DJ looking at putting 777 on DOM to increase cap.

[markis10]

Virgin is understood to be talking with alliance partners Etihad and Air New Zealand about providing planes on international routes to let it bring some of its Boeing 777s onshore. They could move into any void left by Qantas if the bigger airline is still grounding jets and reducing capacity because of industrial action by engineers. The move came as the Transport Workers Union said it would resume industrial action with one-hour strikes in Brisbane and Melbourne on Tuesday. Qantas said the union had rejected an offer of increased pay and conditions but the TWU accused the airline of digging in its heels on job security claims.

More Perth flights, seats on Virgin's radar | Latest Business & Australian Stock market News | Perth Now

 

[travellerqff]

Would be great for plane spotters I assume. Don't know if 77W's could use any of Virgin's domestic gates though..?

 

[markis10]

Would be great for plane spotters I assume. Don't know if 77W's could use any of Virgin's domestic gates though..?

No issue with the gates given the A330 is already using them.

 

[Noob]

At times like these there is only one thing that can be said...

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

 

[simongr]

At times like these there is only one thing that can be said...

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Why? It is just a plane. It won't change the service or the flight time.

 

[markis10]

Why? It is just a plane. It won't change the service or the flight time.

Considering it has J and PE......., in flight bar on transcon would appeal to some

 

[Major]

Considering it has J and PE......., in flight bar on transcon would appeal to some

It certainly appealed to me on 3 International flights in J last year

 

[UP4014]

They wouldn't be bringing them 'onshore' if they were doing well 'offshore' I wouldn't think. If you can off load your not full plane passengers to AirNZ, ETIHAD, Delta and others you could save a packet by not operating there and moving them.

I suspect more to it than just wanting more capacity domestically.

Matt

 

[Noob]

They wouldn't be bringing them 'onshore' if they were doing well 'offshore' I wouldn't think. If you can off load your not full plane passengers to AirNZ, ETIHAD, Delta and others you could save a packet by not operating there and moving them.

I suspect more to it than just wanting more capacity domestically.

Matt

Actually, their international long-haul sector has been doing very well.

 

[yohy?!]

At times like these there is only one thing that can be said...

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

So if it happens a DJ-777-DOM Run might be on the cards?

 

[LiamR]

I'd like to see this, but I can't see it happening anytime soon.

The VA 777s are quite nice. It'll be interesting to see next year when V OZ becomes part of Virgin Australia if the aircraft start appearing on domestic routes occasionally. At the moment they don't appear to be keen on using them on domestic at all.

 

[markis10]

I'd like to see this, but I can't see it happening anytime soon. The VA 777s are quite nice. It'll be interesting to see next year when V OZ becomes part of Virgin Australia if the aircraft start appearing on domestic routes occasionally. At the moment they don't appear to be keen on using them on domestic at all.

The economics of running them domestically are the same as running to HKT and NAN, unless you can have consistently high yields which is possible in the current environment.

 

[UP4014]

Actually, their international long-haul sector has been doing very well.

Noob, interested to see what numbers do you have saying they are doing 'very' well?

I read this that there has actually been a decrease in international which is larger than the 2.7% as there was .5% increase domestically.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...-aviation-market/story-e6frg95x-1226161582879

 

[ftm]

My understanding is that they won't be the current VA 777's - rather, they will be additional aircraft with a different configuration. I would expect a comparable product to the A330's with a large Economy cabin to better suit the short-haul market.

Running a flat bed Business product between Sydney and Melbourne is not necessary or cost effective!

 

[Justchecking]

Considering it has J and PE......., in flight bar on transcon would appeal to some

Would they even bother opening the bar for a transcon flight? Just because it's an internationally configured aircraft doesn't mean you'll get the international service and amenities. More likely they will simply offer a comparable service to the rest of the domestic sectors.

I wonder how the intl hosties will feel about losing their intl trips and doing domestic returns instead...

 

[Justchecking]

My understanding is that they won't be the current VA 777's - rather, they will be additional aircraft with a different configuration. I would expect a comparable product to the A330's with a large Economy cabin to better suit the short-haul market.

I don't see how. The article is talking about Nov 2011, DJ don't have any 777 deliveries scheduled. Their only option is to use the aircraft they have. I seriously doubt DJ ever plans to use 777s domestically as a mainstay of their fleet. If we do see them domestically it will be as part of an international run, a la QF Japan via Cairns, or as a short term measure such as this article is talkin about. I don't know where people are getting a syd-Mel idea from as this article is talking About PER.

 

[dk4]

I hope this gets fleshed out soon, in particular –

• which domestic flights will the 777s be operating?

• how will seats be allocated (will it be done the same way that QF does it, e.g. when flying a 3 class configured aircraft as 2 class. i.e. will Economy guests with high level VFF memberships be seated in International Premium Economy seats, & Premium/Business Guests be seated in International Business seating?)

• how will it effect current A330 (re)deployment? (Will this improve freebie op-up chances on certain sectors?)

IMO it would certainly behoove VA to get these specifics out ASAP, as this knowledge will immediately affect ticket purchasing behaviour.

JB knows the excitement that QF creates by deploying International configured aircraft onto domestic routes, so looking forward to Virgin using the same tactic to put pressure on Qantas.

(IME there are people around, actively looking for alternatives to "chancing" QF at the moment. LOL remember when it was chance-it-with-Ansett?)

 

[Justchecking]

[*]how will it effect A330 (re)deployment? (Will this improve high-status flyers' freebie op-up chances on certain sectors?)
[/LIST]IMO it would certainly behoove VA to get some specifics out ASAP, as this knowledge will immediately affect ticket purchasing behaviour.

JB knows the excitement that QF creates by deploying International configured aircraft onto domestic routes, so looking forward to VA using the same tactic to put pressure on Qantas.

Well I doubt that DJ will consider VFFs chances of getting freebie op-ups to be of particular benefit to them, financially. Free product given away or given for a substantially lower price is never really the object of being in business. Sure VFFs might purchase a few more flexi fares as a result but J class catering chews up a lot of margin and they might not make any more on it than just selling an extra saver fare. If I read the article correctly it's more about cashing in on QFs lack of dependability and being seen to cover their shortfall in terms of seats to secure more longterm business from pax. It's very good PR.

 

[MarkD]

Disturbing familiarity about this. multiple aircraft type fleet, only a few of each. I hope they have read about how the mixed fleet of Ansett affected their bank balance, and it's contribution to their demise. Virgin really are entering into a totally different world than the all 737 world they previously operated in


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[Justchecking]

Disturbing familiarity about this. multiple aircraft type fleet, only a few of each. I hope they have read about how the mixed fleet of Ansett affected their bank balance, and it's contribution to their demise. Virgin really are entering into a totally different world than the all 737 world they previously operated in


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

What's not the same is the average fleet age (with the exception of just 2 A330s all the other aircraft are under 10yrs old. Most of them under 6yrs old) the aircraft maintenance (which is what grounded Ansett) as well as the person actually
running the Airline (36yrs experience in a highly profitable and still alive today airline.) People love to draw parallels but we need to be careful not extrapolate the critical issues that led to Ansetts
demise over what exists at DJ.