Time for Virgin to become a LCC
Jul 4, 2018, 2:41 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 710
Time for Virgin to become a LCC
If I was in charge of VS these days, I would immediately turn the airline into a LCC and hope to capture the growing budget travel market.
VS as a full service airline has been losing money for years, and cannot compete with BA let alone the ME3 or US3.
VS need to be brave again, and create LH/ULH low cost flights to exciting destinations such as HKT, LKW, DPS, DAD, also, NAS, MBJ, BGI, UVF, PUJ, or even HGH, SEZ, and MLE.
I see what Qantas did from LHR-PER - 2 decades ago that would have been Virgin leading the way... nowadays they struggle for an identity.
LCC is the way to go, especially with their coveted LHR landing slots, which easily separates from Norwegian, Easyjet, and the like.
VS as a full service airline has been losing money for years, and cannot compete with BA let alone the ME3 or US3.
VS need to be brave again, and create LH/ULH low cost flights to exciting destinations such as HKT, LKW, DPS, DAD, also, NAS, MBJ, BGI, UVF, PUJ, or even HGH, SEZ, and MLE.
I see what Qantas did from LHR-PER - 2 decades ago that would have been Virgin leading the way... nowadays they struggle for an identity.
LCC is the way to go, especially with their coveted LHR landing slots, which easily separates from Norwegian, Easyjet, and the like.
Jul 4, 2018, 3:14 pm
#2
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Obviously you've never negotiated anything with a labour union... A good way for VS to become a bankrupt, liquidated former airline would be to impose LCC practices on their employees...
Jul 9, 2018, 7:57 pm
#3
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 7
Quite simply I don't VS has the cost base or scale to become a LH ULCC or capital to do it. Given the airlines significant partnership with DL and soon AF/KL I don't think they would be too happy to convert the airline to an LCC either and have a significant change in organizational direction.
Jul 11, 2018, 4:28 pm
#4
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But it seems to be the general trend these days. I had a long talk with someone who works at bmi Regional yesterday and he sees the future of aviation in Europe as being ULCC, from the point of view of making money and being profitable. He reckons bmi Regional will adopt this model in due course. It is a shame but it is an unforgiving and fragile industry. I don't think VS could be transformed into an LCC overnight but I expect that aspects of it will become more present as time goes on.
Jul 12, 2018, 8:45 am
#5
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But it seems to be the general trend these days. I had a long talk with someone who works at bmi Regional yesterday and he sees the future of aviation in Europe as being ULCC, from the point of view of making money and being profitable. He reckons bmi Regional will adopt this model in due course. It is a shame but it is an unforgiving and fragile industry. I don't think VS could be transformed into an LCC overnight but I expect that aspects of it will become more present as time goes on.
We will also end up with every hotel charging £50 per night with an additional £50 of "resort fee".
Jul 13, 2018, 4:16 am
#6
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VS need to be brave again, and create LH/ULH low cost flights to exciting destinations such as HKT, LKW, DPS, DAD, also, NAS, MBJ, BGI, UVF, PUJ, or even HGH, SEZ, and MLE.
You are asking VS to walk away from their whole Frequent Flier base, exit all profitable flying and suffer the start up costs and losses of entering new markets where they have zero market share. Now if SRB wanted to do that, he should start a new business, not try and adapt an existing business to shoehorn it in there.
Jul 13, 2018, 12:54 pm
#7
Join Date: Aug 2013
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We may start to see optional resort fees but they will have to be for genuinely optional services - like the ancillary fees on airlines.
Jul 14, 2018, 7:24 am
#8
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This hotel resort fee nonsense, even in business cities like New York, has crept out of the woodwork unannounced like an army of bedbugs. This was unthinkable before, but I remember back in the early 2000s paying just a handful of dollars/francs for the taxes on award tickets to places like Hong Kong, New York. And now we are paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars in taxes and award fees (or, bogus surcharges, as I cal them), sometimes closer to 1,000 dollars.
Jul 20, 2018, 11:13 pm
#9
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This hotel resort fee nonsense, even in business cities like New York, has crept out of the woodwork unannounced like an army of bedbugs. This was unthinkable before, but I remember back in the early 2000s paying just a handful of dollars/francs for the taxes on award tickets to places like Hong Kong, New York. And now we are paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars in taxes and award fees (or, bogus surcharges, as I cal them), sometimes closer to 1,000 dollars.
Jul 23, 2018, 2:44 am
#11
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VS need to be brave again, and create LH/ULH low cost flights to exciting destinations such as HKT, LKW, DPS, DAD, also, NAS, MBJ, BGI, UVF, PUJ, or even HGH, SEZ, and MLE.
LCC is the way to go, especially with their coveted LHR landing slots, which easily separates from Norwegian, Easyjet, and the like.
LCC is the way to go, especially with their coveted LHR landing slots, which easily separates from Norwegian, Easyjet, and the like.
You realize they already serve several of these destinations (MBJ, BGI, UVF).
I don't think an LCC is the right approach, in general, for an airline based out of LHR. Those slots can and should be used for high-yielding traffic, otherwise tons of money is left on the table.
Jul 29, 2018, 2:52 pm
#13
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I hope VS does not follow the LCC strategy and it is what sets them apart from others at the moment. BA already does it in their intra Europe routes.
Jul 31, 2018, 2:00 am
#14
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 212
What is your source for this claim? According to the FT they reported their first loss for 4 years in March. In 2016 they made a profit of $23m. Hardly "years" ago.
https://www.ft.com/content/a81e071a-2847-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0
https://www.ft.com/content/a81e071a-2847-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0
Aug 1, 2018, 2:53 am
#15
Join Date: Jun 2006
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In what way is it not a LCC? With the economy fares unbundling, they are competing in the LCC market. If they can use their brand to get higher yielding customers too, stick with it.