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

HS-TQE said:
International Partnerships would ultimately be up to Bain. The JVs under DL, EY, SQ have expired or will be expiring shortly. All of the 'Big 3' of VA's international partners had since announced a 'scaled-back' interline/minimal codeshare partnership since VA went into administration.

Considering JH was on record of singling out DL and SQ, it can almost be certain those two would be on the top of Bain's list when it comes to negotiations.

But considering Bain's record thus far, it could go either way. The decade long 'alliance membership', taking into considerations that at least two 'enemies' that VA mk 1 made at a certain large alliance over the years, would be at the very bottom considering the ongoing membership costs of joining one.

Would not be surprised if for example KE and UA came to the party to replace or supplement existing Velocity/VA partners.
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Presumably UA only in the event that DL ceases?
 
Anyone know when VA will be increasing its CBR-MEL and CBR-SYD frequencies, now that the ACCC has approved their tie up with Alliance? They have ATRs loaded in the schedule from August onwards (presumably as placeholder for Alliance flights), but I would have thought there was money to be made by running more than a skeleton schedule - CBR-MEL is only 2-3 times a day currently. If they were running a full schedule they would only need to undercut QF by a couple of dollars for public servants to be forced to fly them under APS travel policy.
 
Would the APS staff/people based in CBR (*probably*) choose to fly QFF, seeing that CBR/MEL/SYD have all got J lounges, which sort of separates the riff raff QP members, into the QP, and the real pointy end fliers into the J lounges?
 
AustraliaPoochie said:
Would the APS staff/people based in CBR (*probably*) choose to fly QFF, seeing that CBR/MEL/SYD have all got J lounges, which sort of separates the riff raff QP members, into the QP, and the real pointy end fliers into the J lounges?
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The vast majority of APS agency travel is in Economy.
 
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I can't recall the policy precisely, but there is no choice but to accept the lowest economy fare within a couple of hours of your intended departure time (4 hours?). With Virgin only flying 2 twice per day (and the departure from MEL sometimes scheduled as late at 8pm) QF can charge what they like - even 4 flights a day would be enough to cover core business hours and ensure Virgin came on searches.

Also the QF lounge distinction was irrelevant until last week when the CBR (and MEL) QP reopened (unless you were CL)
 
Formal Hall said:
Anyone know when VA will be increasing its CBR-MEL and CBR-SYD frequencies, now that the ACCC has approved their tie up with Alliance? They have ATRs loaded in the schedule from August onwards (presumably as placeholder for Alliance flights), but I would have thought there was money to be made by running more than a skeleton schedule - CBR-MEL is only 2-3 times a day currently. If they were running a full schedule they would only need to undercut QF by a couple of dollars for public servants to be forced to fly them under APS travel policy.
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The problem is that for some time Virgin haven't flown CBR-SYD at all and has only just reopened the CBR Lounge, although I've yet to try it. As a business in Canberra we use cheapest fares that line up with our travel needs, which is normally first flight out, last flight back, same day or next. Virgin hasn't been offering those flights, and it's still a big 'maybe' when they will start again. I've used Virgin a couple of times when they had the right flight times and were cheaper than QF for runs to Brisbane and Adelaide, but that hasn't been very often. Qantas are charging their usual amount for airfares, which can be astronomical due to the ever present "Canberra Tax".

The problem at the moment, if I go into Virgin's booking system and select same day return CBR-SYD for 15 April, I get the message below.
virgin.jpg​
And the same for any other dates, where it's saying flights ae 'Available'. While Virgin treats the Canberra market like that, then they will lose ground, especially as Rex will start flying that route from 19 April. I seriously doubt that Virgin has a strategy for this market. At the moment hotels and restaurants are super-busy on the weekends due to domestic tourists, mainly from Sydney, coming down to Canberra for weekends and a bit longer. That's Rex's market for the taking, as well as business travel where it's price sensitive.

Formal Hall said:
I can't recall the policy precisely, but there is no choice but to accept the lowest economy fare within a couple of hours of your intended departure time (4 hours?). With Virgin only flying 2 twice per day (and the departure from MEL sometimes scheduled as late at 8pm) QF can charge what they like - even 4 flights a day would be enough to cover core business hours and ensure Virgin came on searches.
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The travel requirement can be 'gamed' sometimes, with diary entries being used to support why people should be on certain flights i.e. QF, for status credits and lounge access. However, with Zoom et al, there have been a lot less people travelling than usual.

Formal Hall said:
Also the QF lounge distinction was irrelevant until last week when the CBR (and MEL) QP reopened (unless you were CL)
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In Canberra, the QF Bus Lounge has been open the whole time and they've been using that for Gold and QP members, as well as WP and Bus flyers. A pity actually, the QP has a better view. But the VA Lounge only just reopened, after I had taken all of those other flights of course, so it was downstairs in the coffee shop before flights.
 
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BNEFlyer said:
JH also said today that VA will be returning to LAX and Japan (HND) will be happening too.
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Is there a quote for this somewhere?

Nice to see that MEL-PER route will see some added frequencies.

I am liking what I am hearing from VA lately. It makes the weighing up of options between QF and VA for loyalty more difficult by the day, so good on them.
 
Formal Hall said:
Domestically? Possibly only for Senior Executive Services, and the SES Band 3s and agency heads are likely CLs on opups rather than paid J.
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Exactly right.

I was a public servant in the APS for quite a while and domestic business was definitely off limit even for SES staff. You had to be the Agency Head or on our Board to get J

If you note I said the “vast majority” - like anything there are exceptions.
 
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jakeseven7 said:
In sardine cans though. I really wish they’d bring back some different airframes for domestic.
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Meh. It is totally fine on economy X, I think. Maybe I'm just used to it...but I think I'd actually rather the 737s and more frequency than the A330s. For a WP, you end up in a better seat. Now, business is a bit of a different story...
 
Must...Fly! said:
Meh. It is totally fine on economy X, I think. Maybe I'm just used to it...but I think I'd actually rather the 737s and more frequency than the A330s. For a WP, you end up in a better seat. Now, business is a bit of a different story...
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Each to their own I suppose, I hate pretty much everything about flying trans con especially in any airlines 737.
 

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