What is Virgin Australia's strategy (post-administration)?

[henrus]

Having a look at the seat map it seems the J cabin is being sold as Economy X. A nice upgrade for those purchasing Economy X but I guess a downgrade for those who may have purchased a J fare.

 

[mrmerc500]

This is rather exciting and I hope it does well. I can see a daily flight from late march which I'm not sure is the norm or just peak times? The flight has a rather good 5:40pm departure from the Gold Coast arriving into Bali at 10:15pm. The way back is an annoying 11:15pm to 7am+1 flight. Lite fares round trip start at ~$400.

Yes indeed a good flight departure ex OOL, I could see this as an excellent opportunity to tap on a extended VA flight to Auckland to capture the NZ - Bali tourists who have lacked direct links other than Emirates short lived flights & Air NZ seasonal.

With an attractive 1pm departure ex AKL, 1 hour OOL layover & only 9 - 10 hour flight time, this could be a successful way to also return to AKL with a big impact as Kiwi’s love the Gold Coast.

Lack of Bali flights ex NZ being talked about already…

First Australians land in Bali, NZ air links still a year away

New Zealanders will have to wait a little longer for flights to the Isle of the Gods.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Good way to get from OOL to SIN via DPS too, bypassing Au cap cities.
Of course need to use SQ 737 DPS - SIN.

 

[AIRwin]

Good way to get from OOL to SIN via DPS too, bypassing Au cap cities.
Of course need to use SQ 737 DPS - SIN.

Or B78X?

 

[HS-TQE]

Yes indeed a good flight departure ex OOL, I could see this as an excellent opportunity to tap on a extended VA flight to Auckland to capture the NZ - Bali tourists who have lacked direct links other than Emirates short lived flights & Air NZ seasonal.

With an attractive 1pm departure ex AKL, 1 hour OOL layover & only 9 - 10 hour flight time, this could be a successful way to also return to AKL with a big impact as Kiwi’s love the Gold Coast.

Lack of Bali flights ex NZ being talked about already…

First Australians land in Bali, NZ air links still a year away

New Zealanders will have to wait a little longer for flights to the Isle of the Gods.

www.nzherald.co.nz

It could possibly double as a UA SFO feeder. OOL-AKL-OOL-DPS-OOL type rotation

Leaves OOL early in the morning for AKL to connect to UA's AKL-SFO service, which leaves AKL just after midday (and to pick up people heading to Queensland from the SFO-AKL flight on the days that the Qld government funded SFO-BNE service doesn't operate).

 

[mrmerc500]

It could possibly double as a UA SFO feeder. OOL-AKL-OOL-DPS-OOL type rotation

Leaves OOL early in the morning for AKL to connect to UA's AKL-SFO service, which leaves AKL just after midday (and to pick up people heading to Queensland from the SFO-AKL flight on the days that the Qld government funded SFO-BNE service doesn't operate).

Certainly seems like a feasible plan that could work well for VA across multiple tourism markets including International travellers visiting the GC & Byron Bay regions.

Once the VA flight to DPS starts next April, could be great timing for VA to also expand across the ditch.

 

[QLDAviator]

I am fairly certain VA won't be returning to NZ (other than ZQN)

 

[QLDAviator]

Unfortunately. They could get away with BNE - WLG / DUD as these are heavily underserved markets but AKL and CHC are in my opinion too heavily served.

 

[dajop]

Good way to get from OOL to SIN via DPS too, bypassing Au cap cities.
Of course need to use SQ 737 DPS - SIN.

Scoot non-stop is probably a better option to travel from OOL to SIN bypassing capital cities.

Otherwise if wanting to use VA points, it would be much much quicker and more convenient to make the trek by road or train to BNE and fly from there.

 

[HS-TQE]

East Coast Capitals - AKL is too heavily served and I'd agree with that.
VA did try summer seasonal NTL-AKL with subsidies from the Newcastle Council and the NSW government, and that only lasted one season (with reported poor loads) before COVID shutdowns permanently ended the seasonal trial.

VA may be able to get away with OOL-AKL to compete against NZ for reasons mentioned above (DPS & UA connections at AKL), but yield questions remain on that route.

If I recall DUD had some 'subsidies' from their respective local governments considering BNE-DUD was their only route.

