Virgin Atlantic Sydney-HK-London flights confirmed

[Wirraway]

Virgin to launch Sydney-HK-London flights

Virgin Atlantic Airways will launch daily scheduled services between Sydney and London via Hong Kong from December 8.

In a release to media, Virgin chairman Richard Branson said Sydney would be the 23rd destination for the airline, with the announcement coming just one day before the 20th anniversary of the carrier’s first flight.

“Australia is a country that everyone at Virgin has been hoping to fly to since the early days and the news that our ambitions have become a reality will really add to our celebrations,” he said.

“Virgin Atlantic’s new services on the kangaroo route will be good news for consumers in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK, as it will mean that much needed competition and choice is brought to these markets.”

The announcement was also welcomed by federal tourism minister Joe Hockey.

“Today’s announcement by Virgin Atlantic Airways coincides perfectly with the launch by the Australian government of the new brand Australia campaign, which is designed to entice more visitors to experience the unique offerings of this country,” he said.

“There could not be a better time for such a high-profile airline to commence services to Australia.”

Virgin plans to utilise A340-600 aircraft, departing Sydney at 4.15pm, arriving in Hong Kong at 10.05pm and London Heathrow at 4.50am the following day.

For travellers to Australia, flight VS200 will depart London's Heathrow Airport daily at 9.30pm, arriving in Hong Kong at 5.50pm the following day. The aircraft will then depart Hong Kong at 7.20, arriving in Sydney at 7.10am the following day.

All services will be operated with a configuration of 45 Upper Class suites, 28 premium economy, and 233 economy seats.

Each flight will feature Virgin Atlantic’s new Upper Class suite as well as the V:port inflight entertainment system which provides a choice of 50 movies plus 300 hours of video and audio entertainment on individual screens at every seat in all classes.

Details of Virgin Atlantic’s introductory promotional offers will be announced later this year, and tickets will go on sale for the new services at the same time.

In addition to the Sydney route, Virgin Atlantic has also recently announced it is due to launch services on a number of other new routes, including Cuba and the Bahamas and an increase in services to the US, Caribbean, Asia and the Far East.

21 June 2004

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[Aussie]

good news for Virgin Blue, they should get most of the pax travelling to other destinations in oz from VS flights!

Good news indeed!

[Wirraway]

Tues "The Australian"

Kangaroo route saves Branson his blushes
By Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
June 22, 2004

ENTREPRENEUR Richard Branson will narrowly avoid the indignity of donning a Qantas flight attendant's uniform after Virgin Atlantic announced yesterday it would start daily flights between Sydney and London on December 8.

Sir Richard promised last July he would don the Qantas uniform and serve drinks on one of the airline's flights if he failed to start the service within 18 months. Yesterday he described the announcement, on the eve of Virgin Atlantic's 20th birthday, as "a dream come true".

"Today's announcement is another major landmark in Virgin Atlantic's development," he said. "Sydney is a prestigious route and will become a 23rd destination."

Virgin's new service means Qantas faces another high-quality, full-service airline on what is already a competitive route.

The Australian carrier last year pulled out of Rome because it could not make money on the route and will stop flying to Paris on October 31 for similar reasons.

Virgin, which is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, decided to start the service despite a warning from the European Commission that the agreement discriminated against non-British carriers from the European Union.

The British and Hong Kong governments decided to bring a new bilateral aviation treaty into provisional effect on December 1, despite the EC warning. "The EU hasn't blessed it yet but we're going ahead anyway because we believe there's no way that they're going to turn this deal off," said Mackenzie Grant, Virgin's head of Asia- Pacific.

However, Virgin will be beaten to the punch on the route by Qantas.

The flying kangaroo announced on the weekend that it would fly three new flights from Sydney to London via Hong Kong from November, subject to International Air Services Commission approval.

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[The Enema Bandit]

Anyone know when the whinging begins?

[Buster Hyman]

discriminated against non-British carriers from the European Union
And which carriers would that be? Which of them wants to fly here, that haven't already pulled out? It obviously has everything to do with HK & not Oz, because they all have the rights.:confused:

[VSOZ]

Enema

The whinging started at 04:31 on the 22nd of June.

