Fiji Airways cancelling flights to LAX peak season !!!

[XPT]

Fiji Airways are quietly cancelling quite a few NAN/LAX/NAN flights in peak season DEC-JAN. These flights are codeshared with AA, NZ & QF.


On Thursdays from mid-Dec to mid-Jan, FJ did have 2 NAN/LAX/NAN using their new A332's, but these are now showing as 100% full, meaning cancelled & those already booked on these flights are being reaccommodated on later flights same day.


Sign of the times ? Fed budget out next week.


FJ have traditionally been lowest priced on direct operators SYD/LAX/SYD especially in peak season. Only some of the Chinese carriers undercut them & who wants to spend 36 hours getting from SYD to LAX.


Must be a worrying time for likes of QF. Does this also mean that QF will cut flights. SYD/LAX currently have 2 flights a day. BNE/LAX 6-7/week & MEL/LAX daily. With UA to start nonstop MEL/LAX in Oct for 1st time ever I think, it just gets harder for QF. (UA are using 787's on MEL/LAX/MEL)


QF can't send out a smaller aircraft (well they could send out a 744 instead of A380) but a 777 would be very handy right now or even better a 787.


Or could they put an a QF A330 on OZ/AKL/LAX or OZ/NAN/LAX ? or even a 763 ?


4 or 5 years ago, think it was NZ used to operate NAN/LAX/NAN for FJ using a 763.


This would make perfect sense. A splash & dash in NAN would annoy those up front, but it would also mean they could probably offer cheaper fares down back & if on ground at NAN for an hour, not the end of the world.

[CAR42ZE]

What a weird post mate. I'm not too sure what conspiracy you're getting at, but UA have been using the worlds oldest 747s in Melbourne for years - therefore they are downsizing in regards to capacity (I don't know schedule though). And Air Pac traditionally changed the schedule of a summer time to focus on the local Syd, Mel and Akld pax (or they used to before the days of the A330s) Why would this affect Qantas at all?

[BNEA320]

because if the cheapest operator is cutting flights in peak season (these were extra flights introduced last Dec to handle demand, remember FJ went from 458 seat 744's to 273 seat 332's & pax are steering away from QF as they think that QF Int is going broke fast (according to all the media coverage) then QF is stuck between a rock & a hard place.


QF is usually the most expensive operator to LAX, they can only downsize from a 380 to a 744 (think a 380 is cheaper to operate than a 744 anyway). is going to maintain nonstop.


A 330 can't do SYD/LAX nonstop (if to carry pax), so options are:-


1) keep bleeding millions of dollars are day like they have been, or


2) take action, such as take some of the JQ 787's or


3) do a 1 stop strategy to LAX (NAN or AKL make sense) with a 330


or maybe they will simply hand 1 of the daily SYD/LAX flights to JQ.

[doug606]

think its due to dq-fjv needs a gear change after hard landing in sydney in march

[BNEA320]

you'd hardly do that 9 months later at busiest time of the year.

[XPT]

it now appears that all additional peak season flights NAN/LAX/NAN in DEC & JAN have been canned.


What's going on at FJ. They seem to be totally risk averse.


Surely these flights would fill up between now & end of year, or are forward bookings that bad ?


Maybe fed budget having its desired effect & scaring people into not spending money they don't have.

[blackwing]

Looks like they have not updated their website... still showing peak NAN-LAX-NAN from mid Dec to end of Jan.

[Beer Baron]

Do you really believe an Australian Federal budget that hasn't been released yet is effecting capacity decisions of a foreign carrier on a route between 2 unrelated countries, 8 months down the track??:confused:

And why would QF need to react and reduce capacity? As you pointed out, UA has dramatically reduced capacity across the pacific (MEL 744->787, SYD 744->772) to the tune of over a thousand fewer seats a week. Seems to me like this is a major win for QF. Two competitors reducing capacity should allow margins to raise. Certainly can't see them reducing capacity (or putting a 767 on :eek:).

[BNEA320]

FJ812 & FJ813 have gone from schedules on Thursdays, although strangely in CRS's they still appear under codeshares.


That said Brindabella flights still appear in schedules in CRS's. How slow are these CRS companies in fixing their schedules.


When was last Brindabella flight? End of Nov 2013 or start of Dec 2013

[XPT]

compared to previous years, much easier to cancel now than later. Look at FJ's market. Apart from Asia (they do 3 NAN/HKG's a week with 332's) then what's left Australia/NZ/USA.


I can't support it with figures but would guess that Australia would be by far their biggest market.


Cutting NAN/LAX/NAN flights at busiest time of the year, suggests that Australians might be going to Fiji, but not to USA via Fiji as much as previously (these extra flights were introduced in Dec13, when 2 x 458 seat 744's had gone & been replace by 3 x 332's (273 seats approx.).


From some time in Oct this year, UA will go from 2 x 744's a day ex Australia (MEL/SYD/LAX + SYD/SFO) to daily 2 x 777's SYD/LAX, SYD/SFO + MEL/LAX on a 787. Not sure of total seats but must be around the same.


UA have a terrible name in the travel industry in Australia, but UA might pick up some MEL/LAX nonstop traffic off QF & VA, when people find out they can fly on a brand new 787.


Budget on Tuesday will stop a lot of people doing a long haul holiday & instead many will bunker down, put any spare cash on the mortgage & long haul airlines will suffer.


Maybe it might be good for some areas. Eg. instead of going to USA or Europe, they might go to Gold Coast or NZL. Hopefully, there won't be too many who completely cancel their travel plans altogether.

[blackwing]

FJ812/813 are on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays and still bookable through the Fiji Airways website. Extra flights are tuesday from 16/12 to 20/01.
NAN 1800L/ LAX 0745L
LAX 1200L/ NAN 2030L

[BNEA320]

now FJ is dumping seats in peak season, Xmas school holidays.


$1399 return BNE/LAX/BNE.


Maybe it's a post budget sale.


If FJ are dumping fares so cheaply, why aren't other carriers ?


Trying to tough it out ?


Guess QF can cancel flights to LAX at short notice as they often do for financial reasons & probably VA/DL will too ex SYD when they have flights only a few hours apart.

[beam me up Scotty]

the FJ 330s are doing daily syd/nan/lax and the loads are typically full ,
there is another 330 on order to start in the next 6 to 9 months or so, and there will need to be recruiting for that,
the employment agencies are not representing the pilots, they just collect they're $100/day per pilot and produce no results,
contracts are not being honoured and the agencies are "looking into it"
Pilots are increasingly being hired directly by the Airline,