OzJet - Business is tough just after 2 days in
 

AUSTRALIA'S newest domestic airline, OzJet, has been forced to cancel a quarter of its flights between Sydney and Melbourne just two days after its launch due to a lack of patronage.

The airline's founder, Paul Stoddart, conceded it had cancelled two of its eight return flights yesterday.

"There is no point flying flights during the day with a couple of people on them," Mr Stoddart told the Herald. The two flights were in the early and mid-afternoon, a time normally quiet for business traffic.

"We just rang the people up and said, 'Would you like to go on an early or late flight?' There was no hassle in it."

Mr Stoddart, however, insisted all was going to plan despite OzJet also being forced to cut fares to fill seats. The airline has cut the price of its standard one-way fares from $305 to $249 from next week until January 31.

He said he knew the business class airline would struggle with a slowdown in corporate travel in December and January.

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*** Aviation in itself is not inherently Dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly Unforgiving of any Carelessness, Incapacity or Neglect.........

McFly?.... McFly?.... Hello?....Anyone home McFly?...........

bbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is there an echo in the Terminal?":(

Mr Buzzy is quite correct.

Irrespective of whether Mr Stoddart owns the aircraft or not, he can only haemmorage cash for so long.
His accountants must be having nightmares!!

The cost of fuel, thirsty old JT8's requiring alot of maintenance and coupled with the friggin obvious slow down over the Christmas/New Year period.......well.

By April/May next year we will see if this outfit is a goer.

Nah Buster, my ears can see them cleary.:p

Although I like his idea of a business only airline he has gone the wrong way personally.

1. Using 30yr + 737-200's with fuel guzzzzzzzzzeling JT9D engines.

2. Started at the wrong time, as someone previous mentioned this time of the year is the slow season. A more suitable time of March/April/May should have been set then they could have 'rode' the dry season.

3. There idea of using BAe 146 is a bad idea, some bad publicity has come from them over the years. Known for there hot and high operational performance these rugged aircraft should be placed elsewhere.

Any other ideaS?

Skystar320, um I don't think they are fitted with a 747-200 engine, the JT9D, but if they were they sure would be a gas guzzler, but fast.

Geeezz,
I agree with ur2, if you are going to give advice to someone about what they are doing WRONG. Get the facts right.
Just my 2 cents:ok:

For my two bob it has been an excellent effort just getting going. AOC, slots and gates are not minor details. Good luck to them.

That was my own mistake, sorry about that. Thanks for pointing it out. Now i am shameful

I don't know if it is related to the cancellations or not but one of their A/C was at the terminal in SYD yesterday afternoon with the flaps full down and spoilers up and a ladder at the left wing.
ALL airlines have maintenance problems but if you only have a small fleet it can impact on your operation severely.:uhoh:

Is this the correct spelling of shadenfreuder?

No, it certainly is not.

Look back to some of the posts when Virgin started up - they were similar.

Why do we always snip at someone having a go?

Of course there are going to be teething problems.

Spotlight - so I guess that we should actually take our hats off to Skase and Bondy - after all they were just 2 good ol' aussie fella's given the business world a go. So what if they stuffed people?

Uncommon sense - you got the right tag that's for sure. Teething problems? Are you serious? Completely missing the bleeding obvious is not a "teething problem".

Woftam - yup, you were right. Slat actuator died - skydrol every which way. Had to bring in the spare to cover the flying - and then they cancelled 2 roundtrips. Said it was because there were no punters onboard, but disguised the fact that they had maintenance woes. Already!

Great airline this one - no punters, maintenance woes, wrong market, wrong product. Stoddart has even beat BG on the whinging stakes - I'm sure Godfrey didnt whine in the first month; Stoddart did it in the first 2 days of operation.

And hey lets remember - its not like his current woes weren't entirely predictable.

And yet another Aussie airline goes down the drain hurting hard working aussies

Well at least he's prepared to give it a go.

Good luck to him. I really hope they make a go of it. As for calls "they launched at the wrong time" , it's easy to be a 'Monday expert' after the game.

I'm sure they did a lot of market research - I wouldn't start digging the grave yet!

I doubt many businesses launch with a stunning success in the first couple of days!!

I reckon goodluck to Oz Jet and hope it works out for them. That's coming from someone who flies as competition against them:p

If you don't like the risk then don't apply for a job. At least they pay for your training.

Maintenance woes - He is in the spare parts business.

No punters - It makes more sense to me to cancel a few $250/seat flights than operate at $1 per seat with more bums.

Wrong market, wrong product - Only time will tell. Give it more than a couple of days.

I don't think you guys give Stoddart enough credit. If he wanted to invest in something that loses money then he would have stayed in F1. I also can't believe that anybody would knock a company that is offering a better product/service for less. I personally think it's a great idea. Let me in on the IPO and I'll put money on it.

Go get em Paul.

Barbossa

I stand by what I said. Getting to the position that OzJet is as of today is a credit to them. Should you remember some of the previous attempts since deregulation and the forces applied against them i.e, as I said AOC, slots and gates, you might agree.

It may well be that if one were to decide as Stoddart has, to enter the market in Airlines in Australia, now is the time. A lot of the hard work in relation to the above has already been won on the backs of people who even though they had lost their place in the industry understood that the aviation business in this country need not be the preserve of a duopoly.

Shrill comparisons with Bond and Skase escape me. Also again, shrill observations of Skydroll everywhere mean what exactly?