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Qantas brings 717 flying back in-house to aid rapid take up of Australia-wide services post COVID-19
May 22nd 2020
Qantas has brought its 717 flying in-house with the acquisition of Cobham Aviation Services Australia's National Jet Systems. Read More »
The Australian subsidiary of Cobham plc has been flying Qantas's fleet of 20 717s on behalf of the Australian carrier since 2005. The companies signed a 10-year contract extension worth $A1.2 billion (US$788 million) in 2016.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the two companies said the new ownership structure replaced the 10-year contract with Cobham's National Jet Systems and would result in the company becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Qantas Group. The deal was expected to close "in the coming months".
Cobham Aviation Services chairman, Kim Gillis, said: “This outcome is testament to the exceptional levels of service and safety the 717 pilots, cabin crew and support staff have provided to Qantas over the years. I am sure many of them will see this as being brought ‘home’.”
In normal times, Qantas's 717 fleet, which flies under the QantasLink banner, was predominately used on regional services in Western Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Sydney-Canberra.
But in recent years the 717s have been increasingly utilised on other capital city services, such as Hobart to Melbourne and Sydney, and Adelaide to Sydney.
The bulk of the 20 aircraft fleet has been grounded by COVID-19 with Cobham employees of the 717 operation temporarily stood down after flights were cut.
QantasLink CEO, John Gissing, said: “Bringing the operation of our 717 aircraft into the group provides us with more certainty for the future, which is incredibly important as we come out the other side of the coronavirus.”
“The 717s provide us with the flexibility to service many segments of the domestic market, including regional routes, fly-in, fly-out operations or more frequencies to capital cities. These are the kind of routes where travel demand is likely to recover first."
Cobham Aviation Services, part of UK- headquartered Cobham plc, offers charter and fly-in/fly-out operations for Australia’s resources sector and conducts aerial border surveillance and search-and-rescue operations for the Australian government. It also operates freight services and contract flying on behalf of other operators.
The company said it would continue to operate freighter services on behalf of Qantas, as it signed a contract extension to 2026 in September 2019.
Last July, Cobham plc announced it had accepted a takeover offer from global private equity company, Advent International, with its Australian operations placed under “strategic review”.
