VB changes timetable for CFS and other routes

[Jakef]

Looking at their timetable, it only shows the early flight being dropped up until June, when they will be reinstated.
Coincidence much?

[Kain C]

Originally Posted by Rob R

ATR's will be on the route, the plan is everywhere a Qlink Dash 8 goes so will the ATR (up to distances of 300nm) which will also mean the ATR's overnighting in some regional cities.

The 190/170 routes are very fluid at the moment as the company prepares for the DEP of the 170's and working out which routes will get the 190, a mix of 190 and ATR and only ATR flying.

I thought the idea was that the E90 would operate long, thin routes, and the ATR would operate very short routes. Hence, how is it possible that there will be routes operated by a mix of E90 and ATR???

Also, WTF is there an 8 hour gap between MEL-HBA flights from early April onwards? There's not even any seats available on some days over Easter almost two months in advance!!!

[Ryan K]

I'm hoping there's a serious mistake on Virgin's website. Over parts of April and then all of May and June, there are only 3 daily flights from HBA and LST to MEL. The latest flight to leave LST to MEL is 1.25pm! LST has gone all 737, however HBA has had one service downgraded to an E90. DJ are certainly losing market share in Tasmania.

May/June last year was a bloodbath between the three LCC with extreme amounts of capacity. Jetstar pulled back early axing something like 30% of its schedule whilst Tiger and Virgin battled it out and lost quite alot of money.

I remember last year some carriers had more crew onboard than pax.

[Rob R]

Kain C,

Simple, look at the CBR-SYD route. Currently it is all jet operated by the 170 and sometimes the 190. Once the ATR's are here it will be operated by the 190 and the ATR, with the 190 operating the first flight into SYD and the Peak evening flight back to CBR and the ATR will do the rest, just like QF do with the 737 and Dash 8. So although it's not a long thin route, the amount of corporate/government market share on this route and others will justify the 190 on some flights.

[Ryan K]

Originally Posted by Lukas M

May/June last year was a bloodbath between the three LCC with extreme amounts of capacity. Jetstar pulled back early axing something like 30% of its schedule whilst Tiger and Virgin battled it out and lost quite alot of money.

I remember last year some carriers had more crew onboard than pax.

At least it looks like this year JQ has not dropped LST flights like it did last winter when TT was servicing LST-MEL.

[Jack Melon]

Does anyone reckon the NTL-OOL-NTL will be reinstated? This is a very popular route and very ideal for me. Hopefully all comes out good in June like the CFS drama.

[Ryan K]

Originally Posted by Rob R

ATR's will be on the route, the plan is everywhere a Qlink Dash 8 goes so will the ATR (up to distances of 300nm) which will also mean the ATR's overnighting in some regional cities.

Does this include routes where both QF Q400's and JQ A320's operate such as Launceston?

[Kain C]

Originally Posted by Ryan K

I'm hoping there's a serious mistake on Virgin's website. Over parts of April and then all of May and June, there are only 3 daily flights from HBA and LST to MEL. The latest flight to leave LST to MEL is 1.25pm! LST has gone all 737, however HBA has had one service downgraded to an E90. DJ are certainly losing market share in Tasmania.

I agree. Madness!

Originally Posted by Lukas M

May/June last year was a bloodbath between the three LCC with extreme amounts of capacity. Jetstar pulled back early axing something like 30% of its schedule whilst Tiger and Virgin battled it out and lost quite alot of money.

I remember last year some carriers had more crew onboard than pax.

Last year HBA-MEL load factor was 81.4% in April and 78.8% in May, so it is hardly struggling, especially over Easter where this year there aren't even any seats available on some days!

Originally Posted by Kain C

Last year HBA-MEL load factor was 81.4% in April and 78.8% in May, so it is hardly struggling, especially over Easter where this year there aren't even any seats available on some days!

Well thats the case when carriers "combine" flights few weeks beforehand. At a full schedule it would have been 50%. Tiger dropped its second daily which resulted in 40% loads into 70-80%. Jetstar saw it coming and pulled back early

Easter is different being peak season, but May into mid June is the problem. Even worse this year is higher oil prices which is putting quite alot of strain on the profitability on all carriers. Note Jetstar's profitability in the first half of 2010 of 10m (and thats pre-tax) , and Tiger's Q3 profit last year of 2m not to mention Virgin's significant profit downgrade. In fact in the first half of 2010, Virgin ceded 7% of market share to Tiger. Really shows how difficult this period is, could be in for the same again.