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  #1  
Old 10th July 2011, 06:25 PM
Stefan Perkas Stefan Perkas is offline
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Default Announcements pending for Virgin Australia

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Virgin Australia is expected to make the most of Sir Richard Branson's ongoing visit to Australia by disclosing strategic decisions. The Virgin Group founder is in Australia for charity talks, announced Virgin's eucalyptus biofuel project, and is having some mid-flight fun with toilet paper.

Some announcements were due to be released late last week but were held for undisclosed reasons, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Here are some possibilities of what this week's announcements will be.

PERTH EXPANSION
Virgin has committed to basing two Boeing 737-800 aircraft in Perth, likely for deployment to Southeast Asia. Favoured routes are Perth-Singapore, which ties in with Virgin's pending alliance with Singapore Airlines, as well as Perth-Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo.

NEW IFE
Negotiations earlier this year between Virgin and Panasonic, the vendor of the Red in-flight entertainment system used by V Australia and sister carrier Virgin America, reached a stalemate over licensing arrangements. At the carrier's May re-branding unveiling, Branson confirmed Virgin Australia would have an IFE solution, although he did not disclose specifics.

MORE A330s
This is always a question of when, not if, with the current announced count at 6 and plans for expansion to approximately 16 frames. The real question is if Virgin will be able to secure slots from Airbus and lessors for factory-fresh A330s (as it is doing for its third and fourth A330s) or if it will have to relegate itself to old A330s (such as A330 aircraft one, two, five, and six from Emirates). The first two A330s have had a number of maintenance problems that have forced them off Sydney-Perth services, exemplifying why Virgin only likes to keep aircraft for 6-7 years, but 787 delays have meant there is a tight supply of A330s.

PACIFIC A330 EXPANSION
In addition to next February's Brisbane-Singapore-Abu Dhabi route, Virgin could be looking at deploying A330s to other blue-chip Asian ports. (If it is Hong Kong, Virgin Atlantic will not welcome its Australian sister.) Virgin is also evaluating routing A330s to North America via Auckland, as Qantas does.

DELTA-V SHUFFLE
Following final United States Department of Transportation approval for the Delta-V Australia joint-venture, Delta is expected to take over V Australia's thrice-weekly trans-Pacific route into Melbourne while V Australia deploys its freed capacity to Brisbane, which currently has thrice-weekly service that could be expanded to six weekly trans-Pacific flights.

Stay tuned.
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  #2  
Old 10th July 2011, 07:18 PM
Brenden S Brenden S is offline
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Very Interesting.
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Old 10th July 2011, 07:40 PM
Dave Dale Dave Dale is offline
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I don't follow Virgin often, but after reading the article, if A330's were not available quick enough, would they consider 767's or 777-200's?
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Old 10th July 2011, 08:57 PM
Andrew M Andrew M is offline
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A330's not flying SYD-PER anymore ??? I assume this is just when they have maintenance issues ?
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Old 10th July 2011, 09:28 PM
Will H Will H is offline
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Dave--767s, to my understanding, were part of the original widebody evaluation but not chosen. 777 is too much aircraft, availability aside.

Andrew--yes, forced off when a/c goes mx. I've clarified that to avoid any confusion.
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Old 11th July 2011, 03:44 AM
Oliver Gigacz Oliver Gigacz is offline
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If BNE services are going up to 6 weekly, then MEL services could easily go up to 5 or six.

Or will BNE get more services, due to MEL already have 2x daily LAX services and UA daily services.
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Old 11th July 2011, 11:59 AM
Andrew M Andrew M is offline
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Would love a 787 order to really "change the game"

Maybe Boeing are holding some slots for Virgin after their large 737 order a while back...
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Old 11th July 2011, 07:47 PM
Jarden S Jarden S is offline
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The 2 extra 737s for Perth is good these maybe the ones freed up with the intro of the A330s. Just 2 routes from 2 aircraft does not seem much they could consider more cities they already serve Phuket could add Bangkok, Jakarta and even start a Vietnam service.
If they get up to 16 A330s longer flights could be added e.g. from Perth to China and India and a return to Tokyo after QFs pullout from this market.

Last edited by Jarden S; 11th July 2011 at 07:57 PM.
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Old 12th July 2011, 01:59 PM
Brenden S Brenden S is offline
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Perth is certainly a untapped market for short Asian trips. Especially with a women drought now being reported in Perth and miners with a lot of cash to blow.
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