 

[QLDAviator]

They also tried BNE - HLZ but that did not work. I would love to see VA go back to more NZ destinations, I do think there is a chance for WLG or DUD to work but at the moment i dont think its what Virgin is Focussing on

Post automatically merged: Aug 22, 2022

Also does anyone think JQ will ever fly BNE to AKL / WLG / CHC / ZQN? Its slightly annoying that you have to go to the Gold Coast in order to fly cheaply to NZ... also I really want them to fly more intl routes from BNE

 

[HS-TQE]

Unlikely that JQ will enter BNE-AKL/CHC/etc for the foreseeable future. JQ did initially try CHC/WLG/AKL (briefly replaced the QF services and operated alongside QF on the AKL route) before moving those to OOL.

QF briefly tried OOL-AKL with mainline 737s during the short lived NZ bubble period and it didn't last beyond that.

 

[jakeseven7]

I am fairly certain VA won't be returning to NZ (other than ZQN)

Opinion or source out of interest.

 

[QLDAviator]

Opinion or source out of interest.

Yeah sorry its opinion. Im just basing it off how i think that QF and NZ will be the preferred choice? I also think the at the moment, Virgin is focussing on domestic and routes which are less served (such as OOL - DPS, BNE - VLI, BNE - HIR, BNE - APW). But i would love to see VA going back, they were always my preferred choice of travel to NZ. Maybe if they choose a pricing model where they focus on cheaper airfares, then it could be pretty lucrative. Flights to NZ are quite expensive currently

 

[HS-TQE]

Yeah sorry its opinion. Im just basing it off how i think that QF and NZ will be the preferred choice? I also think the at the moment, Virgin is focussing on domestic and routes which are less served (such as OOL - DPS, BNE - VLI, BNE - HIR, BNE - APW). But i would love to see VA going back, they were always my preferred choice of travel to NZ. Maybe if they choose a pricing model where they focus on cheaper airfares, then it could be pretty lucrative. Flights to NZ are quite expensive currently

VA did re-enter East Coast - Nadi (Fiji) (competitors: JQ and FJ, along with QF ex-SYD) and East Coast Capitals - Bali (where their competitors are QF, JQ and Malindo).

GA largely pulled out of the wider Australia-Bali market concentrate on SYD only under the DPS/CGK triangle.

 

[QLDAviator]

VA did re-enter East Coast - Nadi (Fiji) (competitors: JQ and FJ, along with QF ex-SYD) and East Coast Capitals - Bali (where their competitors are QF, JQ and Malindo).

GA largely pulled out to concentrate on SYD only under the DPS/CGK triangle.

I think it could be due to how well it did pre-pandemic? I always thought NZ was popular but apparently not as much as I thought

 

[HS-TQE]

I think it could be due to how well it did pre-pandemic? I always thought NZ was popular but apparently not as much as I thought

Reportedly the loads in some markets e.g BNE-AKL and East Coast-ZQN were good, but the yields for VA (reportedly low yield in most if not all markets) were very questionable since the NZ breakup back in 2018.

If most passengers were on low yield/bargain fares on a heavily loaded aircraft for the majority of flights, that still means the flight bleeds money instead of earning revenue and the route has a yield problem for the carrier.

 

[QLDAviator]

Reportedly the loads in some markets e.g BNE-AKL and East Coast-ZQN were good, but the yields for VA (reportedly low yield in most if not all markets) were very questionable since the NZ breakup back in 2018.

Of course, the fallout with NZ. I think that may be a big factor into why they dont want to go back? theyll be doing it on their own now, without another airline for help? apologies if its not right or anything, just speculating

 

[HS-TQE]

Of course, the fallout with NZ. I think that may be a big factor into why they dont want to go back? theyll be doing it on their own now, without another airline for help? apologies if its not right or anything, just speculating

There are also other routes that they may consider to be of higher returns from a yield perspective, such as establishing new or returning to underserved routes from hubs (both domestic and short 737 international as you mentioned).

As for domestic underserved opportunities, PER-LST from memory was another one, although VA are using the VARA A320 aircraft (and probably a candidate for the incoming all-Y 737-700 aircraft when they get delivered in 2023).

 

[jakeseven7]

Yeah sorry its opinion. Im just basing it off how i think that QF and NZ will be the preferred choice? I also think the at the moment, Virgin is focussing on domestic and routes which are less served (such as OOL - DPS, BNE - VLI, BNE - HIR, BNE - APW). But i would love to see VA going back, they were always my preferred choice of travel to NZ. Maybe if they choose a pricing model where they focus on cheaper airfares, then it could be pretty lucrative. Flights to NZ are quite expensive currently

I don’t disagree, QF and NZ will pick up all the premium / business passengers trans tasman.

That leaves VA2 and JQ to pick up the low yielding budget / ‘other bucket’.

Hardly an appetising business case right.