V Australia?
 

Has anyone heard any news on V Australia and their plans to start flying in November? Their web site has been static for the last few months so just wondering if anyone down there had heard any news?

Thank you,

Ben

Ben,

When you say "down there", who/what or where exactly are you referring to?

The big day is confirmed to be sometime this week, possible Thursday, but before 1st April

Hi,

I read on airliners.net that Sir Richard is meant to be in melbourne on the 27th March for a big announcement regarding V australia and also Air Asia X. And that following this V Australia Fares will go on sale during or after Getaway that night.

J

Well, its going to be a big day then on Thursday, cant wait

Hi Grant,

I just mean Australia in general.

Thanks,

Ben

Does it really matter? :rolleyes:

A mate of mine was phoned by Recruitment this week in Bris - dunno any further.

Well yes Peter it does, as it is geographically incorrect...

:rolleyes:

I've heard there's a B773 fix-based sim around the mascot-sydney south region, now up and running. Can anyone shed anymore light on this?

Nick

One post from a respectable Aussie A.net member suggests that SFO will not be serviced any time soon..just LAX. I wouldn't be the least bit suprised if this were true considering how heavily focused QF is on LAX compared to SFO.

It's a bit of a bummer though coz I fly out that way 1 or twice a year and always head for SFO... but ah well, willing to put up with LAX if it means I get to try out V Australia or even QF's A380.

Not sure how reliable that 'sale during or after Getaway' part is, but it does seem like Thursday will be the big day. Waiting anxiously!!

I've heard there's an announcement in Sydney on Monday, March 31. Just waiting on the media advisory now...

Found this:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=SfPOOnvV_jA

Confirmed for Mon 31st at 10.00

Thank heavans we know, but is this the whole "Website Launch" or just the Branson Conference etc

Source??

Thanks for the link Lukas. From the looks of it, it seems like this YouTube ad' was created for the US market since it highlights all of the typical tourist-appealing Aussie icons and attractions.

Gotta say though, the V Australia 773ER in those CAD animations looks fantastic!! Can't wait for later in the year when Scott L' delivers us some early pics of the aircraft from BFI. :D

Just a quick something.... having a look at the V Festival website (Link Here), the Sydney event is schedule for Saturday 29th at Centennial Park. Since V Australia will be based in Sydney, we may well get an announcement tomorrow.


Edit: Scrap that speculation. Just read at another board from a very respected member there that he's almost certain the announcement will be on Monday 31st. Branson will be up in Brisbane tomorrow to open the new Virgin Blue headquarters and also for the Virgin Blue Hanger Ball.

This particular member also stated that the first route will be SYD-LAX (as expected) and once the second aircraft comes online BNE-LAX will commence.

It would be great if you were correct, as the sooner the better!!, but this whole setup has been kept under wraps and nobody knows what to expect

From The "Youtube Commercial", fake or real, its a good ad, and shows the beauties this great country has to offer:D:D:D:D

I dont think the ad is real... not enough branding for V Australia for a launch product.

Also I dont recall seeing the pacific blue ad that he has posted on his profile either

Well that's a whole different kettle of fish there!!

Now that we finally (thank heavens indeed!!) know when the announcement will be made, ...and we know that they'll talk about their in-flight product, route plans and pricing structure....but whether an actual seat sale will follow the announcement is completely unknown. :confused:

We can only hope they offer some fantastic launch fares! If they do, their first 773ER will be flying-out fully loaded each and every day for the first couple of months!

The "V Australia" commercial on YOUTUBE has now been deleted, interesting as it could have been real, it seemed pretty real:D:D:D

Mmmmm....

Would be cool to get some $773 fares, in line with the aircraft type.
Though, if so was the case, I'd wish they'd got A340s instead...

Ah-ha! That explains the barn-storming number of orders for the 787.. it's the most highly priced Airbus or Boeing aircraft number...more than double the profitability potential than the A330, but hey, that must be why JQ manage such low international fares I guess. See.. I knew that '8' in the 787 was special for some reason.:D

But seriously, AU$773 for a one-way fare wouldn't be too bad. I'd certainly pull out my credit card and book me a flight.. or two... or three.... or....:D

Hehe, that would be good, but i have only allowed $1400 for this sale:(:(lets hope that its enough

Does anyone happen to know if they have started to build these aircraft?? Or when they plan to START building them??

Thanks in advance...

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...5-3122,00.html

This article seems to suggest an announcement will be made by Branson in Los Angeles on Monday (Tuesday our time)

Hmmm..maybe he's going to launch the airline in Australia on our Monday morning, then fly out to LA, and have the US launch of V Australia on Monday night (USA date/time)...because it would seem rather foolish and not exactly 'Australian' to launch V Australia outside of Australia.

VIRGIN BLUE AIRLINES MEDIA CONFERENCE

What:
Virgin Blue Airlines Media Conference

When:
Monday 31 March 2008, 10.00am

Where:
Barnet Long Room
Customs House
31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay
SYDNEY NSW

Who:
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Chairman
Mr Brett Godfrey, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Blue Group of Airlines

Ahh well, at least we didn't get tooo exited:(

http://news.smh.com.au/branson-hopin...0329-22cc.html

"Virgin boss Richard Branson says he hopes to have his airline flying between America and Australia from next year.

The UK billionaire jetted into Australia this week to attend the V Festival, which he created.

