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

[BNEFlyer]

And HKG?

Is that considered north Asia? QF haven't returned to HKG yet anyway.

 

[justinbrett]

Not disagreeing with you about QF's routes these days, but it's not quite as you mention.
- They fly to 5 NA cities not 6 (HNL/YVR/SFO/LAX/DFW (now from MEL and SYD)).
- There is only two cities served in north Asia (HND and ICN), which is less than 3 years ago when they flew to HND/NRT/KIX/CTS/PVG.
- But they now fly to DEL again as well as BLR.
- JNB is now from SYD and PER.
- FCO should go year-round and they do need another EU destination, which might happen when more 787's come online (perhaps to CDG?)

I think the current network of QF isn't something we could have predicted 3 years ago.

You forgot JFK

 

[BNEFlyer]

You forgot JFK

They haven't resumed JFK yet.

 

[dajop]

I Just unclear to me what VA's international long-haul strategy will be, and that's really the only area where they can experience significant growth. Adding a few MAXes to the fleet is all nice and well, but it will only deliver maybe 10-15% more paying customers as a once-off benefit to that investment, and only on a few flights.

Rationally VA's international long-haul strategy probably should be the same as SouthWest. Once they expand into a widebody longhaul fleet, then game over.

 

[justinbrett]

They haven't resumed JFK yet.

They've retained the slots and are selling tickets. It's not a new destination for them. I'm not talking about what routes they are flying this very day. They're not flying to FCO today either.

 

[Mattg]

They haven't resumed JFK yet.

Nor SFO (which was on the list).

 

[justinbrett]

Nor SFO (which was on the list).

We could discuss QF's fleet shortages and their covid recovery, but that's probably not relevant in a VA thread.

This was a claim that QF "barely flies longhaul anymore". They have scheduled and are selling tickets to 6 North American cities (not to mention the other continents) within the next six months. Clearly that claim is false.

 

[SCM]

If you think they are ridiculously overpriced though that is entirely then that is your perception relative to your personal financial circumstances, you could look at other airlines, like Scoot for example which flies to other EU mainland destinations?

I guess so, to me flying SQ or QR business is a much better value proposition, and far more economical. I think QF charges maybe double what SQ charges for business class to Europe (it doesn't matter to me which airport, since Europe is very small geographically), and it just boggles my mind, I can't bring myself to pay for QF, especially given how appalling their business class is.

I was excited for Qantas' sunrise flights, because it will expand their reach and destinations, but the sad fact is they will be very expensive. I think they are just for a different sort of people who don't care about how much money they spend. I don't mind spending money - but it must bring a lot of value, which Qantas does not.

I also actually prefer stopovers - and long ones, I think it's nice to feast on lounge food (of a quality airline) and stretch the legs. Also allows me to work that day remotely and save one day of annual leave, while receiving free food and alcohol all day. Then you also pay a lower price - how is that not a win win win? But of course I realise not everyone can do that or is even working (as opposed to being retired).

 

[AIRwin]

Official press release from VA:

https://newsroom.virginaustralia.co...li-flights-adds-samoa-and-vanuatu-destination

Looks like resumption of VLI has been postponed from 10 March to 31 March...

 

[henrus]

Looks like resumption of VLI has been postponed from 10 March to 31 March...

Yep, offical policy is here. In short they claim to have delayed it due to the state of emergency in the country.

https://www.virginaustralia.com/content/dam/vaa/docs/sales/2023-03-08%20Commerical%20Policy%20Vanuatu%20Delay%20to%20fligth%20resumption%20v1.pdf

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

If they had a tie in with Plaza Premium lounges, that would be nice, wink wink.
If I had someones ear at VAi, wink wink, IRL of course I don't, but if VAi does not want to operate/pay to operate its own lounges, a tie in would be good to get some kudos with VAi flyers/fliers.
Looks like newly set up lounge, (the Plaza Premium Adelaide Airport) is now open, and its past immi and security.
VAd and VAi could do so much more, to be desired.

 

[jase05]

If they had a tie in with Plaza Premium lounges, that would be nice, wink wink.
If I had someones ear at VAi, wink wink, IRL of course I don't, but if VAi does not want to operate/pay to operate its own lounges, a tie in would be good to get some kudos with VAi flyers/fliers.
Looks like newly set up lounge, (the Plaza Premium Adelaide Airport) is now open, and its past immi and security.
VAd and VAi could do so much more, to be desired.

