Can jets work on Regional/Provincial routes?
 

VB seem to think so!:hmm:

Australia’s Virgin Blue is launching a daily non-stop service from Melbourne to Mildura, a small regional route that is currently only served by turboprop aircraft from rival carriers.

Virgin Blue says in a statement that it will be launching a daily non-stop service on the route stating on 13 October.

It will be using 78-seat Embraer 170s which are “25% quicker than the existing turboprop aircraft currently operating on the route”, making the flight time 1hr compared to 1hr 20min, it says.

The competitors on the route are Regional Express and QantasLink which operate Saab 340s and Bombardier Q-series aircraft respectively. Each has around 25 flights per week on the route according to Innovata.

Mildura is a large rural town on the Murray River bordering the states of Victoria and New South Wales. The main industry there is fruit orchards and fruit processing.

Haven't Virgin been flying the Embraers between Sydney and Albury/Port Macquarie for some time? :confused:

Can they?...................Oath they can!
 

Many regional ports have been short changed for a very long time.
What a great idea, less flight time and above all those pesky thunderries(well most of the time), whats more have you had a look inside the E-Jet? It's got a better cabin than the 737 or A320 let alone the ancient Saab or Dash.
Yep, I reckon this is one area where VB are on the front foot.
Great idea and I can't see too many punters choosing the traditional players once the E-jet offers a better service.

And No I am not one eyed, in fact don't take my word for it go and have a look and make your own decisions.

In my opinion, short sectors such as this, en-route time is irrelevant, it's the time from check in to bag pick up that matters to me when flying as pax.

Differences in en-route can easily be made up in check in time reqts etc.
In my experience DJ are far ahead of QF an QL in this area.

The Embraer is without a shadow of a doubt better to pax on than a q400.

All these factors combined, give me DJ anyday!

I thought DJ was a low cost carrier

Get with the times Skystar..........They are now a "New World Carrier", confused? You bet, quite intentional as they are now a born again Ansett!

Was a low cost carrier! They are a new world carrier now. Havent you seen the those silly red seats in 737's that cost extra money. lol.

I havent flown on a VB jungle jet, but have flown in a United 190, and what a nice bird they are.

More competition on regional the routes the better :ok:

Nice to see, but if I was a business traveller it will mean an overnight in Mildura.

Travel with the others and it becomes a day trip only.

Lob a jet into a regional port it becomes a PR extravaganza, but what about the frequency?:rolleyes:

Not before time!
 

Didn't Ansett, Air NSW or East West previously operate F28s on some regional routes?

KABOY: At the moment there are a limited number of Jungle Jets. It will be interesting to see if further services (overnights?) are introduced, such as you suggested, once more come on line.

Good on VB for giving it a go! :ok:

JT

Ansett NSW did Dubbo to Sydney, Broken to Sydney in the early 70's, but due a downturn in the economy the aircraft got moved to MMA/Ansett WA due to the mineral boom.

East West had F-28's on various NSW/QLD/Tas routes in the 80's.

Now the F-28's were an awesome machine for its time..... pity it has been outdated......

Ticket price (yield), schedule frequency and service reliability are what the regular punters really care about with regional air transport and Virgin is being murdered by their competitors in the Albury and Port Macquarie markets because despite the attractiveness of their jet aircraft they can't deliver on the fundamentals. QED!!

Being Murdered?

Dont think so!

I think VB needs to take a long hard look at what they plan to achieve in regional aus, the scheduling is far from what it needs to be to compete with the established operators. Last news from Albury is that the locals are pretty upset at the reliability of the VB service, no wonder when they schedule an 8am arrival to a fog prone airport! (May stats AY-SY 11.9% cancellation BTRE)

The other question is can these routes support 3 or 4 services a day in a 70-100 seat jet, mildura is a very limited market with mostly day trippers so will be interesting to see what they get out of it.

Not when the competitors are providing much greater frequency and at very competitive fares. Virgin's single mid day service to MQL won't offer the frequency needed to secure them much profitable business and the E170 is just too big to provide the frequency needed to secure the markets AND make enough profit to justify the effort!

The turboprop operators are aggressive competitors. Check out the REX website, ABX-SYD $79.00 and 54 flights scheduled per week. With fares and frequency like this from REX and EAA in ABX, Virgin is between the rock and a very hard place.

Similarly, Virgin's OTP between Port Macquarie and Sydney is being reported at a consistent 35 percent.

The airline business is a business after all and businesses must make profits to remain in business! When I said Virgin is being murdered in these markets, I meant it!!

Well the loads and yields dont seem to indicate a bloodbath....

Working on those ABX and PQQ flights, those who are apart of the Velocity program fly on these flights. As for frequency they compliment, fly DJ into mildura and fly out with or QF or ZL. A ticket sold is a ticket sold!

I bet the E70 will appear on a double daily soon enough!!!

Gidday Kitty, and welcome back.

Now is that, working on those ABX and PQQ flights (ie: Ops, Scheduleing etc...), or, working on those ABX and PQQ flights (ie: as Flightcrew)

The last thing anyone would want is a case of mistaken identity, would we?

But the timing of the DJ for MQL flights are really good for connecting onto other DJ flights but in saying that thats alot of people you need to go interstate everyday from a town of around 30k people.

Interesting that in the US regional jet operators have been hit hardest of all by the high fuel prices.

Turboprops may not have the cache of a jet but the economics are hard to beat.