Wirraway
17th Dec 2003, 15:59
Wednesday, December 17, 2003. 11:44am (AEDT)
Virgin to launch Wellington-Sydney service
Pacific Blue Airlines, the international division of Australia's Virgin Blue, plans to introduce a daily service between the New Zealand capital, Wellington, and Sydney from March 10.
Chief executive Tony Marks said Pacific had chosen Wellington as its second New Zealand destination after Christchurch "following tremendous lobbying by business and tourism operators as well as the helpful cooperation of Wellington International Airport".
The service would be launched with an introductory $NZ99 fare.
Mr Marks said there was plenty of trans-Tasman competition to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, but Wellington had been largely overlooked.
-- AFP
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AFP
Wednesday December 17, 7:24 PM AEDT
Australia's Virgin Blue takes domestic market share over 30 percent
Australian discount airline Virgin Blue said its share of the domestic passenger market passed the 30 percent mark for the first time in October and foreshadowed a price war with Qantas.
Virgin Blue Ltd. said Wednesday official traffic data for November showed it had 30.4 percent of the total domestic market, including routes that it does not fly on.
"Clearly we've passed another line in the sand and this proves that the Australian public is supporting our way of doing business," Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said.
The airline, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange last week, is gearing up to meet Qantas Airways Ltd.'s response to its incursion into the Australian market, a discount airline called JetStar that will begin operating next year.
Godfrey said Virgin Blue had exceeded all expectations since it was launched three years ago by British tycoon Richard Branson.
"No one in their wildest dreams, no one in our team, honestly thought this airline would get to where it is today," Godfrey said.
He was unperturbed by Qantas' plans for JetStar, saying Virgin Blue would continue to offer Australia's lowest fares.
"Rest assured, we will put out certain fares over the next few months that are bonanzas, simply because we want the people to know who are the real low fare leaders," he said.
"Watch this space, I am sure we will do something silly in the next six weeks or so, so hang on to your pennies because it might be all you will need."
Godfrey said airfares were now 23 percent lower than before Virgin Blue's launch.
He attributed the latest market share growth to the airline's larger fleet of 42 aircraft, including two spares, after adding nine aircraft in the three months to October.
"We have had a lot of equipment come on in a short space of time, so I expected our market share would improve," he said. "But it is not going to go up much more between now and the close of the year (ending March 2004) because we have taken on pretty much our capacity until March."
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Virgin to launch Wellington-Sydney service
Pacific Blue Airlines, the international division of Australia's Virgin Blue, plans to introduce a daily service between the New Zealand capital, Wellington, and Sydney from March 10.
Chief executive Tony Marks said Pacific had chosen Wellington as its second New Zealand destination after Christchurch "following tremendous lobbying by business and tourism operators as well as the helpful cooperation of Wellington International Airport".
The service would be launched with an introductory $NZ99 fare.
Mr Marks said there was plenty of trans-Tasman competition to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, but Wellington had been largely overlooked.
-- AFP
==============================================
AFP
Wednesday December 17, 7:24 PM AEDT
Australia's Virgin Blue takes domestic market share over 30 percent
Australian discount airline Virgin Blue said its share of the domestic passenger market passed the 30 percent mark for the first time in October and foreshadowed a price war with Qantas.
Virgin Blue Ltd. said Wednesday official traffic data for November showed it had 30.4 percent of the total domestic market, including routes that it does not fly on.
"Clearly we've passed another line in the sand and this proves that the Australian public is supporting our way of doing business," Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said.
The airline, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange last week, is gearing up to meet Qantas Airways Ltd.'s response to its incursion into the Australian market, a discount airline called JetStar that will begin operating next year.
Godfrey said Virgin Blue had exceeded all expectations since it was launched three years ago by British tycoon Richard Branson.
"No one in their wildest dreams, no one in our team, honestly thought this airline would get to where it is today," Godfrey said.
He was unperturbed by Qantas' plans for JetStar, saying Virgin Blue would continue to offer Australia's lowest fares.
"Rest assured, we will put out certain fares over the next few months that are bonanzas, simply because we want the people to know who are the real low fare leaders," he said.
"Watch this space, I am sure we will do something silly in the next six weeks or so, so hang on to your pennies because it might be all you will need."
Godfrey said airfares were now 23 percent lower than before Virgin Blue's launch.
He attributed the latest market share growth to the airline's larger fleet of 42 aircraft, including two spares, after adding nine aircraft in the three months to October.
"We have had a lot of equipment come on in a short space of time, so I expected our market share would improve," he said. "But it is not going to go up much more between now and the close of the year (ending March 2004) because we have taken on pretty much our capacity until March."
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