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OT: Interesting Developments at DJ
Well QF related how will this impact the relationship with Etihad?
Also A330-200 for DJ for trans-continental flights? Now that is a surprise! VIRGIN Blue Group will pull V Australia out of South Africa and Phuket and introduce new widebody Airbus A330s on its domestic services. The moves are part of a wide-ranging network review that will also see Virgin Blue jump into bed with Middle eastern carrier Etihad, and free it to concentrate on Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles as “strategic hubs”. The airline said it had been losing money on South Africa and believed the prospects of achieving return were remote. It said the Phuket service was “sub-optimal” for its Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Chief executive John Borghetti described the decision to add A330-200 planes to its domestic services as a game changer that would allow it to grow its fleet and network capabilities. “The first A330-200s will operator services between Perth and the east coast of Australia, enabling Virgin Blue to grow available capacity, especially at peak times, extending the airline’s appeal to business travellers,” he said. Mr Borghetti said the deal with the strategic partnership with Etihad would give V Australia a gateway to more comprehensive international long-haul network with the connection to the Middle East, UK, Europe, Africa and Asia. ..... |
Interesting on so many levels, but clearly an attack on QF on QF's 2 most profitable routes. Etihad is in the process of reconfiguring their planes to provide a better F/J service (on par or better than QF, even by A380 standards). So the DJ tie-in is interesting (I think Etihad thinks it can get the F/J traffic while DJ will provide feed).
LAX is astonishing as SFO is the Virgin America base (though I have noticed a lot of growth at LAX in the past year). So it looks like Virgin is moving more to LAX from SFO and SEA, fwiw. Abandoning JNB is a smart move, there simply isn't the money from that market. Maybe QF will pull some 747s back onto SYD/MEL-PER to go against DJ :) |
Indeed. I'm booked on VA to return HKT-SYD on 30 Jan 2011 and noone can tell me if the flight will be operating. Amazing that Jet* can monopolise this route given that the VA product is far superior in Business.
Perhaps they should have flown ex SYD not VIA BNE. |
Originally Posted by number_6
(Post 14548931)
LAX is astonishing as SFO is the Virgin America base (though I have noticed a lot of growth at LAX in the past year). The whole thing is interesting as first I was wondering why QF decided to code-share with EY (that is definitely stealing traffic to Europe from QF). And not I wonder why EY decided to trade QF for DJ... |
Originally Posted by m0hamed
(Post 14549008)
Indeed. I'm booked on VA to return HKT-SYD on 30 Jan 2011 and noone can tell me if the flight will be operating..
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Originally Posted by AN_Boy
(Post 14551267)
Given they have said they will be pulling out in FEB I presume your flights will operate as normal.
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Originally Posted by TPJ
(Post 14550855)
The whole thing is interesting as first I was wondering why QF decided to code-share with EY (that is definitely stealing traffic to Europe from QF). And not I wonder why EY decided to trade QF for DJ...
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Got an email yesterday. Last HKT-BNE is 20 February 2010. You can view the email at http://www.virginblue.com.au/vmail_d...naffected.html
Let's say there were some stressful hours yesterday as the entire trip had been sorted, right down to the minute details and this was a potential major spanner in the works. |
Originally Posted by TPJ
(Post 14550855)
IMHO Virgin AU never flew to SFO, so no changes there......
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Why would DJ want to get another aircraft type when that would just increase their costs. Why get 330s instead of more 777s?
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330's are available now, whereas 777 is in high demand worldwide. Doubt the 777 would be economical on domestic runs (plenty of others on this forum would know though). Would have thought 333 would be better than 332 given the route lengths, but perhaps that is an availability thing as well.
I'd say pricing is also a large factor in the decision. |
Originally Posted by Blackcloud
(Post 14548882)
Well QF related how will this impact the relationship with Etihad?
Originally Posted by willyroo
(Post 14553099)
QF has terminated the codesharing with EY (according to David Epstein in today's AFR).
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EY email is here http://resources.etihadairways.com/e...web_08_10.html
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Originally Posted by number_6
(Post 14553585)
Virgin America chose to make it's main hub in SFO and no hub in LAX; after less than 2 years in operation, it has built up a mini-hub at LAX and now V.Australia is stating that LAX is 1 of 2 strategic hubs -- and SFO is not. Part of that famous Virgin flexibility. Never mind that SFO has terminal and airport that is 10x better than LAX T3 (the most rundown and crowded of the LAX terminals, as it was expected to be torn down by 2010).
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Originally Posted by Himeno
(Post 14554736)
Why would DJ want to get another aircraft type when that would just increase their costs. Why get 330s instead of more 777s?
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