Virgin ceases International ops and 50% dom reductions

[MarkR]

Temporary suspension of all international services from 30 March to 14 June 2020 inclusive.
• Melbourne to Los Angeles services suspended from 20 March.
• Inaugural Brisbane to Haneda service, postponed from 29 March.
• Inaugural Melbourne to Denpasar service, postponed from 29 March.
Virgin Australia will operate a reduced international schedule between now and 29 March 2020 “

Domestic changes
In response to weakened demand, the Group will reduce domestic capacity by around 50 per cent until 14 June 2020. This includes the grounding of twenty Boeing 737, six A320, two ATR and five Airbus A330 aircraft from the Group’s domestic fleet.
The route and schedule detail of these changes across Virgin Australia and Tigerair Australia is currently being worked through and will be published over the next week.

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200318/pdf/44g50mqnxbwm69.pdf

[David C]

This could quite easily send VA into history . They are in a very perilous financial situation even before this happened .

[MarkR]

This could quite easily send VA into history . They are in a very perilous financial situation even before this happened .

I wouldn’t say $1b cash in the bank was perilous, especially as this reduction in ops significantly reduces their costs.

[David C]

I sincerely hope that VA pull through and we see them operating for a long time , however , a $314.5 million loss for the FY19 is hardly a healthy economic position to find itself in . Time will tell , as I say , I wish them all the best .

[MarkR]

Virgin have announced domestic ops will be reduced to one passenger route SYD-MEL and have released details of international ops:

As a major Australian carrier we are pleased to support the Government in getting Australians home and maintaining important freight links into the country. For a limited period, we will be operating one return flight per week between Los Angeles and Brisbane, and two return flights per week between Hong Kong and Brisbane. These flights can be purchased through our website.

Flight Days of operation Timing (local time zone) Operating period One-way all inclusive fares
BNE - HKG Mon, Fri
Depart 1000

Arrive 1700

From Fri 10 April to 1 May 2020 AUD $625*
HKG - BNE Tue, Sat
Depart 0900

Arrive 2010

From Sat 11 April to 2 May 2020 HKD $2,983*
BNE - LAX Wed
Depart 1105

Arrive 0710

From Wed 8 April to 29 April 2020 AUD $855*
LAX - BNE Thu
Depart 1115

Arrive 1815

From Thu 9 April to 3 May 2020 USD $475*

[Radi K]

Virgin is flying a 777 on charter tomorrow BNE-AKL-HKG-CDG
Then it will fly back empty from Paris to Brisbane next week! French government charter.

Also some other 777 charters to/from HKG and MEL/SYD.

[Robbie J]

Should for-profit companies be given government bailouts?

Is the JobKeeper payment from the government enough assistance already, as it assists staff with their on-going cost of living expenses until this mess is sorted and solved?

Exec's awarding themselves generous multi-million dollar annual salary packages and then "crying poor" rarely passes the BS Test for me... although I notice Alan Joyce has honourably opted not to take a salary at this point.

[Greg McDonald]

The job keeper package looks like it won't be paid until May then backpaid...I fail to see how this will help anyone who is struggling with expenses.

There is also most definitely NOTHING honorable with Joyce......

[MarkR]

Virgin is flying a 777 on charter tomorrow BNE-AKL-HKG-CDG
Then it will fly back empty from Paris to Brisbane next week! French government charter.

Also some other 777 charters to/from HKG and MEL/SYD.

I don’t think that charter happened, I not there is a 777 heading to HKG ex MEL at present

[Tim Bowrey]

I don’t think that charter happened, I not there is a 777 heading to HKG ex MEL at present

VH-VPD (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHVPD) just leaving AKL now heading to HKG and VH-VOZ enroute MEL-HKG same time.

[MarkR]

VH-VPD (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHVPD) just leaving AKL now heading to HKG and VH-VOZ enroute MEL-HKG same time.

Must have been delayed a day. VA will be thankful they have the 777s and can fit a stack of cargo underneath ex HKG, still pretty significant backlog waiting up there as far as freight goes.

[Dave J]

Should for-profit companies be given government bailouts?

Is the JobKeeper payment from the government enough assistance already, as it assists staff with their on-going cost of living expenses until this mess is sorted and solved?

Exec's awarding themselves generous multi-million dollar annual salary packages and then "crying poor" rarely passes the BS Test for me... although I notice Alan Joyce has honourably opted not to take a salary at this point.

Honourable??? He has already been paid $16mil this year. Cry me a river

[Daniel M]

The job keeper package looks like it won't be paid until May then backpaid...I fail to see how this will help anyone who is struggling with expenses.

There is also most definitely NOTHING honorable with Joyce......

AMEN!

[Erik H. Bakke]

People are calling for VA not to receive a bailout because they are foreign owned. Does the ownership make the affected jobs any less Australian?

Also, if they refuse to support VA because it is foreign owned, that is not exactly the way to tempt any other foreign entities to invest in the Australian market once this crisis is over.

I fear that if VA shuts down, there simply will be no second player in Australia. Qantas will simply be so big that once there is any kind of market disturbance or uncertaintly, any number two airline will not be able to survive.

[Dave Dale]

I hope our government comes to help Virgin. I am sure the public can remember the upset with the demise of Ansett, which, in real terms, wasn't that long ago. Furthermore, I am sure Virgin is doing some soul searching of its own too. Perhaps there will be some changes made to make it more financially secure gong forward. I do hope it survives.

[Garry Emanuel]

I hope VA survives as I believe a duopoly is better than a monopoly, however, I am also very wary of the "bailout requests" - the financial mismanagement that has been a pretty constant backdrop for VA has never truly been addressed and the current ownership allows for the magnitude to be diluted and potentially hidden from general viewership.

Current management needs to be doing more than soul-searching ! ! !

[Greg McDonald]

It's a little hard to do much when Borghetti took Virgin from a promising airline to financial ruin during his tenure. The current management can only deal with what they have.

[Todd Hendry]

It's a little hard to do much when Borghetti took Virgin from a promising airline to financial ruin during his tenure. The current management can only deal with what they have.

I’m pretty sure it’s not just John’s fault.

Where is Richard in all this?

Get rich quick scheme for him. Set up and run away.

[Greg McDonald]

Borghetti changed Virgin from a quite successful lower cost airline into a full service one and tried to compete with Qantas on a level playing field...it was never going to work!! They've been playing catchup ever since.

[Todd Hendry]

Borghetti changed Virgin from a quite successful lower cost airline into a full service one and tried to compete with Qantas on a level playing field...it was never going to work!! They've been playing catchup ever since.

Correct, totally agree. But I still don’t think Richard was in for the longhaul or greater good of Virgin or his employees.

[Steve S... 2]

That's why I had stopped flying Virgin (I was a very loyal VA customer) and went to Qantas. VA marketed themselves as a full service airline but did not seem like it when flying with them! And the repeated check-in/bag drop queue chaos at Sydney Terminal 2 was the 'final straw' with me and I switched to QF. Excellent service with QF for a similar price.

[Dave J]

Short memories it would seem!

VA have done more right for your pockets than you give them credit for. The price of airfares now compared to 20 years ago have only gone down. Tell me something else that’s gone down in price over the same period. The only reason these airfares have gone down has been only because of VA.

With that said, enjoy your $20 Corn Flakes between Sydney and Melbourne, because after all that’s what your paying for it! It’s not as if QF are flying the Concorde and VA are flying a Shorts 360 on the route.

Each to their own...