Why would VA bother with the PP at ADL when their own lounge is just a few metres from the International entrance and takes under 10 minutes to get through security. I haven’t heard otherwise but I don’t even believe QR have entered into any agreement with PP and last I heard they were still using the VA lounge in ADL

 

[simmomelb]

Why would VA bother with the PP at ADL when their own lounge is just a few metres from the International entrance and takes under 10 minutes to get through security. I haven’t heard otherwise but I don’t even believe QR have entered into any agreement with PP and last I heard they were still using the VA lounge in ADL

Yeah, I doubt they'd ever bother in Adelaide, it's better for them to use their own domestic lounge for international as it's good experience for both customers and better financially for the airline, much the same as the OOL.
MEL, SYD, BNE are a totally different story - they must return international lounges at some point (Surely?!).

 

[jase05]

they must return international lounges at some point (Surely?!).

I can’t see it anytime soon.
We have to lower our expectations for now unfortunately

 

[simmomelb]

I can’t see it anytime soon.
We have to lower our expectations for now unfortunately

Yep, I have almost run out of any hope they'll return int lounges.

I'm currently OS and after flying with VA, I questioned why I bothered for short haul international, because it's a better experience with JQ for these types of flights IMO (better aircraft and prices/options for food and drinks).

No lounge for either JQ or VA.

My flight to DPS didn't have Wi-Fi either, but I'm sure that'll change by the end of this year (perhaps a benefit over JQ for some).

The only real benefit would be for the points, but I'm paying a lot more for those points, so all up I think I'll switch to JQ for anything int short haul that's not domestic.

 

[MarkD]

Yep, I have almost run out of any hope.they'll return int lounges.

I'm currently OS and after flying with VA, I questioned why I bothered for short haul international, because it's a better experience with JQ for these types of flights IMO (better aircraft and prices/options for food and drinks).

No lounge for either JQ or VA.

My flight to DPS didn't have Wi-Fi either, but I'm sure that change by the end of this year (perhaps a benefit over JQ for some).

The only real benefit would be the points, but I'm paying a lot more for those points, so all up I think I'll switch to JQ for anything int short haul that's not domestic.

Depends how much you value reliability and follow up when things go wrong. VA seem to react and respond to disrupts far better than JQ. Further, JQ seem to be switching a lot of the DPS flights to the new A321 NEO which is superior to a VA737 in my opinion (Though not a patch on 787). This may also increase reliability.

 

[Saab34]

Must be a reason why they don’t use lounge networks for international. I don’t think they are telling us the full story, they use lounges for J customers on domestic, why not international? A whole wave of carriers use third party lounges on a pay per visit contract. Even if it’s just for J only pax, the costs are not crazy.

I have a feeling, like many other suppliers to Virgin 1.0, some have refused to deal with 2.0 until they get old invoices paid, which will never happen.

 

[HS-TQE]

To be fair though Batik Air Malaysia (Formerly Malindo) doesn't offer lounges for their short haul J passengers out of DPS either. They operate the exact same aircraft as VA, only differences being an extra J row and 42inch pitch (along with offering the 'all-Y' lottery amongst their MAX-8 aircraft like VA does with the 73G fleet).

 

[Harrison_133]

Must be a reason why they don’t use lounge networks for international.

The numbers probably just don’t stack up to warrant their own international lounges anymore.

VA at most have 4 international departures on a single day now (that’s from Melbourne: DPS x2, NAN + ZQN). That’s 32 J passengers. Off peak, they can have just 1 international departure a day. Previously, the MEL-LAX flight alone would have carried more (37J). Then that was supplemented by HKG (20J) and more routes/frequencies on the 737 network.

I can understand why they’re not investing in their own international lounges given J capacity is so much lower and the number of WP/SG would fluctuate on each flight, but I do think it’s pretty poor they haven’t found a solution yet. At the very least, give us access to a third party lounge or even a partner airline lounge.

 

[HS-TQE]

VA 1.0 never actually operated their own international lounges In Australia pre-Covid. They had a contract with No.1 (The House in SYD/MEL and MyLounge in BNE). The only international lounge VA 1.0 operated outright was the pop-up lounge in WLG.