Here's a news item from e*trade:
Jetstar a lacklustre attempt: Virgin
03/06/2004 02:34:44 PM
Virgin Blue threw down the gauntlet to its budget rival Jetstar, labelling it a "lacklustre attempt" by the Qantas group to compete with the low cost carrier.
Virgin Blue head of strategy and communication David Huttner said he doubted the Qantas-owned subsidiary was viable in its present form and believed it had made too many compromises.
He said Jetstar's inflexible 30-minute check-in and Qantas' decision to replace its own domestic services to key tourism destinations like the Gold and Sunshine coasts with the new budget carrier would backfire.
"People should not have to compromise between great service and low fares," Mr Huttner told journalists at the Australian Tourism Exchange conference in Melbourne.
"We have as many low fare seats as them, we are competing and continue to compete aggressively with Qantas, and Jetstar is proving to be a lacklustre attempt to try and neutralise that."
On Wednesday, Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said he admired Virgin Blue and believed Australia could handle the two low-cost airlines as well as Qantas domestic.
But he said Virgin Blue was having an "each-way bet" by not following the successful overseas budget airline model, such as that used by successful Irish airline RyanAir.
Jetstar has had about 250,000 airline seats booked since it launched on May 25, operating to 14 ports with 670 flights a week.
Mr Huttner denied Virgin Blue was in a dilemma over its role as a budget airline between Qantas domestic and Jetstar.
"We made a conscious choice that you could continue to be the country's low-cost leader but still offer quality service and not be cheap," he said.
"It's easy to be cheap but a little bit harder to be cheerful."
It looks to me as though Virgin have been hurting of late, with all of the air time going to the new kid on the block.
I guess Godfrey & Huttner have decided that any publicity is good publicity - clutching at straws perhaps...?