Originally Posted by
QRC3288
I don't think the pilot base matters as much as youre saying possibly, because its apparently a very easy transition from A330 to a350. Although this might sound like an Airbus marketing pitch, the training regimen from A330 to A350 does indeed seem brief and supports what Airbus marketed, and there is a lot of commonality. A CX first officer was describing it to me recently - he was A330/340 for years, and is now A350 - and it kinda backs up what Airbus has been saying for a while in their pitch to sell the plane to airlines with large a330 fleet. CX has already been moving A330 pilots over to the A350 frame. You're right in that those guys are currently HK based. But I wonder if CX wouldn't be opposed to those guys rating on A350 given the significantly easier transition to another Airbus frame (vs Boeing).
Given CX is saying they intend to transition Australia to mainly A350, I don't think the pilot issue would stop CX from making Sydney a 777 market. SYD seems unique for CX in that it can't take more flights so their only way to add seats is fly bigger / denser planes. Those pilots can easily hop to MEL or BNE.
(Also unrelated, Virgin Australia is launching somewhere in Australia to Hong Kong "mid-2017")
The 330 to 350 transition is indeed easier than 777 though it still takes more than 2 weeks. But a few things to consider are:
1) They can't kick Airbus pilots off the SYD base and bring in new guys from elsewhere to fly a SYD 777 base. Contractually they'd have to first train the SYD guys who'd want to stay in SYD and move over to the 777 (which would be almost everyone). $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
2) Closing the SYD base entirely to avoid #1 won't happen as they'd have to return the pilots to HKG earning significantly more than they do in Australia, while the pilots would never forgive the company for the rest of their careers. So CX won't be doing that.
I was just saying it isn't a simple solution if CX converts the last service to 777, marooning dozens of expensive assets in SYD. They may very well do that just not in the immediate future until training has been sorted.
Once the HK pilots drop the training ban and things return to normal, if the SYD pilots have not yet been converted to 350 I 100% expect it to become 4x777 and the pilots to be trained for it.
Originally Posted by
JClasstraveller
It will be 3x daily 77W in about 8 months time so not much further to get to 4x daily 77W. If anything, the A330s become an outlier.
I suppose those pilots could fly sectors like HKG-CNS, HKG-ADL...
Deadheading SYD pilots around is very expensive too. Besides, Adelaide based guys fly ADL-HKG and Brisbane based guys are capable of continuing to fly HKG-CNS as they do today.