Virgin Australia to lease more 737s

[RAM]

OT, could it be that WFH (working from home) can really put on the weight.
I am already large fat lazy pooch (big of girth) from young ie fat, but... could it be that the kitchen temptation is too close at home, than at work?
They say 10,000 SA/Adelaide public servants are working from home, and shops/stores/city centre business are going bankrupt/not making enough due to lack of business.

Meanwhile both online & in-store purchases of snack foods, confectionary, chocolate & toilet rolls have surged in the suburbs....

Chocolate being one of the basic food groups.

 

[AIRwin]

That’s the one that flew to Seletar on Thursday

IWX is back from XSP this evening...

 

[dk4]

New Business Class seats looks like the MiQ Miq ... American also had a low hanging centre console, which made it impossible to store anything under the centre part of the seat in front, whereas in VA's picture the centre console seems to level out with the bottom of the seat base,...

Oh no it doesn't. IMO Virgin needs to buy the redesigned version where the centre console doesn't come down as far.

No room left underneath for storing a small bag under the centre, so you can keep your foot space clear.

Row 1 arm rests, viewed from row 2.

There is a lever to help eject the tray table now, rather than just a hook to gab and pull.
Also a push to eject additional coughtail tray table in the centre console.


Coat hooks might mean that the offer to hang jackets is going to disappear, like the purple divider has (which also doubled as the coat rack) ... but without the purple divider there is no rope (nor announcement) to dissuade interlopers from the forward toilet. AND, and enormous amount of leg room in row 3 Economy X.

 

[Harrison_133]

Flew on VH-IJU from LST to MEL today. J has the old recliners found on the rest of the fleet. Y has seats out of the Tiger 737’s, with the headrests reupholstered into all grey. Again, no divider on this one. The Y seats themselves are the same model as the new ones found on IJQ & IWQ, they just lack the Virgin customisation and branding and are very clearly from Tiger. They were relatively comfortable despite being slimline seats.

Take note, there is no Row 12 on the ex Silk birds. Also, some of them have one less window down the back. Row 30 was windowless on IJU, but it seemed like they had put in the missing window on IWQ when I flew it not long ago.

 

[AIRwin]

The Y seats themselves are the same model as the new ones found on IJQ & IWQ, they just lack the Virgin customisation and branding.

No EconomyX branding either?

 

[Harrison_133]

No EconomyX branding either?

No, all seats had grey headrests including Economy X. I was in Row 4 and could notice the extra legroom, the seats just aren’t branded.

 

[jakeseven7]

A common complaint on the trial economy seats has been that the arm rests are too thin…

 

[Harrison_133]

A common complaint on the trial economy seats has been that the arm rests are too thin…

I had 3 seats to myself so personally didn’t have any issues, but if I had seat mates it might have been a different story. What is the solution though? Most of the modern seat designs on the market for airlines these days have narrow armrests.

 

[jakeseven7]

What is the solution though?

Widen the armrests.

 

[Harrison_133]

Widen the armrests.

Would VA have many options to do that though if the manufacturers of the actual seats don’t offer it in their designs?

 

[jakeseven7]

Would VA have many options to do that though if the manufacturers of the actual seats don’t offer it in their designs?

Yes.

Will they pay to do it? Doubt it as they are up for sale if not this year, next.

 

[jase05]

Yes.

Will they pay to do it? Doubt it as they are up for sale if not this year, next.

Only probably going to sell 30-50% so still some interest for them to keep the fleet up to date. The Max’s start arriving next year too so will be interesting to see what those seats look like

 

[Harrison_133]

Yes.

Will they pay to do it? Doubt it as they are up for sale if not this year, next.

I’m not sure it helps to characterise it as VA skimping on a decision because of price. The Collins Meridian seats they’re trialling are designed with thin armrests. AC, UA, B6 & AA all use the Meridian seats too, with the same thin armrests. Isn’t that an issue for the manufacturer and not the case of airline management being stingy with money?

It’s going to be an issue with whatever seat design VA pick going forward. If they went with the Recaro range instead? Same thin armrests - just fly JQ to find out. If they went with Geven like the Lufthansa Group - same problem. VA would only have so many options from a small pool of seat manufacturers. All would have similar issues. QF will probably face similar with the A220/A321’s.

It’s funny the first thing some people jump to is criticising Bain for being careful with VA’s finances. They burned enough money during the Borghetti years, and somehow Bain being disciplined with spending is a bad thing?

 

[MooTime]

I’m not sure it helps to characterise it as VA skimping on a decision because of price. The Collins Meridian seats they’re trialling are designed with thin armrests. AC, UA, B6 & AA all use the Meridian seats too, with the same thin armrests. Isn’t that an issue for the manufacturer and not the case of airline management being stingy with money?

It’s going to be an issue with whatever seat design VA pick going forward. If they went with the Recaro range instead? Same thin armrests - just fly JQ to find out. If they went with Geven like the Lufthansa Group - same problem. VA would only have so many options from a small pool of seat manufacturers. All would have similar issues. QF will probably face similar with the A220/A321’s.

It’s funny the first thing some people jump to is criticising Bain for being careful with VA’s finances. They burned enough money during the Borghetti years, and somehow Bain being disciplined with spending is a bad thing?

Great post.
Spot on.

 

[jakeseven7]

Isn’t that an issue for the manufacturer and not the case of airline management being stingy with money?

Ok, then by that logic then they must have forced the airlines to buy their product…. Yea nah.

There are other options.

Also note these are just trial seats for VA2. Not final. So feedback may see them changed.

 

[Harrison_133]

Ok, then by that logic then they must have forced the airlines to buy their product…. Yea nah.

There are other options.

What else can the airlines buy then? Older generation seats with wider armrests would be out of production and unavailable to buy. Modern seat designs characteristically have thin armrests, so it’s not like any airline has much of a choice. Maybe they should just cram old seats into the MAX 10’s then? Problem solved, but hey, somehow it must be an issue unique to VA

 

[jakeseven7]

hey, somehow it must be an issue unique to VA

No one is saying that, but if for some reason you believe that I’m not sure it’s correct…. Many other airlines have used these ‘slim lines’ in Y.

 

[Harrison_133]

No one is saying that, but if for some reason you believe that I’m not sure it’s correct…. Many other airlines have used these ‘slim lines’ in Y.

I think you’ve missed my point completely…

 

[Saab34]

Have the new -700s arrived yet?

 

[HS-TQE]

Not yet.

As of last count, VA has 77 (+1 remaining ex-MI on the way) for a total of 78 aircraft.

48 are leased (IIRC about 10 of those leased aircraft are under the Per Hour lease deal), and the remaining 30 (Which originally bought outright) are still encumbered (mortgaged) from the previous ownership with Bain continuing to pay the mortgage on those 30 aircraft.