Virgin Blue ditches NZ Domestic Services & VA Changes

[James Smith]

Andrew, you'd be interested to know that VA1 from SYD to LAX arrives there at 17:10 at present and earlier in the NW prior to the changes mentioned. The BRI to LAX flight arrives there at 7:00 and the MEL to LAX flight arrives at 16:05. Still time for connections with the later arrivals but they are more limited and who wants two red eye flights on consecutive nights, if continuing east or a very late arrival if connecting on a shorter flight.

We were faced with a very late arrival if connecting from LAX to Calgary from VA1, so we spent the night at one of the local airport hotels and flew out mid morning the next day.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Andrew

or there was another reasons for the deployment.

could it be Bruce Buchanan's comment re: the Virgin BLue group using the B777 and the promise of premium services to win capacity on the route?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busi...-1225906088527

Regarding the QF heavies on the ground at LAX - I think some A checks are done during that time? and also about your point about the scheduling of the flights - V Australia is moving their LAX flight to a morning departure ex-SYD


I recall Rob Fyfe (Air New Zealand CEO) predicting around 2 or 3 months ago that Pacific Blue is going to pull out of NZ domestic services. Seems like he had a pretty good source and that he was right afterall

Andrew M - I suppose they initially considered or focused SYD-LAX as O-D only and didn't have feed/connecting pax in mind?

[Jarden S]

With Pacific blue out of domestic NZ that will free up 2 737s for more international flying MEL-DPS goes daily and as the mentioned SYD-NAN will be daily 737 again there wont be much spare 737 capacity to do any new routes for them.Unless they recieve new ones soon from Boeing. If they free up the 777s from serving fiji they could open more longhaul operations with the spare capacity maybe start a MEL-NRT 3 per week or BNE-JNB 2 a week.

[Stefan Perkas]

Jarden,

All the DPS for ADL, SYD, MEL, BNE and PER flights are operated by Pacific Blues's Australian registered aircraft. VH-VOQ, X, VUF, G, M and N. No NZ reg'd aircraft operate these route. The Aus reg'd ones also do Perth-Phuket, Brisbane- Port Moresby, Wellington (Stand corrected on these destiantions from BNE), and the also do Melbourne-Nadi.

[Stefan Perkas]

Evening all,

Here are the schdules for the new times for the SYD-LAX route.

V Australia from 19OCT10 is adjusting operational schedule on Sydney – Los Angeles route. Sydney departure becomes daytime departure instead of evening, allowing same day connection/arrival into US East Coast.
Schedule below:

VA001 SYD2105 – 1645LAX 77W x3 -18OCT10
VA001 SYD1215 – 0800LAX 77W x3 19OCT10-

VA002 LAX2120 – 0605+2SYD 77W x1
Daily service operating from 20DEC10

Here are the scheds for the Pacific Blue flight to Nadi

From 19OCT10, Pacific Blue is taking over V Australia’s Sydney – Nadi service, which the latter operates 6 weekly with 777-300ER and former once a week with 737-800.
Pacific Blue will operate Daily flight as a result.
Schedule below:

DJ155/VA4155 SYD0810 – 1420NAN 73H D
DJ154/VA4154 NAN1525 – 1815SYD 73H D

Source: Route updates

[Justin L]

With the new daytime SYD departure to LAX for VA, could they potentially offer a US east coast service to say a Delta hub such as JFK or ATL - especially as their aim is to offer same day east coast connections? Would it be a viable alternative to keeping their aircraft on the ground in LAX all day, or are they better off using their US airline partners to offer such a service?

[Jarden S]

Yes it seems a waste to leave the 777 at LAX from 0800 to 2120 every day of the week. What happens with the BNE and MEL flights to LAX do they spend a lot of time on the ground too?

[Brandon Giacomin]

Yes, BNE aircraft sits at LAX from 0700-2355 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so they could fit something in there. But the MEL aircraft arrives at 1805 on Wednesdays and Sundays.

[Jarden S]

It seems crazy to leave half there fleet on the ground at LAX all day. VA will not start to be profitable with their 777 fleet until they make better utilisation of them. With the new CEO JB closing down loss making domestic NZ operations how long will he let VA losses carry on for 6 more months or 12 months? With soon 5 in fleet the 777s have a fairly light flight schedule and can't bring in enough revenue to pay for their operating costs!

[lloyd fox]

Jarden Hi .JB has just stated that VA will be absorbed into VB and will remain operational .Once the other heavies come in FEB 2011(763's or 332's) you may find then some more changes in relation to the 777 utilization .I also understand the long downtime in LAX is for some line maintenance.