Originally Posted by
PoppaJo
Mick the trend appears to be, they do well in off peak non business times, but do terrible in peak business periods.
If you have a look, flights are actually much heavier at lunchtime and late late night. Busy on a Friday to Sunday, however that is only half of it. Then, Virgin is the reverse, heavier in peak and lighter in off peak, the margin is in peak though!
They really appear to only carry the scraps of any business traffic, probably as much as Tiger Air did back in the day. They really need to get that fixed before fuel goes on another road trip, which appears that trip has just started, will bleed them dry flying around like that for half the day.
They're certainly shaping up as God's airline - Sundays are their best day for loads. Fridays have tended to be their best day for pax numbers but spread over more flights than Sundays. And yep, on the triangle and generally, it's the middle of the day when they see reasonable loads.
Melbourne - Brisbane is their most solid city pair on the triangle for loads; they limit themselves to 2 return services a day there. Melbourne - Gold Coast is generally solid (one return a day) as is Sydney - Adelaide (also one return a day).
When they were starting to hit their straps this time last year, there was good evidence of solid corporate bookings; good early am and 5pm - 7pm loads on the triangle, Monday to Friday. That now appears to be missing, and that is going to sting as the economy cools.
Their next play is going to be Brisbane - Adelaide. It will be interesting to see how that goes; it's an already pretty well serviced route. Shades of their play for Melbourne - Hobart there perhaps; that was a reasonably well serviced route when they chipped in mid-August.