Bain reveals plans for new 'mid-market' Virgin Australia 2.0

The Mackay lounge closing due to "low visitation" is a nonsense. I visited the lounge a few times a month for years pre COVID-19, and you were often lucky to find a seat if you didn't arrive as soon as the doors opened. Many of the pax ex Mackay are FIFO and mine support folk, most of whom hold status allowing them to access the lounge. Looks like QF will get a leg up from this poor decision.

Comment transferred from another ET discussion and which contains statements already highlighted in this article 

“According to Hrdlicka’s press release on VA website

Business class offering still under review, relaunching in 2021, no further details until then

Economy will be fresh buy onboard menu from 2021, complimentary tea coffee water 

Wifi under review 

Lounges DRW, CNS, MKY to close, CBR under review (which says a lot about what they are chasing)

Wonder what is constitutes LCCs in the eyes of the new VA CEO? Maybe because they are keeping lounges so they can call themselves mid market?”

Seems like a bit of a circus at Virgin. They have had many months to review the offering and yet still cannot provide any detail on what the product will look like from 2021 onwards.

For an airline that has "premium leisure travellers"  and "small to medium sized businesses" in its target market, closing lounges in Darwin, Cairns and Mackay seems quite illogical. 

Looks like under Jayne it will become Jetstar with some trashy purple lipstick. 

Lost me as a VA Platinum - no confidence in them whatsoever any more. I expected more from the launch today. I do fly business class and this "wait until 2021" approach has me jumping ship. I expect business will go - Jane wouldn't know what to do in a business class seat. Surprised she didn't wear thongs to the launch. Bye bye Virgin.

The Cairns lounge was actually my favourite Virgin Australia lounge. Great location, views, and the best customer service in the country, with staff who were willing to go the extra mile to help. I have a particularly fond memory of a staff member sitting with my teenage daughter, helping her to get the lounge's wi-fi to work on her iPhone. There seemed to be extra food options as well, that weren't provided in other VA lounges. 

At least Velocity points aren't being devalued!

The long awaited Hobart Lounge, first mooted nearly 10 years ago will never happen!

Agree with all the comments re the Cairns lounge. It was a really nice space and my favourite of all the lounges. I never saw it packed to the gills but definitely ‘busy’ every time I went through.

"Inflight WiFi and inflight entertainment, both of which remain switched off on Virgin's Boeing 737s, are also "under review".

Not True - IFE is on, been on 3 Adelaide ~ Sydney return trips in the last couple of months and watched movies quite happily.

David.

Am I reading it correctly from ET's article about "VA dropping free meals etc. in Economy " where the article also states that Business Class meals will stay as they are until 2021? Does that mean that it's " snack boxes " for a gourmet meal until then ???

I that's so then it will be a very poor standard of service it looks like I will get on my Business Class Brisbane- Perth on Dec. 15th!

Should have gone QF.

I actually believe that this is more in line with my expectations and given that the airline industry has been decimated worldwide to see some of the prior comments think that some people have been hiding under a rock as they are bloody stupid. Virgin is based on service that is why the cabin crew won so many awards and if I only get a drink with a smile and excellent service at a reasonable price I will continue to fly Virgin, lounge access is a bonus and whilst that is great I am more interested in flying to my destination and enjoying the trip which has no been a while due to the long lockdown in Vic.

Given that the "announcement" seems to be full of "under review" items, I'd wager a bet that the genius factor at Bain & Co are still - like the rest of us - trying to work out what a HYBRID carrier actually is (if, indeed, it is a thing at all?). 

Perhaps it's the opposite of the equally nebulous "New World" carrier which was introduced, misunderstood and dropped just as quickly?  

Frankly, it's still sounding very LCC to me. Why is there no mention of basics such as luggage allowances / costs, for instance? With the opening of borders by Christmas, perhaps Virgin 2.0 thinks we should all lay our trust in them while they 'wing it' for a few months?

I'd happily forgive a new startup - like REX - with a new entry into operating jets on trunk routes for a few months, but this level of unprofessional launch from Virgin 2.0 who have had some 7 months to factor out an operational plan is more than a little poor. Especially when you've had the vision of the bankruptcy administrator and the expertise of a Bain partner who incidentally, happens to be an ex-QF executive and the ex-head of their discount LCC. 

Virgin really needed to come out swinging on this official day 1 release to show strong leadership and give not only the FF/passengers but the market in general confidence. Yet all they've basically released is the equivalent of "ah.. yeah.. changes? yeah we're ah working on them - oh oh yeah we're removing free food and shit from economy". That's pretty pathetic, especially given they've had months to work on this and make decisions on which direction to go.

I understand there's so much uncertainty in the market at present with COVID, and state border closures etc, but they would have been far better releasing a solid plan, then making it subject to the recovering market as to when the changes would be made. That would give them the appearance of having a confident solid plan whilst still giving them the wiggle room to make changes as required.

I mean for a company that has minimal cash - why talk about refreshing the lounges?? Seriously?? They're not even 100% certain which will remain open and what the post covid market will look like.

