V Australia requests capacity on SYD-JNB EFF-Oct 09

[Michael Morrison]

Well they have been given the frequencies.

VA amended it from being 5 per week from OCT 09 to immediate.

So they have been granted 3 x p/w effective immediately, increasing to 5 per week from OCT 09.

http://www.iasc.gov.au/pubs/2008iasc113.pdf

So I guess with 2 aircraft this year going to SYD-LAX and 3 more due next year with 1 going BNE-LAX and 1.5 doing SYD-JNB (with the .5 presumably going to bne-lax increase of freq) I guess we won't see any more new destinations in 2009.... so that leaves 2 more in 2010...

[Garry Emanuel]

Hey, let's all congratualte VA for their wonderfully generous gesture of introducing flights to JNB.

The comment about "cherry picking" is so true and very frustrating.

How quickly people forget the "commercial" motivation of DJ and presumably VA.

There will be a flurry of interest, excitement and enthusiasm from all quarters except QF.

VA will launch their flights and will "cut the ar%e" out so they can claim to be "keeping the air fare".

What happens next ?

Option 1 - the route is successful, all live happily ever after and each of VA, QF and SAA make a nice profit.

Option 2 - QF (and perhaps SAA) respond by sharpening their pencil(s) and reducing their fares. VA pay visit to ACCC to bemoan the unfair market reaction. Who wins in this case ?

Option 3 - option 2 plays out but in the interim, VA get the sh$ts (like they did with Kalgoorllie) and pull out.

It seems to me that all and sundry side with the "underdog" to take down the "tall poppy".

That's Aussie tradition.

What really gets me wound up is that QF wear the flack for all that they do and don't do and all the while, it gets attached to being "the National Flag Carrier". DJ and its associated NAC's get off relatively scott free - for fear we might offend "the million dollar Dick" (or is that billion dollar ?).

When the s^&t hits the fan, VA, DJ and whatever other abbreviation they can conjure up will be "outta here" quicker than the Captain can say "Cabin crew disarm doors and cross-check".

By then Tigger (oooops, I mean Tiger !) will have gone walking in the "thousand acre woods" with Piglet.

Now, tell me, who will we all expect to be our saviour ?

Let me guess, the carriers that both have Q in their call sign ! ! ! ! !

Cherry-picking is a hell of a lot easier than hard work. Delivers better profits too ! ! ! ! But only if the business model is sustainable - filling a plane to the gunnels with low margin passengers can only last so long.

Let's see how sustainable the DJ model of attracting low-paying "suits" really is. I've flown SYD-MEL-SYD a few times recently in peak and those lovely red PE seats are not occupied - well, not entirely true, 1 was ! ! ! !

A colleague on a "cheap and cheerful" fare got upgraded to them recently - gee, why doesn't QF do that ? I wonder ! ! ! ! !

[Michael Morrison]

Originally Posted by Garry Emanuel

Hey, let's all congratualte VA for their wonderfully generous gesture of introducing flights to JNB.

Why is competition frustrating? Surely they are going to go for the routes with the highest yields and lowest competition to start with? It doesn;t make sense for them to fly SYD-BKK or SYD-HKG currently.

Originally Posted by Garry Emanuel

VA will launch their flights and will "cut the ar%e" out so they can claim to be "keeping the air fare".

I doubt they will cut the **** out of their fares. They have said on average they want to be about 16% lower than QF.

Currently the chepaest SALE seat on this route is $2499 in economy.... I say bring on some competition.

Originally Posted by Garry Emanuel

When the s^&t hits the fan, VA, DJ and whatever other abbreviation they can conjure up will be "outta here" quicker than the Captain can say "Cabin crew disarm doors and cross-check".

And QF have been very quick to do the same recently....

PER-DPS
PER-CGK
SIN-DPS
CNS-NRT
CNS-NGO
CNS-KIX
SYD-OOL
MEL-AYQ
MEL-WOL
MEL-NRT

Then there is JQ's dropping of routes
SYD-PPP
ADL-MCY
BNE-HBA
SYD-KUL

[Radi K]

Originally Posted by Michael Morrison

And QF have been very quick to do the same recently....

PER-DPS
PER-CGK
SIN-DPS
CNS-NRT
CNS-NGO
CNS-KIX
SYD-OOL
MEL-AYQ
MEL-WOL
MEL-NRT

QF has simply substituted JQ into some of those markets. So I wouldn't say QF has pulled out of all those regions.

As far as DPS, lets hope DJ get there act together and start operations to Bali before the end of the year.

[lloyd fox]

Garry the IASC disagrees with you see paragraph 5 and 6.

Cheers



V Australia granted immediate access to South Africa
Wednesday, August 20, 2008




V Australia has just been grated access to the Australia–South Africa route by the government due to the lack of competition and high fares currently in operation.

The Virgin Group carrier has been given immediate access and a total capacity of five weekly services between Sydney and Johannesburg using B777–300ER aircraft with a capacity of 361 seats.

In a statement the International Air Services Commission (IASC) says, “The Commission notes that the South Africa route has been characterised by limited competition for some time.”

“There are only two direct operators, Qantas and South African Airways (SAA), and they operate to separate points in Australia (Sydney and Perth respectively). Such competition as there is between them comes via a code share arrangement.”

Additionally, the IASC comments on growing traffic figures on the routes, especially during peak periods, but a lack of capacity operated by the duopoly.

“There has been little pressure on the incumbent carriers to discount air fares significantly, either to deal with competition or to attract additional traffic,” adds the IASC.

Access is conditional on V Australia starting services before the 1stof October 2009, with all five weekly return services to be in operation by the end of said month.

When e-Travel Blackboard contacted Virgin Blue for a comment, a spokesperson added that Virgin Blue was always “interested in new routes” but there were “no official dates or timing” for these rights yet.

Possible October start

Speaking at a press conference in Sydney Brett Godfrey, Virgin Group CEO, adds that South Africa won’t happen immediately, even though access has been granted so quickly.

“We have no plans at this stage,” said Mr Godfrey. “We have an ability to run by October 2009... [But] there are other routes.”

“At this point we haven’t decided.”

V Australia will see delivery of five B777-300 ERs, with three to be delivered by Christmas, one in April 2009 and one in October 2009.

The three due by Christmas have been earmarked for the already announced North American services.

April’s new craft will be to a third, as of yet unannounced destination. Currently it is highly unlikely that this will be the South African service, with Mr Godfrey saying it is “probably not a reality”.

This leaves the October B777 left on the table, and indications are good that V Australia will start South African services with the craft.

He emphasised that the speedy access to rights doesn’t mean a speedy entrance on the route, saying that the reason the government moved so quickly was due to growing demand.
“Nearly two-thirds of traffic [AUS–SA] is fuelled through a third country,” he adds.

[Rhys Xanthis]

And today QF launched a sale to Sth Africa..co-incidence? I think not!