[404 Titan]

Buster Hyman

What is going on here is grandstanding and a political power play by the EU. They have done it before with the open skies agreement between the UK and the US. They found it to be in breach of the EU rules and I believe they made it null and void. Reasoning, the UK cannot negotiate for any air services agreements outside the EU without it being applicable to the whole EU. Do you think the US want to give the EU complete open skies to any US city? I don’t think so. Hong Kong has been a little smarter. They have said that if the EU objects to the bilateral agreement between itself and the UK then the deal is off. As the report states Virgin Atlantic has decided to start the service on December 8th. The EU has told the UK and HK that they will decide in September whether the agreement is legal. They haven’t given any indication either way except to say that there have been a number of objections from other EU and UK airlines about HK airlines operating across the Atlantic to the US from LHR. My personal gut feeling is that Virgin Atlantic has jumped the gun. For them though I hope I am wrong.

[Sheep Guts]

404 Titan,
It is impossible to Jump the gun. Asia has the highest growth economically and Aitline Industry wise in the entire world at the moment. If even though the Chinese Governemnt has said it has control of the boom, me thinks otherwise. If European and Us Carriers want a piee of the action they must get in anyway they can. Branson is one switched on Entreprenuer.
Asia is the growth market China and India being the leaders.

Sheep

P.S. The only thing I hate about European flights is the baggage allowance, it s@ks. 1x 23 kg Piece is ridiculous.

Travelling to Oz for the US is still 2x 32kg pieces which is much better.

[404 Titan]

Sheep Guts

I am very well aware of the growth in Asia as I am in the middle of it. This is totally irrelevant to the point I was trying to make. My reference to Virgin Atlantic was that they have jumped the gun of the European Union, which will make up its mind in September as to whether the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the UK and HK is legal. If they find it is illegal then the HK government has already stated the deal is dead in the water. The deal was with the UK, not the whole of the EU. They don’t want all the other European carriers flying through HK on their way to a second destination, in this case Sydney. This would saturate the market and in the end would be the worst thing for passengers, as carriers would be forced to pull out of the market because it isn’t viable. This could leave less carriers serving the market and in the end less competition. The sensible approach is to have acceptable levels of competition but at the same time making it profitable for the airlines to operate. I have no problem with Virgin Atlantic having 5th freedom rights through Hong Kong to Sydney. The competition will be great. I do though have a problem with every EU carrier operating through HK. If in the end the European Union votes against the Bilateral Agreement then Virgin Atlantic will have egg on their face. This was the point I was trying to make.

[Johhny Utah]

This just smacks of the whole Branson/Virgin modus operandi. i.e "we'll decide what we're going to do, and then tell everyone WHEN it's going to happen!"

Admittedly, this is always good for publicity - a comparison of the amount of articles for Virgin Atlantics proposed new Hong Kong start date printed versus the amount written on the new Qantas services which will be up & running prior, demonstrates this aptly.

However, when things go wrong, it leaves the PR people with a bit more spin to do eg. late approval for DJ AOC causing the initial flights to be pushed back.

Then again, if you adopt the adage that "any publicity is good publicity", I guess they're still the winners out of it all....

Go figure :rolleyes:

[Sheep Guts]

404

Well if the EU vote against it thats their loss and I highly reckon they would not go with it. If Branson tries the market early ( jumping the gun) your words, EU approval or not it will be the travelling public that determines if its going to be a sucess or not a bunch of sniviling bureacrats in the EU. If airlines find its a sucess, I cant honestly see them squashing it. Thats something even the USA who have more stringent ruote controls , wouldnt do either.

Sheep

[404 Titan]

Sheep Guts

Well they did with the US/UK open skies agreement. They found that the UK couldn't negotiate on its own because it was part of the EU jurisdiction. HK is very well within its rights to protect itself and its carriers from dumping if the EU determines that the bilateral agreement between the UK/HK is illegal or worse says that what applies to the UK applies to the whole of the EU. As I have said I have no problem with Virgin Atlantic operating to Australia via Hong Kong. The route definitely needs competition. But I draw the line at the whole of the EU operating the route. Like any free market there is an optimum point where competition is just right. Consumers get what they are looking for and the airlines can make a profit. Too much and the whole lot falls in a heap. This is what would happen if the EU were able to operate through HK to Australia or any other destination without restriction.