PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Pacific Blue to Bali from December 1
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Old 19th September 2008 | 15:08
  #8 (permalink)  
takingover
 
Joined: Jun 2008
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From: Nepal
Pacific Blue could possibly fly the services out of Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne as they already operate through those ports. However, they don't go anywhere near Adelaide & Perth at the moment & don't currently fly into Canberra. While the Canberra service will probably go through Sydney anyway & can therefore be done by Virgin to Sydney & then PB to Bali, the other two sectors would be a problem for PB. I don't see PB flying domestic sectors in Oz, & I don't see PB positioning crews & aircraft to Adelaide & Perth.

That being said, Virgin had 5 or 6 aircraft in Pacific Blue colours & Australian regos flying in Australia a year ago. These were aircraft that were supposed to go to PB, but were held by Virgin in Oz. I think that Virgin needed the capacity more at the time. One of these aircraft went to NZ when a NZ registered PB aircraft was in the hangar for maintenance. That is why the PB crews hold both NZ & Oz licenses.

That number has obviously dropped due to the expansion on the other side of the Tasman with domestic sectors & further international sectors added in the last year, but a number remain. Perhaps someone could enlighten us on exactly how many are left in Oz.

It is likely that Virgin will still have sufficent of these aircraft in Oz to fly the Bali services with an aircraft in Pacific Blue colours, although it will be a little restrictive with fleet planning. It would be likely that aircraft in Virgin colours might end up doing some of the flights, like aircraft in PB colours do some of the Polynesian Blue flying. It would depend on how close to the wind the decision makers like to sail.

I think that it is quite likely that VB crews will fly some of the sevices to Bali, if not all of them.
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