VA order 737MAX

[Steve S... 2]

The article states that all 737-700's will be gone by the end of 2013.

VH-VBU & VH-VBV will both turn 10 before the end of 2013.

I presume the year 2005 built VH-VBY & VH-VBZ will be withdrawn before 10 years and not in 2015?

[Anthony T]

How are customer codes going to be allocated to the 737MAX?
Will Virgin get 737-MFE & QANTAS (if they order them) get 737-M38?

Just wondering

[Radi K]

Unrelated to the order by VA has delayed the delivery of some of its Boeing 737NG aircraft until after 2016.

Still 31 new B737s due by 2016

[Radi K]

A few higher res shots too.

[Brock Little]

Looking good

[Richard H.]

Nice one.

I must admit to being a little surprised that Virgin haven't gone for any 737-900ER or Max-9 series aircraft.
Currently Jetstar can scale up to A321 and Qantas can go even further with their 763s on busy east coast or wherever routes where more capacity than a 738 or A320 is needed.
Perhaps Virgin will be relying on larger numbers of A330s for this sort of thing?

[Paul f.]

I thought the 737-900 would have been a better choice for Virgin than the A330s,the 330s a to big for our domestic market.

[Rob R]

A few years back the-900's were looked at but they found the turn around times would be longer due to more passengers and the same number exits and performance issues (stopping) on some of the shorter runways within the network, hence limiting their use.

If the company had of stayed or narrow body and low cost (sorry new world carrier) then they may have purchased the -900 for the golden triangle route, but now the A330 is here the need is no longer there. In time more A330's ( or perhaps 787's) will appear and operate on the golden triangle route.

[Rowan McKeever]

Isn't DJ a little more about frequency than the capacity of each service on the golden triangle etc? Would've thought that would fit with the model of doing 'leisure' flying through the day (ie AYQ, SYD-ROK, SYD-MKY, SYD-TSV, etc)?

[Will H]

The bigger problem with the -900ER and A321 is cost and residual values.

A and B attach a premium to their larger models, knowing that airlines can recoup the investment. There are differing views on seat costs for 900 v 800 and A321 v A320.

With the A320 and 737-800 being the most popular and versatile models, lessors like them and the models have good residual values, important if you're a carrier like VA swapping out your fleet every 7-10 years rather than, e.g. Delta or United that will acquire -900ERs and keep them more or less for life.

On paper the -900 and A321 should be more popular, but in practice other problems compound.