I believe the problem with the introduction of this aircraft was airlines downgrading from 737's where the product was seen as inferior. However, if it replaced Q300's and Q400's with the aircraft, it would have been seen as an upgrade.

Historically Alliance has operated for both QF and VA, typically from BNE, and has never moved away from their own livery on aircraft and crews.  I would expect this to continue as it gives Alliance maximum flexibility in how it operates its fleet.

It’s in the article saying that but in language that won’t trigger the ACCC.

The Boeing 737s which currently fly these routes will be relocated to other parts of the domestic Qantas network in what the airline describes as an ongoing ‘right aircraft, right route’ approach.

Who can blame Qantas, after all, the MEL-MQL sector services a rural, cash-crop based city that has never, repeat NEVER experienced a recession and is not serviced by a remotely credible rail service.  AND YET, Jane Hrdlicka and the Bain Crew have withdrawn VA's service.  In Fact, Virgin treated it as a 'recreational sector' with the only flights arriving/departing circa 11AM (a 20 minute turn-around), whereas Qantas had 4 services to/from, starting early morning ending circa 7pm.  The E190 used by Virgin was a far superior service to the 'egg beaters' used by Rex and Qantas.  It always struck me strange that Virgin didn't offer a simultaneous SYD-MQL-MEL and MEL-MQL-SYD service at least once/day to trial demand.  Could have been easy to backfill any initial spare seats with those SYD-MEL pax who had time to enjoy the detour (if available at no extra costs to a direct service).    

Qantas must be laughing at another of Virgin's 'fumbles', and to add insult to injury, using the same sort of plane used by Virgin.  

14 the A220s will come but the E jets will supplement the 717s until that time (probably after 2025, there is plenty of life in the 717s not so sure on the E-Jets).

I didn't realise you were in charge of Qantas fleet purchasing? No way is Qantas "about to buy" any new aircraft in its current state, it won't even make a call on the Project Sunrise A350-1000s until the end of this year, and any follow-up order for say A350-900s would be years after that. Qantas hasn't even begun its domestic fleet planning, this was supposed to happen last year and then COVID hit, but Alan Joyce has already made it clear the A220 is over-priced.  Sure, a negotiating tactic, but to come here and say Qantas is about to buy A350-900s and A220s is fanboy or avgeek delusion.

14 the the A350-900 is too close to the 787, they may order some A350-1000s with higher seat numbers but I suspect they will keep ~ 300 seat A350-1000s for the higher seat routes as a premium heavy option.

Steve then Qantas will go for a few more 717s. They seem to be working a balance between them and the Q400. They may keep the embraers in the west but are a good option if they can’t get enough 717s.

Alliance will have a huge fleet if they take all 14 x e190s & still have all their fokker jets (they have something around 50 fokker jets, split between 80 seater F70s & 100 seater F100s). The F70s are cheaper to operate apparently, but the F100s are cheaper per seat, so imagine they could easily be swapped around. eg. if a route has only 80 bookings or less, on a day out & back, then can use wither Fokker or e190. if 81+ bookings then only F100 or e190. Obviously this will be planned ahead depending on booking trends.