New A330s with crew rest areas coming.

[Comoman]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

Plot thickens - I know for a fact that some Virgin A330 crew are based in Perth......

 

[docjames]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

PER-AUH just makes so much sense

- QFi virtually gone out of PER
- A330s already rotate there
- "right" stage length for the aircraft

The question is whether there are any other routes these re-config A330s could operate?

Nonstop to India is possible but again whether the tie-up with SQ covers that more effectively.

PER-HKG (QF have dropped that havent they??) Again is this a good idea when they are tied to SIN who can just route PER-SIN-HKG......

/lateral thinking/

Would JNB be possible from PER in an A330? (even allowing for etops....). Not sure they'll go for that given the losses last time.....

/even more lateral/

PER-AUH-LHR....... (ok, just kidding).


The issue is many markets already have significantly established players, plus they now have tie-ups that cover the major ports so the options are limited.

PER-AUH is the natural "fit".

Edit: i thought of one other - what about a return leg that required the crew rest due to hours, plus maybe they are "future proofing" their aircraft and/or making them more attractive at resale time......

 

[777]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

They'd need a decent international lounge in PER but you'd hope they'd get this as part of the terminal revamps.

I still maintain that PER is a huge opportunity for VA. Skywest takeover, being the only airline to be able to same-terminal transfer from INT to DOM in the next year or two and at least a few large unserviced centres (Jakarta being the obvious missing one) in narrowbody range. There's also the prospect that a few other international airlines (Turkish being the obvious one) could be encouraged to serve Australia via PER alone if VA were able to offer them well timed same terminal connections to the east coast.

All that is without even thinking about the ill-will that QF are generating there with recent decisions and how well SQ has PER-Asia/Europe connections compared to anyone else.

 

[yohy?!]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

ill throw my hat in for ex-per international also firstly because JB wanted to do it at QF with previously and the obvious hole in the market, also given need crew rest it would need to be around 10-11+ hours on the sector which i think puts AUH, Japan, China and even South Africa (assuming ETOPS not an issue) in the mix.

 

[eastwest101]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

They'd need a decent international lounge in PER but you'd hope they'd get this as part of the terminal revamps.

I still maintain that PER is a huge opportunity for VA. Skywest takeover, being the only airline to be able to same-terminal transfer from INT to DOM in the next year or two and at least a few large unserviced centres (Jakarta being the obvious missing one) in narrowbody range.

I assume that at some time in the future it may be possible to fly one-stop from a mine site to international destinations using Skywest/VA/EY? Is that the long term plan for PER? Sorry if I am ignorant of how Perth is set up at the moment as its been 3 years since I was there...

 

[777]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

I assume that at some time in the future it may be possible to fly one-stop from a mine site to international destinations using Skywest/VA/EY? Is that the long term plan for PER? Sorry if I am ignorant of how Perth is set up at the moment as its been 3 years since I was there...

Traditionally PER has been split in half -- with the international and domestic terminals on different sides of the airport and very coughpy connections between the two. Next month the budget airline are moving over to a terminal built next to the international terminal. In about a year Virgin will be getting a whole new terminal that is being built as a pier attached to the existing international terminal. It will mean that VA's INT and DOM services are under the one roof and the budget/ regional FiFO services are a short walk away.

Qantas is going to remain where the current domestic terminal is. Basically it will mean that Virgin will be able to do seamless INT> DOM or DOM> INT transfers but Qantas won't be able to which gives them a distinct advantage when it comes to building a small domestic to international hub. I'd like to see VA try to start services out of PER to AUH, to Indonesia (which is in respectable narrow body range and massively under developed in terms of flights from Australia) and then i'd like to see them encourage other Indian Ocean rim airlines (From Africa and India in particular) to connect to Australia in PER and codeshare with VA.

I'm being a total armchair CEO but i think it's got great potential as a strategy given Indonesia, India and parts of Africa are amongst the fastest growing economies right now.

 

[ash.1111]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

The newly built 330s already have crew rest at the back of Y. These are curtained off Y seats and are not used for domestic ops/needed in the domestic EBA - why would they need two types? I have also heard that it is much cheaper to overnight on the east coast than PER - hence the 330 base there.

 

[eastwest101]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

Qantas is going to remain where the current domestic terminal is. Basically it will mean that Virgin will be able to do seamless INT> DOM or DOM> INT transfers but Qantas won't be able to which gives them a distinct advantage when it comes to building a small domestic to international hub. I'd like to see VA try to start services out of PER to AUH, to Indonesia (which is in respectable narrow body range and massively under developed in terms of flights from Australia) and then i'd like to see them encourage other Indian Ocean rim airlines (From Africa and India in particular) to connect to Australia in PER and codeshare with VA.

