Get the paint stripper out and reclaim the Virgin 737's?!
Do Tiger actually have any 737 rated crew yet? Suppose they should, it's been long enough....
TWOTBAGS;
"but the price Joe Public is willing to pay is bottom dollar."
I hear you but over the years (I first went there in '86 and lived there part time for years until recently so know it pretty well..) the type of people frequenting Bali has altered. Sure, in the old days it was surfers, families on the cheap, drunks looking for sunshine and the cheapest beer in town and that was about it. Plenty of punters to run a Tiger LCC operation or two.
However in recent times there's been a surge of far more well heeled people who frequent Seminyak, Nusa Dua and Changgu etc (i.e. would never venture to Kuta, Legian, buy bintang T shirts or wander the streets drinking same), lease Villas or live there part time and are cashed up (and not afraid to spend it). They wouldn't take a Tiger flight to Bali in a pink fit
.
For them, the Virgin product was the preferred carrier I'm guessing. I used Virgin many times and they did it pretty bloody well. I would hazard a guess those people now choose to fly Garuda (surprisingly good and a full service airline) or perhaps Jetstar.
To wind up, my guess is there is plenty of demand to sustain a decent quality/ profitable service to Denpasar from Melbourne. i.e. like there was before the great Tiger experiment. But then I'm not Virgin Management so what the hell would I know?!
