OT: Interesting Developments at DJ
Aug 25, 2010 | 11:31 pm
#1
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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!
Full story at The Australian
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 airlines 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.
.....
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 airlines 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.
.....
Aug 25, 2010 | 11:55 pm
#2
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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
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
Aug 26, 2010 | 12:29 am
#3
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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.
Perhaps they should have flown ex SYD not VIA BNE.
Aug 26, 2010 | 9:28 am
#4
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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...
Aug 26, 2010 | 10:35 am
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Aug 26, 2010 | 11:39 am
#6
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Judging by what VA is taking bookings for, it looks like the last flights are something like this: BNE-HKT-BNE on 20 February, MEL-HKT-MEL on 21 February, and then MEL-JNB-MEL on 22 February.
Aug 26, 2010 | 4:17 pm
#7
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QF has terminated the codesharing with EY (according to David Epstein in today's AFR).
Aug 26, 2010 | 5:06 pm
#8
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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.
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.
Aug 26, 2010 | 6:31 pm
#9
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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).
Aug 27, 2010 | 12:51 am
#11
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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.
I'd say pricing is also a large factor in the decision.
Aug 27, 2010 | 3:49 am
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Aug 27, 2010 | 6:55 am
#13
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EY email is here http://resources.etihadairways.com/e...web_08_10.html
Aug 27, 2010 | 2:18 pm
#14
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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).
Aug 27, 2010 | 2:19 pm
#15
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