It’s all kicking off with news that Virgin Atlantic will be hiring up to 500 new cabin crew to support its new Airbus A330 London fleet.
The crew (dual based between Heathrow and Gatwick) will be used to support Virgin Atlantic’s new routes to Cancun and Vancouver, as well boost its staffing on other long haul fleet.
Which is nice.
Meanwhile in a land down under, Qantas profits drop by 83% in reaction to strikes and high fuel costs, with 500 jobs up for the cut, and routes for the chop with the international operations showing a deep weakness. Already up for the chop are:
- Bangkok to London
- Hong Kong to London.
In addition,
- Singapore-Mumbai
- Auckland-Los Angeles
These will be suspended from 6th May 2012, freeing two A330’s for the Sydney-Bangkok runs, and allowing a reduction to 9 Boeing 747-400’s in the Qantas fleet.
Odd times with growth here, and cuts there…
QF is cutting the kangaroo route? Seriously?
It’s a mix. I believe BA will cover them on the LondonBangkok and LondonHong Kong leg, with consolidation at Singapore for the BA/Qantas Joint Service Agreement.
I actually wrote about it some time ago, will have to dig later.
Still poor times if Qantas is doing these deep cuts.