Virgin keen to offer free flights

[NickN]

VIRGIN is willing to work with the Federal Government to offer free flights to Australia to get the economy moving again.

Last week, The Age revealed plans before the Government to supply free flights to international visitors, as long as they spend a certain amount of money in Australia's hotels, shops and restaurants.

The Mayday Project is the brainchild of Independent Tourism Holdings innovation director Glenn Millen, who believes the stimulus package would reinvigorate the local tourism scene.

The idea is supported by Virgin Blue's chief executive, Brett Godfrey, who says it could be this generation's answer to the "ten-pound Pom" fares offered after World War II to encourage British citizens to migrate to Australia. "There are some clever ideas out there and, frankly, I think that is a really good idea," he said. "It has the ability to make Australia a stand-out market. You have to do something out of the ordinary to get people's attention."

Mr Godfrey, who now has Virgin's international carrier V Australia to offer, called on the Government to support the project.

Asked if Virgin would be involved in the Mayday Project, Mr Godfrey said: "Sure we would be. I don't see a lot of downside in it for the tourism industry at all. In fact, I see nothing but positives."

But Qantas will not rush to get involved. "We as a group believe that there are probably more effective ways to assist the local travel and tourism sector," a spokesman said

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...0319-93fs.html

[Rhys Xanthis]

getting numbers up on vaustralia really

[James B]

The two different comments from Vaust and QF are very telling of where they are in the market place at the moment. QF's network and fleet size is large enough to allow them to adjust their available seats on the market to keep load factors up, so it would be no real gain for QF to offer "free tickets". While Vaust are apparently struggling to get rears on seats so this idea would be all gain for them...

[Michael Morrison]

Originally Posted by James B

QF's network and fleet size is large enough to allow them to adjust their available seats on the market to keep load factors up, so it would be no real gain for QF to offer "free tickets". ...

True. Qf have cut some MEL-HKG-LHR and BNE-LAX flights recently due to loads.

[Will H]

Originally Posted by James B

The two different comments from Vaust and QF are very telling of where they are in the market place at the moment. QF's network and fleet size is large enough to allow them to adjust their available seats on the market to keep load factors up, so it would be no real gain for QF to offer "free tickets". While Vaust are apparently struggling to get rears on seats so this idea would be all gain for them...

(emphasis added)

Load factors for QF, perhaps. But yields? That's a very different story when QF is offering flights from Australia to New York for under AU$1,000.