HNA Takes A Stake - New Asian Routes to Follow?

[AustraliaPoochie]

VA flying into China would be great idea, but lets not ever forget AN when they got over ambitious and decided to fly to many Asian cities.
D7 decided to fly into and out of ADL, and in no time at all, decided that it was for "reasons beyond our (their) control) that they pulled out.
VA has a niche market at home in Australia, but I don't think it should fly its own birds too much, codeshare whereby it allows its airline code on another airline would be a better option.
After all, its not that VA has squillions of $ to throw around.

 

[eastwest101]

And Singapore... But not AirNZ it seems



Billionaire Chen’s HNA Buys Virgin Australia Stake in Spree - Bloomberg

And found this interesting....



Virgin raises $159m in placement to HNA Group | afr.com

Listened to an extract of a Ticky Fullerton interview with Borghetti and the implication seemed to be that Borghetti has possibly out-maneuvered Loxton and Air NZ. When you think about it, that in the recent past, AirNZ had complained about VA profitability and Borghetti, taken themselves off the board and then put their shares up for sale. So by throwing their toys out of the cot before selling their shares they just invited Borghetti to do a dilutive deal with HNA (in consultation/agreement with EY and SQ) so in the end it appears that AirNZ got totally ambushed at a corporate level.

 

[TomVexille]

I find this quote in the Bloomberg story very interesting:



Many of my flights between SYD-CNS and BNE-CNS on VA have at least one-third to one-half seats filled with Chinese pax. So if they are carrying "almost no traffic from China", then nearlly all of that "almost no traffic" must be flying to CNS. :shock:

About 1/3rd of our recent OOL-MEL flight was filled with a Chinese tour group...

 

[pauly7]

Interesting that AirNZ wanted to get rid of JB...

Well there is a lot for them to criticise JB that's for sure, hopefully they have to eat their hat.

Their ownership structure and register is a bit of a jumble mixed bag now :/

Dashes my hope of SQ getting control and sorting VA out.... Hopefully more news to come re: the sale of the Air NZ stake.

 

[soorox]

Well if anyone is interested, HU has already applied for x2 weekly Melbourne-Xi'an and x2 weekly Melbourne-Changsha, Xi'an is looking like its happening by the end of the year. HNA subsidiary, Beijing Capital Airlines has also just recently opened reservations for x3 weekly Melbourne-Qingdao-Shenyang with attractive introductory fares due to begin in late September.

I would love to see VA launch MEL-HKG though! QF has recently up-gagauged a couple of flights with CX pondering on the idea of adding 77W's to MEL, but also want a 4th daily flight but can't due to restrictions.

 

[Isochronous]

Yay! Now we will see some competition for HKG flights'

 

[RooFlyer]

whrre did these shares come from seem there not taken from anz listing

They just create new shares and sell them. That way the funds ( capital) goes to the airline to do new stuff with, or pay down debt etc. All existing shareholders get diluted.

 

[Wezza]

VA flying into China would be great idea, but lets not ever forget AN when they got over ambitious and decided to fly to many Asian cities.
D7 decided to fly into and out of ADL, and in no time at all, decided that it was for "reasons beyond our (their) control) that they pulled out.
VA has a niche market at home in Australia, but I don't think it should fly its own birds too much, codeshare whereby it allows its airline code on another airline would be a better option.
After all, its not that VA has squillions of $ to throw around.

VA will probably operate flights into HKG as Australian airlines still have room under the current bi-laterals to do so. I don't see them flying into mainland China.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Anybody see Borghetti on The Business last night? He stated HKG and PEK on radar for VA metal 1st half 2017 - that will be interesting.

 

[rtyuiop]

That's interesting - wonder what metal they are planning on using? Move some of the 330s away from transcons? Let EY keep doing the AUH run and use some spare 777 capacity once they're all done with the refurb?

Or (I"m dreaming) get new aircrast in a real hurry, perhaps via the existing EY orders?

