DJ Melbourne to Mildura Launch

[Justin L]

DJ are launching Melbourne to Mildura. Travel from 13 October for $59 one way.

Schedules:
MEL-MQL 1040-1140 DJ1323
MQL-MEL 1210-1310 DJ1324

http://www.virginblue.com.au/Personal/Specialsoffers/Specials/index.htm

[Adam P.]

Oh!

Interesting, veeeery interesting. Not a direct competitor with Rex at this stage - the single daily DJ service fits neatly between the Rex morning and afternoon flights. But once they have their foot in the door in that market there's nothing to say frequency can't be increased later on. This will be one to watch.

[Marty H]

REX charge $128 one way they also have a departure at 11:45 from Melbourne.

[Brian Wilkes]

Oh!

Interesting, veeeery interesting. Not a direct competitor with Rex at this stage - the single daily DJ service fits neatly between the Rex morning and afternoon flights. But once they have their foot in the door in that market there's nothing to say frequency can't be increased later on. This will be one to watch.

I beg to differ on an little E-Jet! Watch them add more flights as pax find out about the different and quicker service on offer as you have said watch this space!

Now all VB needs is a Devonport Service with the E's:D

[Marty H]

I beg to differ on an little E-Jet! Watch them add more flights as pax find out about the different and quicker service on offer as you have said watch this space!

Now all VB needs is a Devonport Service with the E's:D

Agree, is that route is only served by QF link Brian????

Also as I pointed out in my last post huge difference in prices also, its clear DJ are after REX.

[Brian Wilkes]

Agree, is that route is only served by QF link Brian????

Also as I pointed out in my last post huge difference in prices also, its clear DJ are after REX.

Yep all you need is 1 or 2 services a day would be better and blow this thing wide open:eek:

[Adam P.]

For the moment it's just the one E-Jet service a day, as I mentioned before. I would expect to see more capacity on the route before too much longer, assuming of course that they have the resources to operate it with... watch also for a price war of sorts, as happened when DJ kicked off SYD-ABX flights.

The gamble that DJ are taking, however, is whether the market is big enough to sustain a jet. If Virgin Blue think they can attract enough bums on seats to make it viable, fair play to them. The fact remains though that a Saab can break even with a seat factor of about 30% (in rough figures 10 pax). You simply cannot beat turboprop economics for the lower passenger numbers and stage lengths typical on Australian regional routes.

[Adam G]

The gamble that DJ are taking, however, is whether the market is big enough to sustain a jet. If Virgin Blue think they can attract enough bums on seats to make it viable, fair play to them. The fact remains though that a Saab can break even with a seat factor of about 30% (in rough figures 10 pax). You simply cannot beat turboprop economics for the lower passenger numbers and stage lengths typical on Australian regional routes.

Adam - the difference is that for larger carriers (QF/DJ) the regional routes are meerly there to feed the more lucerative routes (domestic trunk & international) & offer passengers the ability to fly on one carrier acorss the entire network. They don't actually have to make a profit on the MQL/MEL flight if on carriage pax from that flight onto other domestic/intl routes leads to an overall profit for the passenger on the network. Opening up regional routes allowes passengers seemless travel on one airline (bags/FF points/1 check-in etc) rather then swapping between carriers. The increased brand awareness in the regional ports also leads to increased loads on other routes as well.

The dangar Rex faces is that QF/DJ can endulge in long term losses on these flights through price wars as at the end of the day it benefits their overall network - for Rex, this is their network & they can't afford the losses long term.

[Anthony T]

Hi there

This was pretty much on the cards, The aircraft currently lays over in MEL (between 712 & 847) for the exact amount of time it takes to get to Mildura and back.

If the Port macquarie route is anything to go by, expect the Mildura route to take off. (Excuse the pun)

Anthony T

[NickN]

Simple economics will see passengers forgo a $128 fare with REX for a $59 fare with Virgin. Before long the Virgin deal will be the talk of the town and everyone will be scrambling to book the daily Virgin flight which will mean packed E-Jets. Soon thereafter a second daily service will be added and REX will lose its patronage.

[Justin L]

It looks like DJ had a "200 seats for $2" sale for MEL-MQL tonight (5-Aug) between 8-9pm, but it has already sold out according to the website. Did anyone hear any advance notice of this?

[Anthony T]

Did anyone hear any advance notice of this?

Hi there

Yes it was on the website and on various news websites :

"Virgin Blue's new Mildura flights go on sale today and following Virgin Blue tradition, a special launch fare is on offer in honour of Mildura’s famous fruit growing heritage. 200 “Tutti Fruity” $2* internet only fares between Mildura and Melbourne will go on sale from 8pm AEST tonight (Tuesday 5 August) for one hour or until sold out. Travel is for 13 October 2008 to 28 March 2009. A further sale offering thousands of $59* one-way fares is also available from now until midnight Tuesday 12 August 2008 for travel 13 October to 28 March 2009. The everyday lead-in Virgin Blue fare is $109* one-way on the Internet."

Anthony T

[Adam P.]

don't actually have to make a profit on the MQL/MEL flight if on carriage pax from that flight onto other domestic/intl routes leads to an overall profit for the passenger on the network.

Ahh yes, the joys of cross-subsidisation. I'll concede this point.

This will remain a very interesting battle to watch!

[Paul C.]

REX could be in serious trouble here. Hmm, they might have to stop flying the Saabs from Melbourne to Mildura. REX has just taken delivery of yet another Saab 340B (cn 382 = VH-ZLO).

Hopefully Virgin Blue will fly its E170/190's to Burnie-Wynyard Airport in Tasmania one day. Maybe Sydney to Burnie and even Adelaide to Burnie. That gives me a direct flight to any of those cities instead of a stopover in Melbourne.

[Daniel M]

for info, the inaugral MEL-MQL service tomorrow will be operated by VH-ZHE

[Arthur T]

I just concerned Virgin Blue focus more about regional routes for argcultural regional cities rather than tourist-based regional route, as more E-Jets arrived. For example: (Brackets indicate my suggested daily frequency)

Adelaide - Kingscote (2)
Carins - Hamilton Island (1)
Sydney/Brisbane - Lord Howe Island (1)
Sydney/Adelaide - Broken Hill (1)
Alice Springs - Uluru (1)
Alice Springs - Adelaide/Melbourne (1)

Is that possible for DJ to open above routes to attract more tourists and boost revenue before they open more local ports like Griffith, Dubbo, Wagga, Olympic Dam etc.?

[Michael Morrison]

Adelaide - Kingscote (2)
Carins - Hamilton Island (1)
Sydney/Brisbane - Lord Howe Island (1)
Sydney/Adelaide - Broken Hill (1)
Alice Springs - Uluru (1)
Alice Springs - Adelaide/Melbourne (1)
?


Well I think Lord Howe Island is off the list due to the short runway/

[Marty H]

I would like DJ to get onto the MEL-MIM route, huge tourist destination year round.