Virgin Blue to shed 400 jobs ....

[coaldemon]

Ah Dirty Deeds, sorry to tell you but V OZ have enough B777 rated people on the books to crew through to plane 6 completely. I always love a conspiracy theory it always sounds so good in the bar when the reality is that management just aren't that organised generally. To assume the conspiracy theory is correct means that they saw the crisis coming and have still continued on with V OZ as they obviously know when it will all end. Ah yes it was so obvious.

[Dehavillanddriver]

This is why pilots make sucky managers.

The -600 isnt a replacement for the Embraers.

The block costs of a 600 are remarkably similar to those of a 700 for less revenue.

whether you love or hate management, there is no way anyone can manage a company by saying - I wont buy this capacity now (insert embraer, airbus, boeing) I know the economy is going to go arse up in a few years time and I will pick up a gaggle of cheap -600's.

the embraer fleet is making money - it is profitable.

As for starting V lets just assume for a minute that in 2 years the economy has turned around and things are on the improve - do you wait until the economy is on the turn then start the process to move into that market? If they did do that - there would be people here scoffing and saying that they are missing out on ****loads of profit because they didnt have the foresight to get prepared earlier....

the facts are that no-one - and I mean no-one - predicted that the world economy was going to go the way it has, as quickly as it has.

the decision to start up V was made at a time when there was time pressures - do you think the Australian government was going to keep Singapore out of the pacific if V hadnt decided to enter the market?

Arm chair quarterbacking isnt going to solve anything, if you work for VB or V or PB - then YOUR job is dependent upon you doing everything you can to make the business successful.

It might be sucky but it is better than the dole.

At the end of the day if you work for VB/V/PB and you are that unhappy about the way things have panned out - get out now while you can - if you are indeed correct there is little point waiting until everyone is out of a job and you are one amongst thousands - go now while you dont have as much competition.

[KRUSTY 34]

Quote:

As for starting V lets just assume for a minute that in 2 years the economy has turned around and things are on the improve - do you wait until the economy is on the turn then start the process to move into that market?

ABSOLUTELY! In 2 years time there will be no VA, no VB for that matter if DJ persist with this folly.

Christ! It's not Rocket Science!

[FFRATS]

I hear QF is going to have a contingency plan ready just incase VB fall over.
FFRATS

[Sunstar320]

I hear QF is going to have a contingency plan ready just incase VB fall ove

what?..to gouge pax like ever before...back to the old days again

[Dragun]

I hear QF is going to have a contingency plan ready just incase VB fall over.

In all seriousness (and in the highest hope that that would not happen), what would Qantas do to respond to a situation like that? I realise they've just announced their own capacity reductions (albeit international ops) but would it be fair to assume that would be fantastic news for the Qantas group?

I'm assuming something along the lines of when Ansett collapsed however there's no VB like airline to help out...

[breakfastburrito]

Owen, you were almost correct, the Four Corners Mortgage Meltdown - view online aired on the 17 Sep 2007, almost 18 months ago. No one could say the alarm bells weren't ringing given the risks involved in a new start-up to the US. Surely this is a managers job to view such publicly available information.

The alarm bells have been ringing, loudly for quite some time.

[AN Flyer]

Sorry. It was $5m per WEEK

QF DRIVE - While very dramatic, I very much doubt the above statement is true without more information. This would equate to roughly the same amount of money AN was supposedly bleeding a week in it's last year of operation. Given the complexities of their problems compared to VB, one would argue that there would have to be a very critical problem from within Virgin Blue for this kind of cash loss to be even remotely realistic (and I aint referring to V).

I dont suppose you could be more specific?

[rescue 1]

$5m is a hella money to lose every week..

Guess the facts will be out this week, with the release of the half yearly results.

[Enema Bandit's Dad]

How much are cruise FO's being paid?

[Cunning_Stunt]

The half yearly report has just been released to the Stock Exchange. Ouch!

[Led Zeppelin]

Hardly any surprises - cash reserves down to 526 m. Profit for 6 months to 12/2007 was 113.3 m. Corresponding period to 12/2008 - (101.4) m. A downward change of 214.7 m.

Over the 6 month period to 12/2008, this loss is 3.9 m per week. That is a real issue for future management of this company. And VA's operating losses are not even in the figures yet.

I wonder what the real operating position is right now, given the severity of the downturn since 31 December.

[ANstar]

Hardly any surprises - cash reserves down to 526 m. Profit for 6 months to 12/2007 was 113.3 m. Corresponding period to 12/2008 - (101.4) m. A downward change of 214.7 m.

That is still a decent amount of cash to be sitting on. About $80M of that was forex losses.

So even with the 3.9M loss a week - they would still be able to go for around 2 years.

[43Inches]

Most of the equity/asset base is made up of the cash balance. Total equity actually dropped $320m. If they didn't have the cash/equivilent reserve they would be close to negative equity.

[Dale Hardale]

ACMS -

It was a loss for the 6 month period to 12/2008 of 101.4 m

43,

That's the point at which creditors get real nervous. Asset realisation may not be enough to preserve debt recovery.

It would only take one creditor to make a demand payment for the house of cards to collapse.

[porch monkey]

Loss. Shown thus ( ) . Sometimes direct cut and paste without the detail is decieving.

[Zero_au]

A demand payment was made to Macair one month before they collapsed. It was a Singaporeon leasing company that then called ASIC to liquidate same company

[Mstr Caution]

Hardly any surprises - cash reserves down to 526 m. Profit for 6 months to 12/2007 was 113.3 m. Corresponding period to 12/2008 - (101.4) m. A downward change of 214.7 m

And when did the Global Economic Downturn start to bite.....around October 08.

[wirgin blew]

"Ineffective cash flow hedges and non-designated derviates" totall $(114.5) million. Foreign Exchange Losses total $(54.6) million.
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Of that grand total of $170 million $141 million is unrealised which could potentially turn around, it could also potentially worsen given what has happened with the market since 31DEC08.
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I hope those incharge of that have been sacked and someone hired to fix up that mess. As BG has been at the helm through all of this you would have to say its time to move on. However who is going to want to take on this mess as it does appear that things will only get worse before they get better.
As zero has said someone might call ASIC and make a grab for whats left over. I hope that BG and RB will talk anyone out of that as I don't want to see 5000+ people looking for a new job.
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As far as assets to liabilites go have VBA written down the value of the aircraft yet or are they valued at purchase price? You would hardly pay full price at the moment for used 737's.
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These financial statements offer more questions than answers. Smarter people than I will work through them.

[airtags]

take away all the non reportable off balance sheet liabilities and any money that is left should be spent on recruiting a new CEO, CFO and Treasury committee on the the board.

A plan for VB would be good .........

Hope it gets back to being a great LCC and forget about all the other stuff that buggered its potential to ride out tough markets.