VB/PB livery rebranding starts.

[NathanJ]

VOQ still has it's bump.

[Nick W]

VH-VOQ is still rocking the Live2Air

[NathanJ]

Originally Posted by Nick W

VH-VOQ is still rocking the Live2Air

[Mackenzie Davis]

Originally Posted by Nathan Lumsden

VOQ still has it's bump.

I believe it is in the process now of having it removed because it has been in Brisbane since Thursday night

[Mackenzie Davis]

VH-VBY has had its Live2Air Bubble removed. I saw it doing it's first flight today to Mackay as VA605.

VH-VUL has been on the ground in Brisbane since Wednesday so I presume it's live2air bubble has been or is being removed.

[NathanJ]

Originally Posted by Mackenzie Davis

VH-VUL has been on the ground in Brisbane since Wednesday so I presume it's live2air bubble has been or is being removed.

I believe VUL will commence end of lease preparations next week.

[Mackenzie Davis]

Isn't she registered under a 'FE' registration though, meaning it is owned by Virgin?

However when I looked VH-VUL up on Aussie Airliners it says it is registered to VBNC9 Pty Ltd but she is coded as a Boeing 737-8FE?

VH-VOX and, VH-VUN are registered as a Boeing 737-8BK's along with VH-VUW who is a Boeing 737-8KG. Are these birds leased too???

[NathanJ]

I'm no expert but I'm fairly certain a large proportion of the virgin fleet is "leased".

The aircraft are built to the airlines specifications but are owned by a lessor. The ones that are not "FE" I believe were built for other airlines but we're diverted to virgin blue ownership/lease instead.

Don't quote me but I believe there were a bunch of aircraft owned by virgin blue that were bought and then "sold" to internal entities then leased back. If you Google VBNC9 you'll see it's a registered business in QLD and has VUL, VUK, ZPA through ZPK on the register.

VBY & VBZ are registered to VB700.

FE lease linkage : http://www.flightplanning.com/aus/model.php?q=737-8FE

I'm sure there are people on here with a better understanding of how it all works.

[NathanJ]

For example :

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au...tion-0936.html

http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-737/vh-vuq/vhvuq.html

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...s-737s-371708/

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...tralia-377598/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaseback

"Leaseback is very often used in commercial aviation to essentially take back the cash invested in assets. Airlines, for example, sell aircraft and engines to lessors, banks or other financial institutions who, in turn, lease the assets back to them. Tax deductions can also be realized by the airline since the asset is no longer owned but leased. Due to the high price of aircraft and engines, especially new, the cash from such a leaseback are used by airlines to improve their financial performance."

Anyway getting off topic now! ...

[NathanJ]

VUJ heads to townsville tomorrow evening.

VUI will head out refreshed on Wednesday morning.