Virgin Blue loads

[Erik H. Bakke]

For quite a while, I've noticed that the Virgin Blue flights on the golden triangle Sydney,Brisbane,Melbourne have been very full every time I've been flying.
It's also been fairly hard to get tickets for some flights.

So, how long until DJ will start using larger aircraft on some of these services?
I'm primarily thinking about the B739ER, here, but possibly even larger.
For new-build aircraft with a higher capacity than the B739ER, there's really only the A321 that can be offered at the moment, unless they go all the way up to the A332 or B767 size. That's a large gap so probably not too likely for DJ.

Using larger aircraft is probably going to be easier than adding new flights, as it would let them grow capacity without having to grow the number of aircraft.

Do they indeed have aircraft sitting idle in the morning and afternoon peaks at all?

[Marty H]

Some aircraft do have longer turn around times, they may come in the morning and then go out in the afternoon, but that for MEL might be say 2-3 aircraft, majority are still 30 min turn arounds.

Some flights maybe 40-45 min turn arounds but more because it maybe going out as a PER flight and will require extra time, or may have come in from a non CBS port such as LST.

[Anthony T]

The Boeing 737-900 needs an extra flight attendant, so that ain't gonna happen.

[Erik H. Bakke]

But how many extra flight attendants do extra aircraft need? ;)

[Michael Morrison]

The Boeing 737-900 needs an extra flight attendant, so that ain't gonna happen.

you never know.

They could have configured the Ejets with 72 seats rather than 78 seats to save on a crew member, but they chose not to.

I guess the 737-900 would offer more than 6 seats more thand the -800 so I don't think the excuse of an additional crew member really holds up.

[Anthony T]

The E-Jet crews work both the 170 & 190, that is the reason the 170 has 78 seats, the same crew rotation can change between types.

At the moment, the CC is 1 CS +3 FA on the 700/800's, the B737-900 would need 1 CS + 4 FA due to the aft wing exit.

[BradR]

Anthony is probably right. DJ is known to have been an early target of Boeing for the 739ER and given they turned their nose up then it must be assumed that they can't make it work in their current business model. It is a pity really as DJ is almost becoming slot restricted in their growth. Often all their gates at MEL and SYD are full and they can't grow revenue further without growing the size of the aircraft at the gate or speeding the turnaround which is already pretty fast anyway.

The 739 is however the only type that would make sense for DJ were they to grow the maximum size of their domestic fleet. There would be no business case supporting the change to another type as it would destroy the business' cost base particularly at a time when it is already stretched by the arrival of the 77W and fuel costs.

Brad