Virgin Australia to lease more 737s

[HS-TQE]

I recall Virgin operated intra QLD back with the E170, a whole bunch of those Bonza like routes, they didn’t last long though. Perhaps a turboprop would be better but I recall the prop has high costs also.

I’ve got a VB boarding pass in the travel collection box in the shed, Cairns-Townsville E170. Would have been pre 2010.

They had a crew base in TSV iirc before it was closed as the E170s were sold to DL's regional affiliates in the USA.

 

[MarkD]

Let’s not mention the E190s for VARA, I would expect they will leech into mainline

God i hope so. Would nearly be incentive to book with them

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

I’ve got a VB boarding pass in the travel collection box in the shed, Cairns-Townsville E170. Would have been pre 2010.

I had a TSV-CNS booked for early 2014 on an ATR however the route got canned and they tried to re-route me TSV-BNE-CNS.

QF runs 5-6 services a day, which also link into their milk run (CNS-TSV-MKY-ROK) as well as to Horn Island and ISA.

Whilst it might be nice in theory, I doubt VA could make a dent up there without committing harikiri.

 

[Bjet]

Interesting that I flew on an ex-KLM 737-700. So surprised to see that seats aren’t belonged to Virgin Australia and also no inflight entertainment wifi.

 

[Saab34]

From another site. No MAX aircraft on the line it seems at the moment according to some Seattle blogs. I’d say probably early next year until we see the arrivals flow again.

I wonder if the 8I and 8V rego block will indicate anything different, ie domestic only.

VH-8II (MSN 65121, LN 9216), 737-8
VH-8IJ (MSN 65126, LN 9226), 737-8
VH-8IK (MSN 65116, LN 9240), 737-8
VH-8VA (MSN 67034, LN 9250), 737-8
VH-8VB (MSN 67035, LN 9284), 737-8
VH-8VC (MSN 67036, LN 9295), 737-8

 

[AIRwin]

VH-REX would assumably be undergoing reconfiguration not long after delivery into the Y-heavy new slimline seats config.

The same assumably goes for VH-RQP when that gets delivered (formerly known as "Godfrey's Jet" (BZG) in its first run with VB/VA 1.0).

Sounds like both will initially be used as spare aircraft during the peak period:

Virgin Australia prepares for record breaking summer

Wednesday, 11 December 2024: Passenger records are set to soar this summer with Virgin Australia scheduled to operate up to 3,000 flights per week across its domestic and short-hau

newsroom.virginaustralia.com

 

[Saab34]

Certainly a good thing. Spare aircraft is great, but hopefully they have spare crew available.

 

[Bagpuss]

Certainly a good thing. Spare aircraft is great, but hopefully they have spare crew available.

In theory airlines always have standby crew so it's 'common practice.
Having spare aircraft (and crew) is one thing. Having them in the required airport is another.

 

[jase05]

Be nice if ADL got these “spare” aircraft instead of the A320 hell ships to PER or the Fokkers to BNE

 

[Saab34]

With Cabin Crew and Pilots Negotiations all finalised, one would hope this would be a smoother running Christmas in Virgin land.