Vx To Miami???
 

i heard talk of virgin flying to miami. anyone know if that route will open???

My take
 

I would consider this question to be not if, but when. When VX does open MIA they should open with the following schedule:
MIA-SEA 1X
MIA-SAN 1X
MIA-IAD 3X
MIA-LAX 4X
MIA-SFO 3X
MIA-PDX 1X (if open PDX)

Stay out of JFK because of slot resrictions and B6 at FLL.
No LAS because market is too low yield
SEA because only 1X AS flight, not big competition
PDX because no competition, though AS would quickly come down on VX with a daily flight
SAN because no daily competition in the state, high O/D
IAD because only against AA/Ted, need shorth flights
LAX because only AA, 7X daily with some widebody's
SFO because of base at SFO and UA/AA, high O/D

This is just my say, MIA should be after my ideas in the "Virgin America to Expand?" thread, SEA-ANC/FAI/LAX/SFO/IAD/JFK/SAN would be great!

Where are all these airplanes going to come from??

Think SFO-MIA and LAX-MIA at first, with connections to other destinations, at best.

Speculation about MIA has been going for a while, due to rumors about hiring and sub-contracting agreements, but nothing has been announced by the carrier.

They've already hired some people for Miami. With delays in aircraft deliveries, the launch is being pushed back. At this point VX will likely not have the ability to launch MIA at the frequencies they feel are needed until June/July. Unfortunately, that's when domestic travel to/from MIA is slow, and VX does not want to enter during a slower time of year (new routes, after all, should always launch in season. Simple marketing), which means an October launch is more likely, and Boston might be pushed forward.

Miami will, most likely, see 3x JFK/2x SFO/1x LAX at launch. They are not going to ignore MIA-JFK just because JetBlue is up the road at FLL.

I think you meant MIA-SAN has no nonstop. I'm sure if VX will done extremely very well first inauguration new routes from MIA-SAN. It was almost more than O/D 300 dailies passengers. I'm sure AA will being pissed with VX after new routes from MIA-SAN. I don't see anything more logic answer for this time. I don't have anything more specific routes from MIA lately. I don't see VX is keeping ignorance for MIA-JFK. Because B6 has lot of leak competition from FLL-JFK/LGA/EWR. I won't keep my breath if B6 or VX come in at MIA anytime soon.

october would work great. i know its speculation but good to consider for now. thanks.

I'm no expert, but I think they should ignore (read: avoid) that for the very reason you mention.

My plan only needs 6 airplanes plus 1 extra, think SEA/PDX/SAN are redeye's with one redeye each on SFO/LAX. IAD will take one plane 0600-2400. 6 planes are not that many for a growing airline I hope!

Based on SEA which opened with SFO and LAX without IAD I conclude that VX is looking for mid-range route-pairs which include MIA-IAD and MIA-JFK but VX would not be stupid enough to do MIA-JFK!

Seeing as there are only 13 in the fleet right now, adding six more is quite a lot, for one new city. Again, you should expect service to/from SFO and maybe LAX. Over time, with a route network build out, that might change. But six new planes to service one city - it's just not going to happen.

I had no idea there are only 13 planes! I would think VX would have at least 20 by now! VX should go after O/D demand, not after hub and spoke SFO/LAX traffic. It is more effective to connect every city to each other as it is needed rather than blindly focusing on one or tow cities.

When will VX get more planes? They are expanding too slowly to build up critical mass in the market. Airbus currently builds about 30 A320 family members per month, why is VX not getting as many as they could? Why a slow, gradual growth when fast growth is needed to create market mass?

Don't forget you don't just need planes. You need IFE installed, you need to staff and train for each airport, every time you add a city, you could need more staff at existing connecting cities, you need more In Flight Team members, you need ground ops contracts, catering, you need more flight dispatchers, more guest care team members...

In short, a thoughtful growth plan focused on profitable routes with careful execution, is better than throwing a bunch of stuff into the market just to see what sticks.

...Frontier announced they were unloading 4 aircraft. I think they use Airbus?

They use A319s and A320s, as I recall. But VX should not be buying used aircraft. They would need to strip them and rebuild the entire interior and redo all of the wiring.

They do - but VX already has their own orders for new aircraft, built from the ground up to their specifications.

And here's my point - why is Frontier unloading aircraft? Did they expand too quickly? Why did jetBlue slow down their growth plan and defer delivery of airplanes?

Slow, thoughtful, carefully planned execution will be better for VX in the long run.

[QUOTE=SFO 1K;9148141
In short, a thoughtful growth plan focused on profitable routes with careful execution, is better than throwing a bunch of stuff into the market just to see what sticks.[/QUOTE]

(Sarcasm on) Yeah, the very profitable SFO-LAX/SAN/LAS routes, WN is no object! I guess F9's failure should not have served as a deterent for SFO-LAX! Yes, the very competitive TransCon sectors SFO/LAX-JFK/IAD, comepeting at UA hubs and PS service is a very good biz plan. (Sarcasm off)

VX will not be able to make money going against many incumbent airlines, especialy if one of them is WN. In reality, VX should focus on routes with competition from only one or two incumbent carriers and no LCC competition. Route like: SEA-SAN/SFO/IAD/MIA/LAX (three airlines but only AS is strong), SFO-BUR/MIA/SEA, LAX-MIA/IAD/SEA, SAN-MIA/SEA, MIA-IAD/SAN/SEA/IAD, IAD-MIA/SEA/LAX

VX should look at routes not flooded with capacity (SFO-JFK/SAN/LAS/LAX, LAX-JFK) and hub-hub routes (SFO-IAD, LAX-IAD is fine because LAX is more of a hub, not focus city for UA). VX should end LAS (low yield) and JFK (competition) and instead add BUR and other LA basin airports that have high yield to SFO(not LAX). VX should stay away from ORD (slots and competition) and other high competition airports and instead of attacking B6/AA/DL/UA on SFO-JFK but try SEA-MIA only attacking AS.

But what do I know? I'm not--though I would like to be--a route planner for VX, I play one on the internet :)