Tokyo Haneda slot - how will Virgin Operate it?

[jase05]

Wow, the numbers are sooooo low - 35. I didn't expect them to be that low. How will they fill the MAX?

Good if you want to stretch out across a row

 

[jrfsp]

53 pax on day 1, 35 pax up and back today. Capped at around 77pax (also the flight number!). VBZ will do the flying most days as it burns 2.5% less fuel than VBY.

Why the difference in fuel burn? 2.5% isnt insignificant

 

[Bagpuss]

Wow, the numbers are sooooo low - 35. I didn't expect them to be that low. How will they fill the MAX?

Well, in some defense launching a new route on a Wednesday isn't the most ideal.
It's normal for new routes to loose money though I think they accepted to get the route operational and likely push for certain when they have the MAX.
Likely it's way off projections, but there's a number of factors and play. I think many of would agree this will shift to Brisbane at some point, Cairns connections aren't great.

I agree it seems very disappointing, but I think they are just ticking operational tick boxes currently.

 

[justinbrett]

Wow, the numbers are sooooo low - 35. I didn't expect them to be that low. How will they fill the MAX?

Basically Rex SAAB low

Well, in some defense launching a new route on a Wednesday isn't the most ideal.

It's school holidays - pretty good time I would have thought.

 

[HS-TQE]

Basically Rex SAAB low



It's school holidays - pretty good time I would have thought.

Although it's summer over in Japan (and rainy in some cases) combined with the limited/zero exposure of the Virgin brand.

Considering one of the focus when they got the AAIF back then was inbound tourism, the Queensland Government aren't doing a very good job on advertising Cairns and wider North Queensland to the Japanese market.

 

[justinbrett]

the Queensland Government aren't doing a very good job

No they aren't

Still, as an Australian carrier, there should be enough demand ex-AU to fill a 737 to Japan during the peak "get the hell out of dodge" school holidays (winter). Sure many like to go there for skiing, but for general tourism summer is not a bad time to go.

Perhaps they need to drop their fares, or do something. The -8 won't magically solve this. The fares look expensive next week so perhaps loads are better, otherwise that would explain why they're empty as JQ is significantly cheaper.

 

[pauly7]

<redacted>
Shirley we can give it at least couple months... At an absolute minimum, no?

I think your post was edited but I’m sure “Shirley” can , and it’s really up to Virgin and the QLD government as to how long they’ve agreed to prop it up and at what agreed loads / possible losses.

 

[Mattg]

Yeah, except there are unsold seats on the 737-700, not just blocked. If it is only 70-80 seats and you can't even sell that many, you've got issues when the -8 arrives.

I heard a few people were offloaded from the first flight due to weight restrictions.

 

[_flyer]

I heard a few people were offloaded from the first flight due to weight restrictions.

I thought they could have 77 passengers

 

[Quickstatus]

How will they fill the MAX?

Sell tickets for $100

in some defense launching a new route on a Wednesday isn't the most ideal.

But it in the Qld School holidays. Tokyo disneyland?

I heard a few people were offloaded from the first flight due to weight restrictions.

Not a good look. Hope they are looked after.

 

[justinbrett]

I heard a few people were offloaded from the first flight due to weight restrictions.

I don't recall anyone saying it was sold out.

If they're still selling tickets and then offloading people, that's gross incompetence.

 

[clifford]

If they're still selling tickets and then offloading people, that's gross incompetence.

I guess you don't like VA.

 

[justinbrett]

I guess you don't like VA.

It's got nothing to do with my opinion, if an airline is selling tickets for seats it knows it can't accommodate, that is incompetence at best or deceptive at worst.

 

[Quickstatus]

"Today is a Sellout"
(0:30 onwards)

if an airline is selling tickets for seats it knows it can't accommodate

Good. Will airlines now stop their practice of overselling seats?.
The offloading could have due to wind conditions on the particular day.

 

[justinbrett]

"Today is a Sellout"
(0:30 onwards)


Good. Will airlines now stop their practice of overselling seats?.
The offloading could have due to wind conditions on the particular day.

Yes but the point remains was VA selling seats the day prior only to offload those people the next day. Once offloaded it's technically a sellout.

With 77 pax carried, if that's the sellout number - ouch. Seems to be plenty of availability from here on though, including tomorrow and the weekend.

 

[Mattg]

I don't recall anyone saying it was sold out.

If they're still selling tickets and then offloading people, that's gross incompetence.

They were not selling tickets and offloading people at the same time AFAIK. There was zero inventory available for sale the day before the flight, when I checked. I suspect they stopped selling seats as soon as they realised they would need to reduce/restrict the load to that extent.

 

[justinbrett]

They were not selling tickets and offloading people at the same time AFAIK. There was zero inventory available for sale the day before the flight, when I checked.

OK, that answers that. I don't recall a fanfare for having sold out on the launch flight, but then I guess you probably wouldn't if that number was 77.

But my original point didn't just relate to the launch flight, we were speaking about this first period more generally until the -8 arrives. Plenty of availability including tomorrow.

 

[AviatorInsight]

I thought they could have 77 passengers

They probably can...when the weather is fine and beaut. But the problem becomes how do you "make" fuel if you've already got maximum fuel in the tanks? The answer is...burn less fuel, and how do you do that? Remove weight. The upshot is you can also climb straight to 40,000ft. There is also no cargo being carried on these flights too.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Why the difference in fuel burn? 2.5% isnt insignificant

Over the years, things happen to aircraft, some may need more repairs than others. This can make the aircraft need more trim to fly straight. There are also different basic empty weights (this is the weight with no pax, bags, or fuel on board). Over the 8hrs, VBZ will burn about 500kg less than VBY. When covering this kind of distance to an international destination? I'd take the extra fuel and every drop I can get at the other end.

 

[Quickstatus]

VA selling seats the day prior only to offload those people the next day.

Weather predictions can quickly change.
An airline which oversells seats know it can't accomodate all those passengers if all of them try to checkin. Airlines have offloaded passengers, luggage, freight in order to meet the requirements of the flight. Even Qantas.