Honestly, what has "newly-minted CEO Jayne Hrdlicka" been doing these past few months?  She's had ample time to get the Business Class experience sorted, but to tell me I have to wait until next year?  She's lost her marbles, because I'll be giving QFA my business until I can see whether it's worthwhile staying Platinum at VA.  

This is nothing short of 'bloody amateur hour' at Bain/Virgin.  A bucket of horse manure if ever there was one.  Calamity Jayne at her best?  I suspect it was.

Like Tracie, I am also Velocity Platinum but seriously wonder why I should bother from now on.  Jayne Hrdlicka's 'revelations' about VA 2.0 are almost entirely corporate spin and waffle.  Dismal.  Amazingly, the Virgin Lounge's future in Canberra is "under review".  Seriously?!  Contrary to popular opinion, plenty of air travel in and out of Canberra is in the leisure and small business markets, NOT just by public servants.  How much longer will Velocity Gold and Platinum members endure Ms Hrdlicka's obfuscation and shenanigans before defecting permanently to Qantas?  Many of us already have the Qatar/OneWorld status match.

Back in April when Alan Joyce made his crass comments about Virgin's "bad management", I felt great sympathy for Paul Scurrah and VA.  But now, Joyce could be vindicated as we lurch into 2021, and smiling at the prospect of winning over top-tier Velocity members.  Who could blame him?

What a confused announcement which doesn’t bode well for VA’s future. They are promising to be everything to everyone but don’t explain how. I appreciate the crew go a long way but it just can’t compare to Qantas’ Lounge network and offering, aircraft network and subsequently flight frequency and the value of its Frequent Flyer status. 

What an embarrassing launch when this has been their key focus for months. Once they have an airline to fully run I fear the customers are going to be forgotten. 

I’m going back to Qantas. 

Hybrid carrier is just double talk for a low cost carrier with some extra marketing, a bit of brand image and some extra service, perks available for additional fees and charges. 

Wow , what an incredible surprise, it would appear that William Shakespeare has been reincarnated.

This must be so because we are now witnessing a new adaption of his play " Much ado about nothing " but this time written under the pseudonym of Jane  H#############.

This release by her confirms that it is indeed a sequel to the Play.

Nice to see Bill is still around but I would wager he is very doubtful about flying Business Class or even economy with VA given the confusion at Fort Fumble!

While on the one hand this looks quite waffly and vague, on the other if I were inheriting Virgin at this point, I'd probably be holding my cards pretty close to my chest till I saw what a post-COVID travel industry looked like. I don't expect his is the final word from Bain. In fact, I'd put money on a rebrand and relaunch once travel opens up again.

Hey Lady Jayne

Hope you "wood ducks' dont stuff it up.  

Cause i know what you "seppos" do with synergies - it is almighty dollar and stuff the great people you had at Virgin.

Looks like under Jayne it will become Jetstar with some trashy purple lipstick from another comment 

Xtfer

Bain and Co. have had months to work this out properly .

They should have put together a comprehensive statement of what they will provide. This scrappy half hearted load of crap only antagonises the once loyal customers. This is an appalling start to try and get VA fully operational again.

It does not give any traveller any confidence in the Management if this is an example of what they are capable of.

Surely given  the experience these executives  proclaim to have they could have done one hell of a better PR job than this disaster!!!!!

A lounge to relax in pre-flight, a comfortable seat, preferably in business where a nice FA will be courteous and polite (I like being called my first name some of the time), provide me with a couple of drinks on a 1 hour flight, maybe something edible to eat, a pilot that knows how to fly and where he's going and a reasonable expectation of departing and arriving on time at a price I'm comfortable with and I'm happy. Its not rocket science. It doesn't need dozens of committees or focus groups, follow the basic rules and flyers will be happy (well, a reasonable number of them anyway from the comments here and around other places).

A “mid-market” carrier? Hmm. There used to be such a beast, except back in the early “noughties” it was called a “hybrid “ carrier. It went by the name of Virgin Blue, and it was a pleasure to fly with them. Then along came   (the ex-Roo...) Mr Boghetti, and proceeded to pretty much - as the Americans would say - “screwed the pooch” by trying to be QF. No surprise, but it knocked all the VB fun atmosphere out of both staff & pax. 

Have I got that all right, in words of a few syllables? Meh! That was in a past life for me. Now retired, and simply hoping that my Velocity points will still get my backside into an SQ business seat, if/whenever we are released from our lovely prison without needing an exit visa.

Have a nice evening, Comrades. 

The CBR Lounge “under review” has me intrigued. It’s a busy route from SYD and MEL albeit with peaks and troughs. Is this an aircraft driven decision? I.e no more ATR’s ..?

I’ve been VA Platinum for years. Always fly Business. IMO the pre Covid Virgin Business was streets ahead of QF. 

That said, I’ve entirely lost patience with VA. Tired of getting snack boxes and health bars as meals in business class. And tired of being kept in the dark about when or if things might ever return to something that might be considered normal business class service. 

I’m not prepared to fly around in VAs sub-par product for heaven know a how many more months. 

I’ve already been in touch with QF FF who are welcoming me with open arms. Indeed, as I write this I’m sitting in a QF Business lounge. 

Virgin had every chance to keep me, but ones patience only lasts so long.