 

[juliusg]

Borgetthi is a genius. This is the ultimate 'up you' to ANZ, and it keeps him in the driver seat. It probably also means SQ can't or won't get to 50% and almost certainly will never control VA. Now ANZ have trouble - a capped share price, a certain large loss if they sell down VA, and unwanted competition in the NZ - China routes. VA get a cashed up and motivated investor with a leasing co ready to flip more metal at short notice; and a walk-up start at new routes with solid code shares. They have bridged the gap in their network, produced a strategy, and guaranteed their re-capitalization all in one transaction. Best of all was the smug response yesterday when The Borg said that since ANZ wasn't on the board, the first they knew was the media release.

 

[kamchatsky]

Anybody see Borghetti on The Business last night? He stated HKG and PEK on radar for VA metal 1st half 2017 - that will be interesting.

That would be good. I can see VA would code share with HX at HKG. I definitely won't mind flying VA J to HKG, gives me more options.


Whilst I prefer CX partnering with VA I could not see that happening as long as CX and QF are part of OW.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Borgetthi is a genius.

Crikey that's a big call - not sure VA's overall performance would substantiate that statement.

Best of all was the smug response yesterday when The Borg said that since ANZ wasn't on the board, the first they knew was the media release.

TBH I thought the smugness in his expression when that very point was raised on TV last night smacked if 'childishness' - of course we all view things differently.

 

[SimonD]

ISAC has released details that VA has applied for capacity from 'a major international gateway in Australia' for both Beijing and Hong Kong. The airline is seeking 1925 seats per week to PEK and seven weekly frequencies to HKG. This is to be operated by A330-200 aircraft configured with 275 seats from 1 June 2017.

 

[juliusg]

ISAC has released details that VA has applied for capacity from 'a major international gateway in Australia' for both Beijing and Hong Kong. The airline is seeking 1925 seats per week to PEK and seven weekly frequencies to HKG. This is to be operated by A330-200 aircraft configured with 275 seats from 1 June 2017.[/QUOTE

It starts. Probably with a healthy dose of code share from HKA and HNA.

 

[juliusg]

ISAC has released details that VA has applied for capacity from 'a major international gateway in Australia' for both Beijing and Hong Kong. The airline is seeking 1925 seats per week to PEK and seven weekly frequencies to HKG. This is to be operated by A330-200 aircraft configured with 275 seats from 1 June 2017.[/QUOTE

It starts. Probably with a healthy dose of code share from HKA and HNA.

This'd need 2 new frames, one per market assuming the 1925 seats per week to PEK = daily which math says it does. Can anyone find and fit new A330-200 in 12 months? Guess they can!

 

[Awesom Andy]

Applying for capacity doesn't mean using it right away. We could well see a 3/4x weekly flight for both HKG and PEK with a commitment of 1 aircraft before deciding whether to fully utilise the approved capacity. I also doubt they would source new A330s. With the downturn of the mining sector, my guess is that an A330 will be officially and permanently taken off one of the transcon routes to serve these new destinations.

 

[burmans]

Crikey that's a big call - not sure VA's overall performance would substantiate that statement.TBH I thought the smugness in his expression when that very point was raised on TV last night smacked if 'childishness' - of course we all view things differently.

Now ANZ have trouble - a capped share price, a certain large loss if they sell down VA, and unwanted competition in the NZ - China routes. VA get a cashed up and motivated investor with a leasing co ready to flip more metal at short notice; and a walk-up start at new routes with solid code shares.

I think juliusg unwittingly makes your point himself here, a capped share price and a certain large loss are certainly not my idea of what I want from a CEO. He may have won the battle (i.e. he's got this one right) but still big questions on whether he has won the war. Lets see if he actually manages to increase that share price now.

 

[moa999]

hey just invited Borghetti to do a dilutive deal with HNA (in consultation/agreement with EY and SQ)

issuing new shares at a a premium would normally not be called dilutive

 

[casanovawa]

I think juliusg put just about every positive spin you possibly could on this deal in calling JB a genius....