VA to begin SYD-HKG daily

[Must...Fly!]

Mid-2018 launch (maybe they'll stick to a timeline for this one...!)

VA89 SYD-HKG 1000-1740
VA88 HKG-SYD 1950-0710


Virgin Australia to launch Sydney-Hong Kong flights mid-2018

Other 1H 2017-18 results and financials available via ASX: Share Price & Information - ASX

Velocity seems to be struggling a bit with less money coming in from CCs (might explain the bonus offers)

 

[Pleb Status]

It looks like MEL-HKG is far more successful than what it appears to be. VAi was still able to make a very small profit even taking this service into account.

SYD-HKG means another 332 will leave the domestic fleet unfortunately.

Overall, it looks like VA and QF have slipped back into a very cosy duopoly and both are now starting to raise fares significantly on domestic routes (a 7.4% increase in RASK with only a 1.0% increase in CASK)...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Maybe that is an indication of how bad the E-190s were for VA?

QF's mismatch I can understand, they have been rationing capacity pretty heavily with adjustment of A330 transcon schedules and introduction of the QFLink 717s.

Not really any such downward adjustment from VA, although that said you do have the group owned F100s running PER-ADL more now.

 

[andyhui01]

such a shame they are flying the same schedule as MEL-HKG. I've always hoped that they would fly them on opposite schedules so pax can choose the schedule that suits them with a domX. With the curfew, the only hope is MEL-HKG becomes a PM departure ex MEL

I guess it makes ground handling cheaper but it'd be great to have a choice.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

Nice to have another Velocity earning option for our next London trip whenever that is , or for a China trip

 

[Bagpuss]

It looks like MEL-HKG is far more successful than what it appears to be. VAi was still able to make a very small profit even taking this service into account.

SYD-HKG means another 332 will leave the domestic fleet unfortunately.

Considering that there is currently one air frame out of service for maintenance, and the new service will take one airframe expect the a330's domestic schedules to be roughly the same as "today". Though with the reduction of services from Melbourne to Hong Kong there's domestic capacity there.

As always, a330 domestic services started with 2 airframes and that was kinda of adequate. I expect them to try and keep 2 or 3 domestically dependent on the day of the week.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

New Virgin Australia widebody aircraft a “really long way away”

“As we talk about widebody replacements, and when we do it and what we replace them with, and I am talking about the 330s and the 777s, that’s really a long way away,” Borghetti told reporters during Virgin Australia’s first half results presentation on Wednesday.

 

[Pleb Status]

New Virgin Australia widebody aircraft a “really long way away”

The section of the article which is of most interest with respect to the 332 redeployment...

While Borghetti declined to offer details about whether any new cabin products were in development, the chief executive did promise its Perth services would match anything its rivals were offering.

“We will never have an uncompetitive product on a very important route like east coast-west coast. Of that you can be sure,” he said.

 

[Bagpuss]

New Virgin Australia widebody aircraft a “really long way away”

Considering that they own 4 of the 5's B777's they would naturally retain the owned aircraft for as long as possible.
The A330's are all leased which means they will stick around until they are about 10 - 12 years old.
The oldest A330's (VH-XFC) is 6 years old. So I doubt we will hear anything for about 5 years.

 

[pangwen]

such a shame they are flying the same schedule as MEL-HKG. I've always hoped that they would fly them on opposite schedules so pax can choose the schedule that suits them with a domX. With the curfew, the only hope is MEL-HKG becomes a PM departure ex MEL

I guess it makes ground handling cheaper but it'd be great to have a choice.

I saw a comment on ausbt that all five of the MEL flights are now scheduled to be overnight in both directions.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I saw a comment on ausbt that all five of the MEL flights are now scheduled to be overnight in both directions.

Allegedly';

SYD HKG VA89 1000/1740
HKG SYD VA88 1950/071 (+1)

MEL HKG VA85 0030/0810
HKG MEL VA84 1810/0540 (+1)
HKG MEL VA84 1915/0645 (+1)

And no service MEL Wednesdays & Fridays.

Why would they leave an A330 on the ground for 10 hours doing nothing? I presume it is slot related, but wow that is sacrificing an A330 out of the equation for an entire day. Thinking about it, I guess it's actually no different to if the flight left at 0800 from HKG, as you would just end up with the aircraft on the ground in MEL overnight. Still it seems a shame.

 

[CPMaverick]

I hope this doesn't come at the expense of the MEL flights!

 

[Mattg]

Allegedly';

SYD HKG VA89 1000/1740
HKG SYD VA88 1950/071 (+1)

MEL HKG VA85 0030/0810
HKG MEL VA84 1810/0540 (+1)
HKG MEL VA84 1915/0645 (+1)

And no service MEL Wednesdays & Fridays.

Why would they leave an A330 on the ground for 10 hours doing nothing? I presume it is slot related, but wow that is sacrificing an A330 out of the equation for an entire day. Thinking about it, I guess it's actually no different to if the flight left at 0800 from HKG, as you would just end up with the aircraft on the ground in MEL overnight. Still it seems a shame.

If the flight left MEL for HKG at 0800, the aircraft could have done a MEL-PER-MEL run (returning as the redeye) overnight...

I'm assuming the issue is slots in HKG.

 

[Must...Fly!]

If the flight left MEL at 0800, the aircraft could have done a MEL-PER-MEL run (returning as the redeye) overnight...

I'm assuming the issue is slots in HKG.

There's a few different ways you could do it but thinking about the block to block time, I'm not sure you could do much else. You'd have to leave at around 0630, which would have you back in to Melbourne at 1900, good for a 2100 departure to Perth which can then turn as a red-eye back.

But to facilitate an 0630 departure out of HKG, you either need the aircraft on the ground overnight there, or an 0430 arrival which would be very unappetising. Splitting the city pairs so an aircraft does SYD-HKG-MEL-HKG-SYD might make more sense, but yes its clearly slots.

 

[Isochronous]

Very unfortunate to see MEL cut to 5x week - definitely a retrograde step.

 

[pauly7]

I hope this doesn't come at the expense of the MEL flights!

Unfortunately it has. Boo (selfishly as I’m MEL based atm).
The loads on the MEL flights though have been pretty low so would prefer they cut back to try and consolidate rather than drop the route all together.

 

[pauly7]

Very unfortunate to see MEL cut to 5x week - definitely a retrograde step.

Can’t fill the plane cut the frequency. Seems smart to me, though disappointing.

 

[moa999]

Splitting the city pairs so an aircraft does SYD-HKG-MEL-HKG-SYD might make more sense, but yes its clearly slots

Suspect that's how it will be done, and also suspect that someone in HKG might get a maintenance contract. Think historically the 330s have gone to Manilla (Lufthansa Technik)

 

[AviatorInsight]

As we know HKG is a very slot congested airport and for this season we were allocated an increase in frequencies from 7 to 12 per week. This did not allow VA to commence daily flights out of Sydney without impacting the Melbourne schedule, and given the additional slots were all for back-of-clock timings that fall outside of Sydney Airport’s operating hours, the decision was taken to use these slots for Melbourne and ensure consistent flight timings across each Australian market. VA are hoping to increase the Melbourne frequencies again as soon as they are granted additional slots, possibly as soon as November.

 

[docjames]

Currently on a (perfectly timed for us) MEL-HKG-MEL - will be spewing if there are changes as it will really muck us around.

Any idea which days of the week ex-MEL will be dropped?

I guess we will end up via SYD if the day changes.