Legal Counsel:
provided they are correctly maintained and flown, there shouldn't be a problem
- agreed, not a safety problem. But older aircraft, no matter how fastidiously maintained, will always be less reliable than their younger counterpart. Unreliability = timetable impact. Not what you want in a business-focused niche market.
if they are hiring inexperienced pilots from the regionals I wonder how long it will be before the poor safety record of general aviation creeps into Australian mainline operations
Not sure whether that's wind-up... I'm sure they will be very careful about whom they hire, their experience level, and the level of "grey hair" on the flight deck. I understood the CP had an excellent reputation and an outstanding past career record including time with the regulator. Must admit this is one risk I just can't see OzJet taking. Am I being naive, or are you being a bit mischievous?
most of the business market flies in the non-flexible fare zone these days
What are you basing that on? I'm sure there's a mix of price-takers but when your business has to be done flexibly, you're going to need to buy at least some flexible fares. Even
VB's higher fares allow flexibility (in fact so do their cheaper fares, at a cost, which equates almost exactly to paying for the flexibility at the time you actually need it).
I'm not suggesting a return to the "flying pigs upfront" syndrome. Just that if a fully-flexible OW ticket MEL-SYD on
VB is $240 approx, would you pay say $300 0r $350 to get a meal, a drink, and some more hip/leg space? I would.
I think half the reason a business person takes a cheap fare is because it's on offer and there's no difference in what they get for the lower price, aside from some flexibility, which they can generally buy later, at a price, if needed.
Me, I'd pay a bit more - but not a heap more - for a bit more space, service, and an airport lounge that wasn't like a Greyhound bus terminal. I think it's exactly that need that OzJet has identified, and Virgin has ignored. QF offers it at at a high price (J Class, QF Club) and offers a bit of it to everyone as an in-flight differentiator (snack/drink service).
OzJet has correctly identified the required differentiation, but looks like potentially blowing the execution with the fleet age. Or, with the 146, the fleet choice.
Virgin has just blithely missed the point of that part of the market, preferring to focus on the price. Why they bother with their stupid, ineffective and misleading "service" focused advertising, beats me.
{endrant}
VHCU