Wirraway
18th Sep 2003, 00:20
Thurs "Sydney Morning Herald"
Virgin skirts Tasman fares tussle
By Scott Rochfort and Cosima Marriner
September 18, 2003
Virgin Blue stuck to the fringes of the looming trans-Tasman aviation dogfight between Qantas and Air New Zealand yesterday, announcing its new New Zealand subsidiary, Pacific Blue, would fly the "leisure" Brisbane to Christchurch route from February 1.
With the first Pacific Blue Boeing 737-800 touching down in its new New Zealand home port yesterday morning, Virgin played down suggestions it could come head-to-head with Qantas, Air NZ and Emirates on higher-volume Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Auckland routes.
But with the airline still negotiating with Air NZ to secure terminal space at Auckland Airport for planned domestic flights in New Zealand, the airline said it would hold off taking a more aggressive approach.
"We're not going to take a risk profile until we understand what competitive environment we work in," said Virgin's head of strategy, David Huttner, adding the proposed alliance between Qantas and Air NZ was still in the air. If the alliance fails to go ahead, Air NZ has already indicated it will scrap its yet-to-be-signed agreement to offer Pacific Blue around one-sixth of its domestic terminal space in Auckland.
Pacific Blue was offering $149 introductory one-way fares on the daily Brisbane to Christchurch service on the internet yesterday, with a year-round one-way price of $219. The cheapest one-way ticket from Qantas from Friday will be $245.
A Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation analyst, Ian Thomas, said Pacific Blue was following the same strategy Virgin Blue had three years ago when it set up base in Brisbane by initially building its network on less-competitive and more leisure-oriented routes.
"It's quite clear that the gloves are off as far as Qantas and Air New Zealand are concerned, and Virgin needs to create a market underneath that," he said.
Meanwhile, Qantas declined to indicate whether it would match Virgin's new fares on its twice-weekly Christchurch to Brisbane service, after matching Air NZ's Tasman Express low-cost fare structure on Tuesday.
After cutting the cost of a return ticket between Sydney and Auckland from 33 per cent to $451 - the same as Air NZ - from October 15, the new Qantas fares will go on sale tomorrow.
Air NZ and Qantas are deciding whether to appeal against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's rejection of the deal. The NZ Commerce Commission has yet to come to a final decision.
"We believe that we've got a good case and we believe that things have significantly changed from when we first made the submission," Mr Miller said.
Virgin meanwhile confirmed it was in talks on starting flights to Vanuatu and Fiji in the near future. It confirmed it had talks with the managing director of Port Vila's Bauerfield International Airport, Desmond Ross, in Sydney yesterday.
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Virgin skirts Tasman fares tussle
By Scott Rochfort and Cosima Marriner
September 18, 2003
Virgin Blue stuck to the fringes of the looming trans-Tasman aviation dogfight between Qantas and Air New Zealand yesterday, announcing its new New Zealand subsidiary, Pacific Blue, would fly the "leisure" Brisbane to Christchurch route from February 1.
With the first Pacific Blue Boeing 737-800 touching down in its new New Zealand home port yesterday morning, Virgin played down suggestions it could come head-to-head with Qantas, Air NZ and Emirates on higher-volume Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Auckland routes.
But with the airline still negotiating with Air NZ to secure terminal space at Auckland Airport for planned domestic flights in New Zealand, the airline said it would hold off taking a more aggressive approach.
"We're not going to take a risk profile until we understand what competitive environment we work in," said Virgin's head of strategy, David Huttner, adding the proposed alliance between Qantas and Air NZ was still in the air. If the alliance fails to go ahead, Air NZ has already indicated it will scrap its yet-to-be-signed agreement to offer Pacific Blue around one-sixth of its domestic terminal space in Auckland.
Pacific Blue was offering $149 introductory one-way fares on the daily Brisbane to Christchurch service on the internet yesterday, with a year-round one-way price of $219. The cheapest one-way ticket from Qantas from Friday will be $245.
A Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation analyst, Ian Thomas, said Pacific Blue was following the same strategy Virgin Blue had three years ago when it set up base in Brisbane by initially building its network on less-competitive and more leisure-oriented routes.
"It's quite clear that the gloves are off as far as Qantas and Air New Zealand are concerned, and Virgin needs to create a market underneath that," he said.
Meanwhile, Qantas declined to indicate whether it would match Virgin's new fares on its twice-weekly Christchurch to Brisbane service, after matching Air NZ's Tasman Express low-cost fare structure on Tuesday.
After cutting the cost of a return ticket between Sydney and Auckland from 33 per cent to $451 - the same as Air NZ - from October 15, the new Qantas fares will go on sale tomorrow.
Air NZ and Qantas are deciding whether to appeal against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's rejection of the deal. The NZ Commerce Commission has yet to come to a final decision.
"We believe that we've got a good case and we believe that things have significantly changed from when we first made the submission," Mr Miller said.
Virgin meanwhile confirmed it was in talks on starting flights to Vanuatu and Fiji in the near future. It confirmed it had talks with the managing director of Port Vila's Bauerfield International Airport, Desmond Ross, in Sydney yesterday.
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