Virgin Australia going back to "its roots" ?

[HS-TQE]

Which doesn’t sound like such bad advice now actually . VA would probably be in a far stronger position.

And also NZ left under their own steam, they weren’t ‘told to take a hike’. Their parting gifts were introducing even more complication into the VA share registry and an alliance with QF

In the end however, it all came down to the reports that Luxon let his ego get in the way by demanding that VA give up all international in a dysfunctional VA boardroom where all shareholders had their own agendas at the time. Its no wonder the shareholders went with "the other guy with the ego" as the "lesser of the two evils".

Was it a good idea at the time? Who knows. As said many times, there are still too many cooks in the kitchen.

If Luzon wanted to axe VA int'l, the man couldve put the money where his mouth is and launched a takeover himself on NZ's behalf. But the NZ board would've likely said no and it makes no sense from a financial perspective for them

 

[clipped_wings]

Dumb question: How did Qantas recover from their dire situation many years ago? I seem to remember the news stories were all about Qantas appealing to the Federal Government for some kind of financial assistance. I wasn't paying a great deal of attention, so I don't know the technical details of their comeback. But obviously - they managed to reassert themselves to the top of the food chain. Why wasn't VA watching and taking notes?

 

[oz_mark]

Dumb question: How did Qantas recover from their dire situation many years ago? I seem to remember the news stories were all about Qantas appealing to the Federal Government for some kind of financial assistance. I wasn't paying a great deal of attention, so I don't know the technical details of their comeback. But obviously - they managed to reassert themselves to the top of the food chain. Why wasn't VA watching and taking notes?

Culled large portions of the international network, cut back catering, put projects on hold, haven't ordered any new planes, didn't take some deliveries, etc. etc.

 

[pauly7]

Culled large portions of the international network, cut back catering, put projects on hold, haven't ordered any new planes, didn't take some deliveries, etc. etc.

I think you forgot the massive ‘negotiation’ on staff wages with the unions...

 

[oz_mark]

I think you forgot the massive ‘negotiation’ on staff wages with the unions...

That too
I'm sure there were a whole bunch of other things as well.
I have a feeling the change in Points expiry from 36 months to 18 months may have happened in that time as well...

 

[carambola]

The lack of alliance membership is the main reason I stopped maintaining gold on VA and moved to QF. For my international travel patterns, VA and its partners just didn't offer the choice, flexibility and long-term reliability (i.e. risk of a partnership going kaboom as with AirNZ) I wanted.

That's unfortunate because for business domestic travel, I prefer VA. They enforce priority boarding, have (imo) more helpful staff, and always made it very pain-free to switch to an earlier flight when my plans changed. Their Y food was sub-par, but their lounges were fine and J food was better than QF. Family points pooling also made Velocity quite attractive. Ah, well.

 

[HS-TQE]

The lack of alliance membership is the main reason I stopped maintaining gold on VA and moved to QF. For my international travel patterns, VA and its partners just didn't offer the choice, flexibility and long-term reliability (i.e. risk of a partnership going kaboom as with AirNZ) I wanted.

That's unfortunate because for business domestic travel, I prefer VA. They enforce priority boarding, have (imo) more helpful staff, and always made it very pain-free to switch to an earlier flight when my plans changed. Their Y food was sub-par, but their lounges were fine and J food was better than QF. Family points pooling also made Velocity quite attractive. Ah, well.

And if Scurrah did get the go ahead from shareholders to "revert" entirely to its LCC roots (which includes closing TigerAir), most of those partnerships are likely to disappear. Partnerships likely to be replaced with the likes of Cebu Pacific and Scoot, for example. Also, the major alliances generally doesn't admit LCCs on their own, so if VA went down that direction they would only have the option to (re)join the Value Alliance.

Saying that, can't see VA reverting back entirely to a LCC as that's going just as costly as the LCC > Hybrid/Full service direction. For example, expenses include rebranding, removing the business class seats from the 737s, penalties for terminating the A330s early, and having to sell the 77Ws. On top of that the few 77Ws, IIRC were delivered in a different belly config from the standard 77Ws (e.g Ansett's first batch of 762s). Which is difficult enough for any interested buyers in any of VA's small 77W fleet.

I tend to agree with others that VA under Scurrah is likely to do some repositioning with the approval of the dysfunctional VA board, e.g folding Tiger and introducing a "Basic Economy" or "Tiger Budget" fares, but not likely to the point where it reverts back to an LCC entirely.

 

[AIRwin]

Some of the points from this old thread have turned out to be accurate predictions...

 

[AIRwin]

Ready for take-off: Virgin Australia Group soars out of administration, unveils future direction

Speaking at Brisbane Airport where she spent her first official day as CEO, Ms Hrdlicka said Virgin Australia will continue to be Australia's most loved airline for customers who want the most important premium touches without the full premium price.

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

 

[Bagpuss]

Ready for take-off: Virgin Australia Group soars out of administration, unveils future direction

Speaking at Brisbane Airport where she spent her first official day as CEO, Ms Hrdlicka said Virgin Australia will continue to be Australia's most loved airline for customers who want the most important premium touches without the full premium price.

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

Said it multiple times that the future direction was all locked in during administration. Of course there will be tweaks.
Those who though otherwise, what an amazing CEO to make all these desisons within minutes of being CEO.