VB to buy Air Van?
 

Heard from a fairly credible source that Virgin Blue has just done a deal with the Vanuatu goverment to buy 50% of Air Vanuatu, in a similar deal that they did with Poly.

It would mean PB getting the AVN crew and plane, re-branding as Pac Blue and flying ex VLI to AKL, SYD, BNE.

Starting later this year....

Anyone care to confirm? :cool:

Interesting... with 4 737's leaving domestic ops and Godfrey hinting that they could go to international last night on a Sky Biz interview this could have some credibility!

I find that hard to believe as the aircraft is basically specd by QF and and they are in code share with QF! Even think QF may own some of Air Van.

Not going to happen.The locals pride themselves in having an aeroplane painted in their colours, too many locals will lose jobs, just a political stunt because the local government coming up foe re-election.To add to this the aircraft is not owned by air van rather leased from ilfc, you would be buying 50% of fu.k all. Not even worth it for the routes as VB or PB already able to fly there on a reciprocating agreement.
But i have been wrong before..

And here was me thinking Virgin Blue had decided they needed something smaller than their Embraers, for the very small routes, and were buying Airvans...

You can fit a lot more pax into an airvan than in that cherokee they had at Moorabbin..

I hear the Air Van deal is confirmed with possibly other deals in the wind? I guess we have to look out for announcements.

It makes sense where a small Pacific country doesn't quite justify a whole 737, W Samoa for instance, but Air Van seems to have excellent utilisation of the 738 as they did for the 733. And then the turboprop and Islander feeder routes, vital to the running of the country, wouldn't be of interest to VB or stand alone.

I can think of Pacific countries more compatible with the successful Poly Blue business model. How's that Honiara route working out?

Mind you, I'd happily take a secondment to the Twotter. That looks like fun.

Rumour has it, air van is ruled by the dark lord!!

The dark lord indeed my good man, good luck trying to get the boys to stay in Vila for less then their getting now.

Perv

The Evil Empire
 

I have heard a senior NF staff member refer to DJ as "The Evil Empire" and there would certainly be a rebellion if the "Dark Lord" was really stalking the national carrier of Vanuatu.

Deal was never really entertained by NF.

Qantas is referred to as the Evil Empire.

And yes, the Dark Lord should be feared, because he is devious, cunning, and is pissed right off.

Fear Not The Dark Lord. He Pales To Nothingness Compared To The _skygod_.

There back, VB headshed back in town again this week.

The DARK LORD is a little pussy cat....meow.....

Perv.

Ha ha with bl00dy what? With a share price of .75c Monopoly money is about all they could use. Interesing times bwwwwwwwwwwwaa

I think these days you get about 130 Vatu to the monoply dollar:ok:.

I think the airvan would be a great choice for VB. The pax can load thier own frieght and the pod is quite roomy. The inflight entertainement of staring at your own knees may wear a litte thin though. The sim is quite cheap to purchase too - its basically just a guy with a blindfold being pulled around in a billy cart. I think they've named it the pushmepullyou

i think everyone has it wrong, word is, airvan is about to buy virgin, yes, you heard it here first!!!!!!!! don't underestimate the power of the melanesian mind!!!

This has been in the pipelines for months. I think it's all but a done deal.

I believe Samoa still makes pretty good use of a whole 737 Yusef?

Add Noumea to the list.

Umm, which whole 737 is Samoa supposed to use? ZK-PBF, the Poly Blue aircraft flies other Pacific Blue routes, you'll see it in Mel/Bne/Vila et al.

Yes I realise that. Just as aircraft other than PBF operate to and from Samoa. I think if you look at all SYD-APW and AKL-APW sectors they'd use the better part of at least one aircraft. It's pretty impractical to designate one specific aircraft all the time.