I'm being a total armchair CEO but i think it's got great potential as a strategy given Indonesia, India and parts of Africa are amongst the fastest growing economies right now.

Nothing silly about that - its using your businesses natural advantage to maximum effect with economy of scale, even better when your competitor has basically "given up" and served up their customers up to you on a plate to you by cutting destinations and capacity. Seems to match what JB has been thinking from the direction he has taken DJ/VA so far....

 

[eastwest101]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

The newly built 330s already have crew rest at the back of Y. These are curtained off Y seats and are not used for domestic ops/needed in the domestic EBA - why would they need two types? I have also heard that it is much cheaper to overnight on the east coast than PER - hence the 330 base there.

Ahem - when you consider that SYD has a curfew and any VA A330 in SYD after 11pm is essentially stuck there running up parking fees until the curfew lifts at 6am then if you want to utilize your aircraft then you probably want them in the air making money and not sitting at Mascot costing you money. Of course the crew changes can be any of the 4 crew bases that VA have - I think its MEL/SYD/BNE and PER (someone correct me if I am wrong on this).

 

[ash.1111]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

Only SYD/MEL/PER are 330 trained at this stage

 

[Jamesl]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

PER>AUH has always been on the cards. At first they wanted to pull the 777 off the MEL>LAX route and redeploy that to PER. But obviously the better choice would be the 332... I know that QF used the crew rest areas on QF127/8 so maybe as stated HKG is a close reality...

in the near future the actual use of the aircraft will be a) replacement of XFC/D/E for their first deep maintenance checks, then b) up guage the BNE-PER-BNE service then c) make SYD-PER all 330 then new route development...

 

[bullerdude]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

Lots and lots of potential yes... although I was thinking perhaps a good first use would also to cover XFA and XFB so they can upgrade the old J seats to new lie-flat style.

 

[Freqy Flyer]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

in the near future the actual use of the aircraft will be a) replacement of XFC/D/E for their first deep maintenance checks, then b) up guage the BNE-PER-BNE service then c) make SYD-PER all 330 then new route development...

So what are the time frames for this? As somebody based in BNE, with substantial BNEPER flying, I'm really keen to know when BNEPER will be getting an A330 service on VA.

 

[KCMil]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

Lots and lots of potential yes... although I was thinking perhaps a good first use would also to cover XFA and XFB so they can upgrade the old J seats to new lie-flat style.

JB has been quite clear in the past that there is not going to be a cabin refit for XFA/B

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

I've got another idea.

Maybe all this is just rumour milling started by VA to get AFFers talking about something other than the abominable Sabre rollout!

 

[777]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

I've got another idea.

Maybe all this is just rumour milling started by VA to get AFFers talking about something other than the abominable Sabre rollout!

That would imply a sophistication of social media strategy not evidenced by their inability to give straight forward answers to basic questions.

Still, it's nice to talk about something else for a change!

 

[eastwest101]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

I've got another idea.

Maybe all this is just rumour milling started by VA to get AFFers talking about something other than the abominable Sabre rollout!

Ha ha! Very cynical, but possibly a tiny bit of truth to it!

I am no VA fanboy, and I have had no hesitation sinking the boot into VA for their Sabre debacle (and it can only be described as a debacle at the moment IMHO) or into QF for that matter about their mistakes either (PB anyone?).

But at least we know the new A330's are coming into VA service at some time in some form, the big question is, on what routes will we be seeing them?

 

[bullerdude]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

JB has been quite clear in the past that there is not going to be a cabin refit for XFA/B

I hadn't read that. Just another instance where VA will continue to have product disparity...

 

[serfty]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

I hadn't read that. Just another instance where VA will continue to have product disparity...

That particular disparity is not going to affect me much on short 4 hour transcontinental flights.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: E190 J class conversions start

3 A330's arriving through this year are said to have full crew rest area fitted behind flight deck,

at least we know the new A330's are coming into VA service at some time in some form, the big question is, on what routes will we be seeing them?

When I read the OPs info, then I read the rest of the pie-in-the-sky predictions, I see a big black hole in the logic. No one has confirmed crew bunks and in fact someone actually questioned it given there are crew rest facilities already on the A330s (apparantly, I can neither confirm nor deny).

Then look at the past VA strategy......release some info and let everyone guess and wildly speculate for many months before they tell us (often with a degree of disappointment) of their actual plans. What better way to divert the copious quantities of negative publicity surrounding the disaterous recent changes which has evidently seen at least some converts flocking back to QF.

Flyers have very short memories and I think VA know that. Give 'em some honey drizzled over the dung and everyone's happy 'till the taste of honey is gone and everyone realises they're still eating dung!