Citilink to Avalon

[Aniljak]

Citilink Indonesia coming to Melbourne Avalon

Staff are being recruited to look after Citilink Indonesia flights at Melbourne Avalon airport.
No details on when commencing, route, frequency,or aircraft type yet!

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Looks like they start Avalon flights on 24th Jan

Indonesian airline signs onto Avalon Airport flights

 

[QFflyermelbourne]

What an insane decision to begin just as school holidays end and the quietest travel month of the year begins...

 

[moa999]

And such short notice that they will struggle to fill the planes.

 

[Virgin Bart]

I reckon a seat booked almost guarantees a row to oneself given the ridiculous start date, notice and price.

 

[AIRwin]

But it's the Chinese New Year holiday in Indonesia...

 

[theblank]

Woohoo - I have been tooking for an efficient way to get from Indonesia to Barwon Heads overnight without wasting a golf day for travel and this comes up!

Of course there is a few other options but this flight lands me a lot closer to Barwon than Tullamarine does

 

[Scarlett]

You can swap the Indon 'air' for the Melbourne smoke right at the moment... (bau yang kurang baik).

And get out on 13th Beach too!

 

[Mattg]

I would be surprised if they have more than 20% load factors for the first 2 months of operation...

...Which is good news for anyone that actually wants to book a seat

I wonder if they've received some sort of incentives from Avalon Airport and/or the Victorian government? Or perhaps they plan to fill up the belly with cargo and make some money that way?

 

[docjames]

Echoing pretty much everyone else’s thoughts (questions):

- how much subsidy to get them?
- why on earth are they starting so soon, will have zero forward bookings so easy way to lose cash (unless startup subsidy covers....)
- cargo? On the A321?
- nice schedule padding (4hr turn around)

Anyway, nice to see AVV get more international service. Will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.

 

[Mattg]

Echoing pretty much everyone else’s thoughts (questions):

- how much subsidy to get them?
- why on earth are they starting so soon, will have zero forward bookings so easy way to lose cash (unless startup subsidy covers....)
- cargo? On the A321?
- nice schedule padding (4hr turn around)

Anyway, nice to see AVV get more international service. Will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.

It's an A320neo, so at least it may actually have the range to operate with a full cargo and passenger load. I note that the 738s used by QF, OD and (shortly) VA on the MEL-DPS route probably can't take much or any cargo due to weight restrictions.

Interestingly, the media release from Avalon Airport boasted how they'd chosen the departure time from Melbourne so that passengers could arrive in Bali at the perfect time to check into hotels. (They conveniently didn't mention the timings of the return flight at all.)

But yes, a bizarrely-timed route launch for sure!

 

[docjames]

The 4hr turn around surprises me unless it’s got to do with slot availability at DPS in the late afternoon (i doubt it relates to hotels at all but that’s nice/clever spin by the airline) - a 1400 vs 1600 arrival is a minor difference. Must have got cheap parking fees at AVV to have the xtra ground time, and the aircraft not needed earlier ex-DPS.

 

[GSP]

I'm more of a fan of a 1.00 or 2.00pm compared to a 4.00pm arrival. By the time you get to your hotel, it is get ready for dinner, whilst that is somewhat convenient, the 1.00 is far better as you can generally check in by 2.00 and then have the afternoon to relax. The 10.00pm arrivals aren't so good unless staying at an airport hotel for the first night.

The return flight time sucks.

 

[Melburnian1]

The longer AVV turnaround presumably helps in minimising late running of the return flight if the outbound ex DPS is delayed, but it is odd and lowers aircraft utilisation.

Perhaps the airline hasn't announced schedules post 29 March because that's about the time when the 'northern summer' (of no relevance to this route) timetables kick in, and hence (although no one seems to use the term) 'southern winter' schedules differ (although Victoria, NSW, SA and Tasmania remain on daylight saving time then.)