Virgin Blue 'could fold over fuel costs'

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Pieter S

Wow, my first post and so much controversy!
Cheap Fares in a market as small as Australia was always going, and will continue, to be problematic ...
The simple economic fact, in my increasingly humble opinion, is that the economies of scale are not there ...
Hence my comment to aim for a quality service, over cheap fares ...
But then again, I may be wrong ...

what...you mean like 24hr plus delays with full service carriers like QF? when there is a 5* Australian carrier offering quality service I'll be sure to try it...but for now we settle for two 3* carriers.

anyone that thinks that Australia should be dominated by a single carrier nation needs their head examined.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Originally Posted by Montague S

what...you mean like 24hr plus delays with full service carriers like QF? when there is a 5* Australian carrier offering quality service I'll be sure to try it...but for now we settle for two 3* carriers.

They happen.

And the engineers are not helping. They are being ridiculous.

And i wouldnt say qantas is a 3 star airline myself....more like 4 .

They aren't that bad...

[Pieter S]

Montague,

There is a big difference between ...
' ... thinks that Australia should be dominated by a single carrier ... ' & ...
My opinion ...
Which is that Australia is too small a market to sustain two large carriers ...
Do not think for one minute that I am happy with a natural monopoly ...
But I travel a lot and try to make the best of what I am presented with ...

P

p.s. Rhys, I agree ... Qantas = 4*, Virgin = 3* and Jetsar = 2.5* (domestically)

[Montague S]

how would you interpret this, Pieter?

I am all for a competitive aviation market, but will not be sad to see them go ... am happy to have a quality flying experience over a cheap fare.

make up your mind...if your not happy seeing them grace our skies then I'd say your in favour of a single major carrier.

Rhys are you Greek or of Greek heritage?

Which is that Australia is too small a market to sustain two large carriers ...

rubbish...its not the passenger numbers that are hurting DJ but the fuel price which in case you hadn't noticed is killing everyone, DJ & QF included. I would like to know your stance should the price of oil drop further, which is what I've predicted will happen and stand by that. I guess still no room for another carrier like DJ?

But I travel a lot and try to make the best of what I am presented with ...

I do too...and I avoid QF like the plague.

[Marty H]

Originally Posted by Montague S

what...you mean like 24hr plus delays with full service carriers like QF? when there is a 5* Australian carrier offering quality service I'll be sure to try it...but for now we settle for two 3* carriers.

anyone that thinks that Australia should be dominated by a single carrier nation needs their head examined.

Spot on and also the oil companies themselves have to look at it like this, do they want alot of airlines around the world buying their fuel at a lower price, or due to high fuel prices do they want ALOT less airlines buying fuel at a higher price? Im sure their answer would be the first one.

At the end of the day high oil prices will screw every industry arcoss the world in some way all because of greed by the oil companies, is it really worth it? With airlines grounding planes they wont expand their fleets there fore it flows on the aircraft manufacturers and then they have to lay off staff because they dont have work for them and so on, nobody will win and the sooner the oil companies realise that the better we will be for everyone.

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Marty H

Spot on and also the oil companies themselves have to look at it like this, do they want alot of airlines around the world buying their fuel at a lower price, or due to high fuel prices do they want ALOT less airlines buying fuel at a higher price? Im sure their answer would be the first one.

the longer the price stays high the more likely nobody will buy their product, as I said in another thread the price will fall and fall dramatically, I still think by years end too..it can't stay like this forever or those most reliant on oil will be crippled and the likes of BP, Shell etc will start hurting.

[Pieter S]

Let me be abundantly clear ...
At no point did I say, or could it be inferred/interpreted/surmised from my words, that ...
' ... Australia should be dominated by a single carrier ... ' ...
These are someone else's words ...
I am not a griefer ...
Merely someone with an opinion ...
No one wins the oil game ... no one ...
That horse bolted long ago.

[Pieter S]

Originally Posted by Montague S

the longer the price stays high the more likely nobody will buy their product, as I said in another thread the price will fall and fall dramatically, I still think by years end too..it can't stay like this forever or those most reliant on oil will be crippled and the likes of BP, Shell etc will start hurting.

There is no choice but to buy ...
Until there is some other economically viable and supported alternative ...
Almost everything runs on oil or a fossil fuel of some kind ....
I agree the price will come back to a more sensible level in the short term ...
But the days of less than USD100 oil are gone ...
Gone like the Dodo, the Grateful Dead and Electric Cars (hmmm, who killed them off in the U.S.) ...

[Adrian B]

Originally Posted by Pieter S

Let me be abundantly clear ...
At no point did I say, or could it be inferred/interpreted/surmised from my words, that ...
' ... Australia should be dominated by a single carrier ... ' ...
These are someone else's words ...
.

Pieter, you are of course entitled to your opinion.

Just to clarify.
You would not be sad to see them go = Virgin?
am happy to have a quality flying experience = Qantas?
over a cheap fare = Jetstar?

Who is left??

[Michael Mak]

I, for one, would surely hope that Virgin will get through this. Service wise, they are certainly not bad, never had any trouble with them. Imagine if DJ does fold, we will have QF and JQ (which in affect is QF) and Tiger.

The more competitions, the better for the customers.