Speaking at the Sydney leg of the festival, Sir Richard said he hoped to get the flights off the ground soon.

"By next year there may even be an airline with V in it coming from America down here," he told reporters.

"Hopefully if bands want to come from the UK they can come on Virgin and maybe next year if bands want to come from America they'll be able to come on Virgin as well."

The 58-year-old entrepreneur said the details weren't finalised but "hopefully we'll get all the boxes ticked very soon".

Sir Richard said he was not interested in getting back into the record business but wanted to focus on light music.

"It's far tougher these days than it was 25 years ago and actually it's not quite as much fun," he said.

"I think with downloading, people expecting to get their music for free, ipods etc, running a music company hasn't got the same enticements," he said.

"From Virgin's point of view - music festival is the way to go."

:(:(:(:(:(:

LAX Schedule is now in Amadeus

SYD-LAX (Daily from 15th December)

VA1 DEP SYD 9.45PM Arrive LAX 4.30PM

VA2 DEP LAX 11.30PM Arrive SYD 9.20AM

Trying to see if there is anything else... will post if I find..


Some DJ flights are also carrying the VA code ie PERLAX

Los Angeles Int'l CA US [KLAX]
SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
MON 12 Jan 2009 - 19 Jan 2009

Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Frequency | Dur'n | Dep T | Arr T | Effect | Ending | Exceptions
--------- ------ ---- --------- ---- --------- ---- ---- ----------------------------------------------------------------
VA 1 SYD 21:45 LAX 16:30 77W 0 1234567 13:45 1 B 15 Dec 14 Mar
VA 2 LAX 23:30 SYD 09:20 +2 77W 0 1234567 14:50 3 1 15 Dec 14 Mar

Thanks a million for the update Michael!! :)

Regarding all that Amadeus jargon towards the end of your post, anywhere in there does it state when VA plan to begin service?

I see 15 Dec in there, but don't want to make assumptions on info/data I have no experience in interpreting.

Also, what's with the "MON 12 Jan 2009 - 19 Jan 2009" .. is that just a random week you chose to get the info' ?

Hi Shameel..

I use gthe KVS tool which shows some airline availability etc. Basically this flight is not yet listed in the Airline systems to book. It has only been released int he Amadeus timetable (probably because Virgin have asked for it not to be shown, otherwise you owuld se it on Expedia etc)

You can also find the same info by going direct to Amadeus www.amadeus.net and going to the timetable search (dont do a fare search as it wont come up)

I looked at SYD-LAX before 15 DEC and couldnt find anything for VA so I am guessing 15 DEC is the launch date.

As for the line until 14 March, there may be a slight time change ie 5 minutes or it may be because that is as far as the amadeus system will show timetables. (ie 330 days or something)

Thanks mate! Makes all that info a lot clearer. :D

Interesting that it seems like Dec 15 will be the launch date. This whole time VA talked about late Nov'..but then again, things always change in this industry, and 2 weeks off ain't bad at all.

I'm glad to hear that at least Amadeus has it from the 15th since I'm planning to fly to USA on the 20th of Dec, and then again on the 11th of Jan. V Australia here I come if their fares are good! :D

Thanks for the update Michael.

Its interesting the flight leaves SYD in the evening and gets to LAX in late afternoon. Pax would get a full day in SYD but the downside to the 16:30 arrival time at LAX means there is only minimal opportunity for connecting flights.

Oh well, we shall wait and see when V Australia will officially launch its operations.

I guess you would have to stay the night at LAX, and catch a earling morning flight, if you plan to travel on to JFK or somehwhere in that enormous continent:p

At least a small chance to sleep at the beggining of the flight as its nice and dark;)

Exactly, the plus of such a late departure is that once you're on the plane, the average person will fall asleep in a couple of hours. Also, people get to spend the entire day going about their normal lives and still have ample time to catch this flight.. so it might allow more people to still go to work in the day and catch the weeknight flight out instead of having to opt for a weekend flight.
Though it's gonna suck not being able to get any good departure photos of their aircraft! :(

I'm guessing the very late departure was also done on purpose to allow VA to utilise the aircraft on domestic runs for DJ. Maybe a few hours after it's arrival from LAX it might do a SYD-PER run, come back to SYD, then off again to LAX.... much better than having the aircraft sit out all day at LAX like QF do.


Also, with the commencement of V Australia flights in December, will this mean that the Virgin Group of airlines will offer around-the-world routing?

Basically around the world yes, also I wonder if VAustralia will have onward connections with VirginAmerica??, No Doubt that VAustralia will use VirginAmerica as a branch off point, now that VirginAmerica are expanding rapidly. VirginAmerica could also do quite well out of this move in terms of Connections. I would certianly try them, i like the sound of all that "mood lightning" in their buses.

A 4:30 pm arrival gives ample time for connections for all destinations on Virgin America.

You could connect to SEA, JFK, SFO, and Washington DC (IAD). Plenty of connections on UA and others as well. The problem with doing SYD-JFK or SYD to WAS is that you are going to either have to leave first thing in the morning or arrive first thing in the morning which ever way you go. So I don't think it matters much if the LAX-JFK segment is a red eye flight.

Of interest, what also works is a connection to LHR on VS with a 2120 dep and 1850 arrival.

And this might discoruage people going to the east-coast from using the service if an overnight stay is required. I guess QF would still retain the advantage in their ability to offer same day connection to most (if not all) major cities in the US/Canada.