Airfares set to fall with new carrier
 

The Australian
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
14dec06

FARES across the Pacific are set to fall after Australia's third international airline was cleared for take-off yesterday - but it will be late 2008 before travellers reap the rewards of increased competition.

The airline, owned by Virgin Blue, has yet to set ticket prices but one analyst said it could slash basic fares to the US by 25 per cent and by as much as 40 per cent during sale periods.

The US route is one of Qantas's most lucrative, with only the flying kangaroo and United Airlines currently flying directly to the mainland.

Virgin Blue's board gave the as yet unnamed long-haul carrier the green light after a feasibility study and a strong improvement in the performance by the domestic carrier.

Subject to regulatory approvals and a successful conclusion of negotiations with aircraft manufacturers, the $70million project will see the new carrier initially fly daily services to the US west coast and possibly some Asian destinations.

The new airline is looking at wide-body planes capable of flying non-stop to the US, such as the Airbus A340-600 and the Boeing 777-300ER.

The planes can carry between 420 and 450 passengers more than 14,000km in a two-class configuration, the seating arrangement used by Jetstar International.

Aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus have been holding open slots in their production schedules to supply seven planes, pending final talks.

Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey told staff yesterday the new airline would probably be set up as a stand-alone operation with its own air operator's certificate.

He said this would allow the company to keep the Virgin Blue domestic airline "corralled" to protect it fromthe long-haul venture's "highly risky and speculative" operations.

"Flying just one rotation from Sydney to Los Angeles will incur a cost of circa $500,000," he said in a staff memo.

"This is the equivalent level of risk we incur every day by flying 50 flights between Sydney and Melbourne."


The rest of the article is online at:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...6-2702,00.html

Cant wait to see it happen! Anyone wanna guess if theyll go the Boeing or Airbus? I take it the Domestic guys wont get a go at the Pacific...


Aussie

I'll stake my reputation (yeah right!) on the equipment being A340s; for many reasons, not the least being that Virgin Atlantic operate them and they are, to all reports, happy with them. That would mean that a lot of the grunt work for introduction into Australia would already be on Virgin's books, help would be available etc etc...........

Capt Jack Sparrow

PS. They could then poach J* 330 crews. (HARRRAAAHHHHHHHRRRRRRGG!!!!)

So what's the name going to be?

Virgin Pacific, Virgin Australia, Pacific Blue,

Anyone else want a guess??

Kiwi Pacific :}

The 777 holds more people and uses heaps less fuel.

I think it will end up being Virgin Pacific...

I would rather see the 777 in Aus meself!

Aussie

Could it be Virgin Red, White & Blue?:E

Would love to see some B777's in Oz, but I think the smart money would have to be on the A-340, especially since the punters across the Pacific have had 4 engines for as long as they can remember...:ok:

SIA shooting off at the mouth, and bleating again. They will be desperate to get in before the new Virgin airline gets a chance to become established on the Pacific route.
SIA already have a disproportionately large slice of Australian international air travel for very little in return. As I see the takeover of Qantas, it basically will remain Australian controlled but may now become a real threat to the likes of SIA as it will have access to capital to grow the airline

Bloomberg:
The carrier's request to fly between Australia and the U.S., the so-called Trans-Pacific route, has been repeatedly rejected by Australia in a bid to shield Qantas, Australia's largest airline.
``There are no grounds whatsoever to maintain the protection of Qantas on the Pacific route,'' said Stephen Forshaw, a spokesman for Singapore Air. ``Today's decision by Qantas to accept the transfer of ownership to a private consortium removes any remote possibility that protection of Qantas had some 'national interest' attached to it.''

My heart bleeds for you sir.

Let's see...say 250 passengers each way at about $1900 average fare gives a gross income of $950,000. NICE.:D

Of course with high yield business class and a better load factor the margin would be much healthier.

777-300er
 

By far the most cost effective long haul aircraft in the world at the moment. Provided you can keep them reasonably full.

Punters dont give a rats @rse how many engines its got, they just want to know what price the ticket is.

So unless airbus offers the -600 at a giveaway price (which is always on the cards) then my money is on the triple 7.

Totally agree. Why does SIA, and Singapore Inc., believe that it has an unfettered right to express very strong views on Australian Govt policy on an air route between Australia and the USA? They are no more than leeches and should put its own house in order before trying to fix someone else's. For example, why are the LCCs not permitted to fly the route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - a perfect monopoly shared by the national carriers of Malaysia and Singapore? If these ba$tard$ really believe in open and free competition, they'd let anyone operate this literal goldmine on the back doorstep instead of keeping it to themselves. A round-trip in Y class is around $400: a comparison of Qantas fares for a round trip between Sydney and Melbourne (almost twice the distance) makes Qantas look like a LCC with SYD/MEL on Qantas makes