Tamworth added to VARAs ATR destination.

[Rob R]

Originally Posted by Garry Emanuel

Do others not get tired of VA "cherry-picking" ?

They drop in and out of routes like nothing else.

Too many play them as being the "gift to the community" when in actual fact, they care little about the community and more about commerciality.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with the commerciality aspect - just don't play us as fools and try to sell it to the world as "doing it because they have an interest in the community" - they don't ! ! ! ! !

So what routes have they started and stopped in a short period? Most of the routes operated by the E170's were unprofitable hence they were dropped with the removal of the E170's.

Qantaslink had pulled out of just as many routes (if not more) as Virgin of the last 10 years.

Once more ATRs arrive the number of flights to TMW will increase and other regional towns such will be added to the network.

[Yusef D]

Smart business to me. Unless you have a charter client (like CNJ) if you're entering a market with a very dominant player (like BNE-BDB, or SYD-TMW) with 6 or 8 flights a day and high prices, just start once or twice a day with fares that are only a little lower, but still very profitable. The incumbent doesn't want to sell 8 flights cheap and lose 8 times the money when they can lose just a small sliver of a now stimulated market.

You call it cherry picking but it's good business. If locals don't use the service but enjoy the dominant player lowering fares in competitive response, they deserve to lose the 2nd operator, and see fares return to stupidly high levels.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Garry Emanuel

Do others not get tired of VA "cherry-picking" ?

They drop in and out of routes like nothing else.

Too many play them as being the "gift to the community" when in actual fact, they care little about the community and more about commerciality.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with the commerciality aspect - just don't play us as fools and try to sell it to the world as "doing it because they have an interest in the community" - they don't ! ! ! ! !

Well I am glad they cherry picked GLT, before then it was often cheaper to drive to ROK and catch the flight via GLT to BNE than take the very same Dash 8 from GLT. Always happy to see some competition where it makes sense, where it doesn't we have regulated air routes!

[Arthur T]

Originally Posted by Rob R

So what routes have they started and stopped in a short period? Most of the routes operated by the E170's were unprofitable hence they were dropped with the removal of the E170's.

Qantaslink had pulled out of just as many routes (if not more) as Virgin of the last 10 years.

Once more ATRs arrive the number of flights to TMW will increase and other regional towns such will be added to the network.

But didn't we see from another thread that they have stopped delivery of more ATRs? But if this is true, why they are keeping those old and fuel hungry F50s whilst they can be replaced by fuel efficient ATR72?

[Zac M]

I dont understand why VH-VPJ hasn't entered service yet. Has been in Melbourne since October.

[Ellis Taylor]

Originally Posted by Arthur T

But didn't we see from another thread that they have stopped delivery of more ATRs? But if this is true, why they are keeping those old and fuel hungry F50s whilst they can be replaced by fuel efficient ATR72?

The F50s don't actually burn that much more than the ATRs, as they have similar engines and are pretty much contemporaries. The key is that the F50s are fully depreciated and on the balance sheet, so the cost of ownership/leasing is a lot less than new ATRs. That is essential for the mining market, which just cares about the operating cost as the fuel is effectively covered by the miners.

As for putting the ATRs on WA's intrastate routes, they would be just a little too big. Arguably the F50s are already too big for those routes as, at best, they were getting around 60% loads at best.

[Jacob L]

Doesn't matter to me. I love the Fokker 50 regardless. Can't wait for it to enter service on the east coast!!

[Daniel M]

Originally Posted by Zac M

I dont understand why VH-VPJ hasn't entered service yet. Has been in Melbourne since October.

Last time I looked it was tucked up right at the back of the hangar in Melbourne, doesn't look to be going anywhere soon. Probably just an ops spare in case the daily ATR service goes U/S

[Yusef D]

I think it's more complicated do than that, Daniel. If it was there as an operational spare it would be in a busier base than Mel. VARA's growth has been limited by CASA and its safety concerns, and by resources like training pilots and simulator availability. Having a mix of -500s and -600s doesn't help.

[Rowan McKeever]

Yeah I tend to agree, and it wouldn't be tucked away at the back of a hangar either. Having the ATR for the CBR-MEL-CBR service go u/s could easily be dealt with by rebooking their pax onto other flights, even subbing a 738 for an E-Jet. And if they wanted an operational spare there's plenty of space in CBR where they could park it and rotate the 'spare' status around different aircraft to keep them all going, just like we're all told to start our cars often to keep everything ticking for them.