Virgin will pull one A330 from east-west routes for Hong Kong
By David Flynn, March 27 2017
Virgin Australia will reduce domestic Airbus A330 flights in order to launch its new Melbourne-Hong Kong route in July 2017.
The unusual schedule of flights from Melbourne to Hong Kong – which will run five days each week but with departure times ranging from shortly after midnight to mid-morning – means that Virgin needs more than one A330 for the route, compared to the single-aircraft requirements of Qantas' fixed timetable.
While Virgin already has one A330 at its disposal due to the cancellation of planned flights between Perth and Abu Dhabi, a second jet from the airline's six-strong A330 fleet will also be drafted for flights to Hong Kong.
Sharing the plane pain
Australian Business Traveller understands that Virgin will reschedule east-west flying so that the A330 will be removed from the three major east-west routes of Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Perth and Brisbane-Perth rather than pulled off a single city pair.
Brisbane was considered most at risk from such a move, with only one A330 running most days a week as VA474 and VA469, but by spreading the load Virgin has avoided its spiritual base from becoming a Boeing 737-only transcontinental route.
The overnight 'redeye' flights from Perth to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will all remain on the well-appointed A330s, Virgin says.
Qantas could soon face a similar situation, with the airline last week granted "unlimited capacity and frequency" on Australia-China flights by Australia's International Air Services Commission.
The flights can be operated by Qantas or Jetstar, in addition to codeshare services with partner China Eastern.
Qantas already flies between Sydney and Shanghai, and in January 2017 restarted its Sydney-Beijing route, with both routes on an Airbus A330, and its 18-strong fleet of domestic A330-200 jets provides a deep pool from which Qantas could draw.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jul 2014
Total posts 143
They should look at AA's transcon A321 as a good east - west and trains-Tasman option.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Nov 2011
Total posts 121
Firstly, VA doesn't command a revenue premium to warrant such a premium heavy aircraft and secondly they shouldn't be adding aircraft types to their fleet.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
I regularly fly the Virgin A330 on the BNE-PER run on VA474. Plane always seems to be half full.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2011
Total posts 359
Here is an idea Virgin.....get more wide bodies!
13 Sep 2016
Total posts 13
Wow, such insight, I bet Virgin Australia wishes you were the CEO because clearly you could fix things just like that. #ArmchairAirlineCEO
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2011
Total posts 359
Thank you, and I am sure I could.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 May 2014
Total posts 463
VA469 PER - BNE seems to run at different times of the day and not always with 332. There are some days with no 332 service. Not a good way to lure J customers.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 May 2011
Total posts 362
Well that's just Virgin's style... inconsis
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
a search of various/many dates in AUG/SEP of PER-BNE, PER-SYD AND PER-MEL. NONE have a REGULAR WEEKDAY SCHEDULED A332 on the 'red-eye'. I can only find A332 spasmodically scheduled PER-MEL flights. Most A332 flights ex PER appear as 'afternoon' flights. Can AUSTBT/VA please confirm that ALL VA red-eyes ex PER will be an A332.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
I fly the red eye PER-BNE during the week every fortnight. It has been 737s since 2014.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
thanks Chris_PER. Yet AUSBT state ALL RED EYES WILL REMAIN?? A330s. Some is telling porkypies!!
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
That all west-to-east red-eyes will be A330s is what Virgin Australia has told us in preparation of this article.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
As AUSTBT/VA has stated ALL RED-EYES WILL REMAIN (they never have been ALL) A330s!!!
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
Actually this is what Virgin Australia had told us, not 'our' statement per se.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
28 Jul 2013
Total posts 81
Only downside is no PRE ECO - unlike CX & QF... Lost opportunity..?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Dec 2016
Total posts 30
Well they do only have 6 A330's, so this was not a big surprise.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jan 2014
Total posts 320
I would imagine QF would want to try and keep as many A330 on the Perth routes as possible, once again leaving its competitor floundering, why not put the boot in when you can.
30 Aug 2013
Total posts 438
And what discount will they be providing for 737 transcon services vs A330 (esp red eyes?) I assume its at least 25% cheaper? Or do they price them the same and then just leave it up to pax to manage their own disappointment?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
15 Mar 2016
Total posts 167
You have to remember most people are not as informed about aviation products as the people you find on this site. Most wouldn't know what sort of plane they're flying on, let alone that there are huge differences in products. You'd find slightly more business-class passengers pay attention to it but i'd wager it's not the majority and airlines know that.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Jul 2013
Total posts 203
Sadly this is exactly what they do :-(
Qantas
19 Jun 2015
Total posts 18
3 across economy seating and tiny biz cabin is not a good way to fly long haul PER BNE or even SYD. No wonder QF eat VA on Perth routes
18 Apr 2016
Total posts 5
Flying to Perth from the east coast is no where near long haul. Its actually quite funny you think it is. Put another 9-10hrs on the flight and then you can say long haul.
Qantas
19 Jun 2015
Total posts 18
The airlines class it as "long haul domestic". Their words not mine. And from Perth everything is a haul of some sort
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
"Qantas could soon face a similar situation, with the airline last week granted "unlimited capacity and frequency" on Australia-China flights by Australia's International Air Services Commission."
I was confused by this, so I went to look.
It appears that the Australia/China air service agreement changed from seat per week based to open skies/unlimited in Feb.
It looks like the following QF application for unlimited capacity was to update their existing seat based limit to the new agreement.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Oct 2014
Total posts 14
QF will only add capacity to China if it can make money, there is a huge amount of capacity between China and Australia and so it maybe best for QF to allow current capacity in the short term to be grown into and allow things to settle for a while?
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