Virgin Australia Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

With the poor weather around SYD, VA535, the 1710 hours on Thursday 14 January from SYD to OOL did not take off until 1839. Arrival is forecast at about 1840, 70 minutes late. B738 VH-VOO is operating the flight.

VA862, the 1630 hours SYD - MEL (B738 VH-YVC) took off at 1754 and should arrive at about 1905, an hour behind the timetable. VA563, the 1630 hours SYD - PER took off at 1824 and should be in the West at about 2000, 85 minutes behind time with B738 VH-YFQ the uncomfortable (relatively speaking) conveyance compared to a more luxurious A332. QF is about as late.

VA879, the 1830 hours MEL to SYD took off at 1757 but will only arrive at the SYD airport gate at about 2153, an hour and 58 minutes late and a far longer flight than the northbound 85 minute point to point schedule. VH-VUX is the B738 assigned.

VA1122 from PQQ to SYD should have departed at 1740 but took off at 2120 hours with arrival at around 2225 instead of 1855. ATR VH-VPI is the craft.

VA9003 took off from SYD at 2008 and is due in PER at about 2150 with VH-XFE (A332) operating it. Is this a special conveying passengers or a positioning movement?

VA540 from OOL to SYD landed at 2256 so was very close to missing curfew. It is normally due at the gate at 2035 so is almost two and a half hours late. Aircraft was B738 VH-VUY.

VA897, the 2100 hours 'last of the night' from MEL to SYD did not take off until 2148 and landed at 2258 so it came within a hair's breadth of missing curfew. Aircraft was VH-VUJ.

VA999, the 2130 hours SYD to BNE took off at 2302 so technically (from a residents' viewpoint) curfew was breached. The conveyance was E190 VH-ZPC.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Sunday 17 January VA556 (A332 VH-XFD), the 1035 hours from PER to SYD took off at 1146 and hence will arrive at about 1833 tonight, 48 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

Redeye VA54, the 2230 hours Tuesday 19 January DPS to MEL (B738 VH-YIU) took off at 2349 and after experiencing a holding pattern approaching should be in MEL at about 0810, an hour late.

 

[RickyT84]

Just wondering whats happening at VA today as a lot of flights were delayed extensively this evening (27th of Jan)? There were no significant weather or delays to other operators.

 

[i_hate_the_tulla_freeway]

Last night (Wednesday 27.01) the computers crashed between approx 5.45pm and 9.45pm at the VA terminal in Sydney. I made it through by about 10 minutes but after that people couldn't check in, change flights or board. Eventually they started manually checking in pax but it was a slow process.

therefore the delays that no doubt rebounded elsewhere.

My 7.00pm departure finally left at 10.15 after it took 1 hour + to load the plane. They had to offload all the Y pax cause they stuffed something up. It was a long, slow night.

Best advert for Qantas I've seen in a while.

 

[henleybeach]

VA 697 melb-per (2035dep) delayed by a hour with a aircraft swap at the last minute . About to board, told over PA there was a slight delay of 10 minutes, then 15 minutes told the A330 aircraft is unserviceable and not we are switched to a 737! Gone from window seat 12 on a A330 to now row 20 middle seat ! This is gonna be a dreadful flight

 

[Melburnian1]

Sat 13 February saw VA185, the 0945 MEL to NAN not take off until 1056.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Tuesday 16 February VA252 from CBR to MEL is about to arrive at about 0905, 90 minutes late. This in turn will delay VA259 back to CBR in departing until after 0930, so it will be more than an hour late.

 

[mannej]

A fairly hefty delay to VA1 which I am surprised it hasn't been posted here yet...

VA1 Diverted to BNE

 

[Melburnian1]

Thank you mannej: I had not seen it. Please post such delays (or cancellations) as often as you like. None of us can be looking at these things for 168 hours a week.

One assumes that the crew would rapidly go 'out of hours' and hence a fresh crew has to be called at their homes, pack, get to the airport within the allotted time and fly from SYD to BNE to crew the flight. Then again, in this situation QF would have to do the same despite its far more frequent QFi flights.

Let's all hope that the ^&%*( who made the hoax threat can be apprehended. It could be your (or my) flight if the individual concerned (heaven forbid) is emboldened and does it again. One has to feel sorry for the passengers - needlessly delayed due to someone's idea of a 'joke.'

Schools have become 'flavour of the month' for such hoaxes, or were until that French gent was caught, so maybe now (shudder) it is public transport including the airlines' turn...

 

[milehighclub]

One assumes that the crew would rapidly go 'out of hours' and hence a fresh crew has to be called at their homes, pack, get to the airport within the allotted time and fly from SYD to BNE to crew the flight. Then again, in this situation QF would have to do the same despite its far more frequent QFi flights.

QF and VA both have BNE crew bases for cabin crew (not sure about the pilots for VA) so not too difficult to gather a crew. Usually crew are pretty willing to help in unforeseen disruptions volunteering to work extra or bring a trip forward (as is the case with the flight today) in addition to those on standby.

 

[Melburnian1]

milehighclub, isn't the problem though that the crew in BNE (either tech or cabin) may not be 'qualified' for some of the aircraft operating long haul sectors (such as the B773ER for VA or the B744/A388 for QF)? Not doubting that there are crew bases, but if the crew cannot operate on a particular aircraft, that means flying replacement staff up from SYD.

 

[milehighclub]

VA and QF both have international crew bases in BNE. That's not to say that crew won't come from SYD either depending on where they have crew but there are certainly resources available to them locally.

However the BNE base for QF is mainline and therefore they are not trained on the A380 so if a QF A380 diverted on the way up and they ran out of hours, the aircraft would probably have to wait minimum crew rest hours and depart with the same crew as soon as possible.

On the way back since QF and VA operate domestic, if a crew runs out of hours, they generally won't find a replacement cabin crew as passengers can simply be transferred to domestic flights and then you only have to find two pilots to ferry the aircraft. This is also quicker for the passengers who won't have to wait for a replacement crew.

 

[Melburnian1]

Thank you milehighclub for the clarification.

 

[Melburnian1]

VA239 (B738 VH-VUC) from MEL to ADL took off at 1902 on Thursday 18 February despite a departure time of 1740. Arrival should be about 66 minutes late at 1936.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Friday 19 February, VA1179 from ABX to SYD took off at 1735 compared with its departure time of 1640, so it is arriving at about 1848, 53 minutes late. ATR 72-600 VH-FVY is the aircraft.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Saturday 20 February VA185 (0945 hours MEL to NAN) has been cancelled.

 

[straitman]

The Saturday 20 February VA185 (0945 hours MEL to NAN) has been cancelled.

All VA flights to/from Nadi have been cancelled for the next 2 days (possibly longer) due to cyclone Winston.

 

[Melburnian1]

Thank you straitman. I did read a little mention of that but forgot about it this morning. Apologies!

VA1408, the early morning 0510 hours CNS to SYD did not take off until 0947 and is about to arrive at 1320, four hours and five minutes behind time. B738 Vh-YFC is the aircraft.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Sunday 21 February 1030 hours MEL to MQL, VA1615 did not take off until 1140. VA331 is expected to be delayed from 1400 until about 1440 in its departure from MEL for BNE.