pauly7
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2004
- Posts
- 5,371
Lack of right equipment and a US west coast presence.
Only aircraft that can fly trans-pac (to Australia not NZ) with viable payload are B747-400 (preferably ER), B777-200LR, B777-300ER, A340-500 (and the 600 if in very premium/spacious configuration).
.
+ 1 - the A380 I think you will find!
Also to the defence of Virgin and the widespread perception that V Australia is a LCC ala Jetstar international... Really, what were they supposed to do??
1) They couldn't call it Virgin (or Virgin Atlantic and leverage off the full service sister reputiation - which IMHO isn't stellar anyway) due to legal fights
2) Calling it something completely different to try and distance themselves from the domestic LCC image would cost additional $ to try and build a brand name and 'company' from scratch
I think they have probably done the best they could have in a tough situation
However I will say their advertising is over-stylised and reeks of advertising agencies trying to win awards rather than communicating effiectively to their target audience - evidently as a result I would say a majority of the gen public probably think V Australia is like a Jetstar International rather than a QF full service airline!
PS (I'm not sure it helps having the 'international idea from Virgin Blue' logo lockup on the advertising - again makes people think LCC!)
Tough one really, but the product will hopefully speak for itself and spread word of mouth over time.