VA A330's almost completely gone from PER-BNE/SYD/MEL during June '17?

[Bundy Bear]

There price differientation between business on the 737 and The business on the A330 is only $100.00 ($1799 compare to $1899)

They really need to have a much different price on the 2 products.

 

[eastwest101]

There price differientation between business on the 737 and The business on the A330 is only $100.00 ($1799 compare to $1899)

They really need to have a much different price on the 2 products.

Exactly - people will pay good money for a good J product delivered - they won't pay good money for a J product lottery ticket, this goes for QF as well as VA.

Presumably as VA don't have the money to improve their B738 J class product, they need to get real on their J pricing for the B738 product.

 

[pauly7]

Exactly - people will pay good money for a good J product delivered - they won't pay good money for a J product lottery ticket, this goes for QF as well as VA.

Presumably as VA don't have the money to improve their B738 J class product, they need to get real on their J pricing for the B738 product.

They probably don't have the money but is there really a business case for it I wonder? Who mostly pays for trans con J class? I suspect it's business who are usually contracted to either airline in some form of preferred arrangement / rebate set up. So it's a bit of a bet if they upgrade their 737 fleet to something special they will have to steal some customers from QF to pay for it which has proven very hard in the past to do. Otherwise they are just shelling money out on a refurb for their own already 'loyal' / 'contracted' customers who will be there anyway...

You could argue as they become almost a complete 737 domestic airline with the fleet and route rationalisation program and A330 fleet heading OS - that maybe a enhanced J experience could really set them apart from QF though!

 

[eastwest101]

Exactly - when presented with lemons (a domestic fleet dominated by B738s and a smaller B738 fleet than your competitor) you may as well make lemonade (provide a superior J class product even if only a transcon subfleets) - being QF-lite with inferior products, less economy of scale and the same costs isn't going to cut it.

Money is still cheap, fuel is cheap, labour costs are static, the domestic economy is mixed but a little soft and inbound tourism is recovering so there's no reasonable excuse why both QF and VA domestic shouldn't be making money at the moment.

 

[davidj]

Sorry wasn't commenting on J. Was more a broad comment on yield and route viability with a wide body, hence the decision to move them off into hopefully more profitable ventures in Asia and the decline of trans con.

Exactly. All the comments here are on Business seats but its not going to be viable if its 20/20 and the back is empty. In fact they'd rather have business empty and fill up Econ (from a $ perspective).

I believe Qantas has better utilization East-West particularly Econ cabin.

 

[Bagpuss]

Over the weekend I noticed that a planned Mel - Per trip has been upgraded from the scheduled B737 to A330.
I've taken the liberty to upgrade.

 

[andyhui01]

In fact they'd rather have business empty and fill up Econ (from a $ perspective).

I believe Qantas has better utilization East-West particularly Econ cabin.

I think you might want to watch this video. It is pretty interesting and directly related to your post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc

 

[MH_fan]

I think you might want to watch this video. It is pretty interesting and directly related to your post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc

Very informative. Thanks for sharing!

 

[moa999]

Exactly - when presented with lemons (a domestic fleet dominated by B738s and a smaller B738 fleet than your competitor) you may as well make lemonade (provide a superior J class product even if only a transcon subfleets) - .

VA now has more 737s than QF btw

 

[davidj]

I think you might want to watch this video. It is pretty interesting and directly related to your post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB5xtGGsTc

Interesting and makes sense using an international carrier. Using the example in this thread, as per my post, it is still better to fill economy 100% than business seats 100% on the A330-200.

 

[WeeGraeme]

I booked VA469 (PER-BNE) on 23/11/2017. I chose it because it's an A330. I received an email today to say that my flight time had increased by 10 minutes. I logged in and found that the flight is now being flown by a 737. It's a booking for 2 people. I'd booked 1D and 1G on the A330. When I logged in to my booking, one seat was still at 1D. The other was showing no seat allocation, presumably because there is no 1G on a 737. Naturally I'll change it, but at what stage would they actually allocate a seat to what is supposed to be a confirmed booking?

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Further updates on new Hong Kong and China routes planned (presumably using A330s):
https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-australia-plans-sydney-brisbane-flights-to-hong-kong

 

[bullerdude]

If they launch further routes into ASIA then the a330 will almost certainly disappear from east-west routes.

We just have to hope that VA have enough sense to order a better J product on their new 737-900 MAX jets.

 

[pauly7]

I'd think that if (probably more when than if) the A330s keep moving off, VA will be forced to do something with their 737 J at the very least to remain competitive. However in Y if QF are still running A330's then I wonder how much can VA really do to the sardine 737 Y....

 

[bean]

If they launch further routes into ASIA then the a330 will almost certainly disappear from east-west routes.

We just have to hope that VA have enough sense to order a better J product on their new 737-900 MAX jets.

Interesting, looks liek all the A330's will be removed from domestic!

"Virgin Australia will reveal a next generation of its domestic business class seats before the end of this year as the airline continues to battle Qantas for the hearts and wallets of corporate travellers.The seats will be dedicated to transcontinental flights running between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, but will be fitted to single-aisle jets as Virgin shifts its larger Airbus A330s onto Asian routes into Hong Kong and mainland China."

"peaking with Australian Business Traveller during the inaugural flight of Virgin Australia’s new Melbourne-Hong Kong route, Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti said the airline's six-strong Airbus A330 fleet "will be dedicated to Asia",
https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-australia-to-launch-all-new-domestic-business-class

 

[suze2000]

Well that's the end of me flying Virgin to Perth then. Two hours in 737 Y is all I can tolerate.

 

[fewings85]

Well that's the end of me flying Virgin to Perth then. Two hours in 737 Y is all I can tolerate.

ill wait and see what the product is but more then likely in the same boat. Or at least I might consider giving Qantas a go again. I fly on COPA from LAX to Colombia via Panama a lot and they use 737-800'S. Its a 6.5 hour flight and it can be a nightmare!

I'm Perth based as well.

I really hope they don't pull them before my flights PER - SYD and SYD - PER next month. Are listed as A330's both ways currently and I am in J.

 

[Bagpuss]

I really hope they don't pull them before my flights PER - SYD and SYD - PER next month. Are listed as A330's both ways currently and I am in J.

Hong Kong was announced a little over 2 months prior to it starting which is really quick as normally announcements are made over 6 months prior for international so they can start getting bums on seats.

If flights do start in 2017 I would imagine them to start early December for the Christmas/End of Year period, though I would suspect many people are soon to book or already booked such travel.
I think they wont start until 2018.

 

[Tallfont]

Or at least I might consider giving Qantas a go again.

That's exactly what I am doing! My next PER-BNE-POM return at the end of the month is on QF. I got minimal status with them but I calculated that I would get up to Gold in a couple of round trips. In J it makes little difference anyway.

If it works out and I like the QF product then that's who I will stay with. My next POM-BNE-PER is on VA and that gets me VA WP until the end of 2018. All my VA FF points are being used for a points plus pay to HKG on Singapore Airlines for Mrs Tallfont and I over New Year. Nothing to lose really!

 

[Tallfont]

If flights do start in 2017 I would imagine them to start early December for the Christmas/End of Year period, though I would suspect many people are soon to book or already booked such travel.
I think they wont start until 2018.

Hmmmm, they started two days ago!