Virgin launches to Newman and Karratha
 

sure this will cause some discussion

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WHAT A PEARLER!!! VIRGIN BLUE ANNOUNCES MAJOR WA EXPANSION
TWO BRAND NEW INTRA-WA ROUTES TO NEWMAN AND KARRATHA AND ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS TO BROOME
Tuesday 26 August 2008: Virgin Blue Airlines announced today it would expand its presence in Western Australia with the launch of two new ports and the doubling of flights to and from Broome.

From 21 October 2008, Virgin Blue will launch direct daily flights from Perth to two brand new Virgin Blue ports, Karratha and Newman¶ with its new executive style EMBRAER jet aircraft, bringing in new competition and Virgin Blue’s award winning service style to the mining market.

From 15 October 2008, Virgin Blue will also double flights between Perth and Broome providing a more convenient schedule, additional capacity and more competitive fares to one of Australia’s most unique “must see” tourist destinations.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “This is a significant investment for the Virgin Blue Group in WA which demonstrates our confidence in the potential of the WA market. Karratha and Newman are both key mining destinations where we believe we can bring some great advantages in terms of schedule reliability and competitive fares. We will be working closely with the mining sector and those companies that provide support services to the mining industry in these regions and are eager to demonstrate our commitment to providing a viable travel option tailored to their needs.”

He continued, “At the same time, our soon-to-be launched services will also mean a new choice of airline for those wanting to travel between Perth and Karratha or Newman to visit family and friends or for a weekend in the city or the country. It’s not just about servicing the fly-in, fly-out mining industry needs, it’s about bringing tangible benefits to the general community through making travel a more affordable option.”

The expansion is Virgin Blue’s second and largest foray into intra-WA services following the successful introduction of Broome-Perth flights in September 2004.

From Wednesday 15 October 2008, Virgin Blue will increase its Perth-Broome flights with an a new early morning flight which will complement the existing evening service, giving travellers more choice and flexibility. Virgin Blue already operates a direct weekly flight between Adelaide and Broome.

The new services will also be operated by Virgin Blue's executive style EMBRAER E-190 jet aircraft and will add a further 1456 seats per week to the market. The E-190 is the larger of the two EMBRAER Jets with 104 seats, compared to the E-170 with 78 seats.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, "Broome’s popularity and unique cultural and environmental attractions make it a long term viable option for growth. The second daily flight is a big commitment for Virgin Blue but given the desirability of Broome as a destination, we are hopeful there will be ongoing demand for a twice daily flight and time will tell.

Virgin Blue will continue to work with local operators and tourism organisations on joint marketing campaigns and recently co-hosted travel media to the region with the newly refurbished Mercure Hotel as part of Virgin Blue's ongoing travel familiarisation program to lure more visitors to the destination. Journalists experienced some of Broome's finest delights from whale watching to historic pearl lugging to locally brewed ginger beer, mango products and the Cable Beach sunset.

As a result of Virgin Blue’s WA flight expansions, Perth Airport is poised to become an even bigger part of the airline’s network.

Brett Godfrey added, “Perth is a key focus for Virgin Blue’s future plans. We have a solid foundation to build on through Virgin Blue’s comprehensive schedule from Perth to the East Coast, serviced by the 737-800 aircraft. The new E-JET is ideally suited to smaller regional routes like Karratha and Newman and both aircraft will hub in Perth to provide convenient connections between the west and east coasts and WA regional destinations.”

Virgin Blue is Australia’s second largest airline and continues to introduce a range of business friendly travel initiatives to suit its growing corporate traveller base. The airline is considering further travel enhancements for WA, including the possible launch of “The Lounge” facility at Perth Airport and other intra-WA ports.

Meanwhile, Virgin Blue will offer special launch fares to celebrate the announcement of the new WA regional routes.

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Dont quote me because I really have nothing concrete except what I have heard around the traps at work, but I believe that at least some of these flights represent recent contract wins by DJ. May be wrong, but I hope they start getting their act together re: WA. They dropped the ball Big Time on setting up there when they should have 2+ years ago. I mean NETWORK has jets now for god sake!

Hope DJ does well outta this... But after living in Newman and having worked out of Karratha, I seem to remember that there is not a lot of travel done by non contract people. But I'm SURE they know this...:cool:

When.....
 

...will the cherry-picking stop? Mr G is leading his airline far away from what it did best - operate as a Low Cost Carrier. Chasing the suits with DJ's limited infrastructure to support that market is not the way to go.

Didn't DJ attempt a foray into the WA intrastate market some years ago, and the West Australian state government said no?

I was just about to book on the PER - Newman service, found that their is no cheap seats availabe......

Stunt perhaps?

Krusty, no - they couldnt get any backing by companies in Karratha

I think you used to have to tender for certain rpt routes in WA and only one operator would be granted exclusive rights (skywest). I seem to remember they were going to scrap this and open up to competition, maybe a local could shed more light on the situation over there.

VB should do well as this seems to be the first time the e-jets will be on new routes which suit the aircraft, and are competing with older generation/less efficient jets.

Ports like that are open to anyone,

however regional routes like albany, esperance, exmouth, laverton, leinster etc are closed to competetion and currently only one regional airline flies

I believe NJS did some serious analysis of the jungle jets,as 146 replacements,some years back.They didn't shape up to well in the heat of the W.A. summer.I'm sure VB has done their homework,haven't they??

I'm sure five APU's does keep you cooler in summer, however does the embraer have significant performance issues in the heat, as opposed to a F100 or 146

skystar is on the money, jet routes are non-regulated. there are significant associated mining contractors and support personnel that fly to these destinations and this opens other options. also the people in the community that don't work in mining and can't get a seat at all, or can only get an expensive one because BHP has bought 80% of the plane. You only have to try and book a seat out of Karratha on qantas.com within the next 4 weeks to see this.

as always this is "use it or lose it" so if these communities want a viable second travelling option at an affordable price they will need to make sure they support it. this wasn't the case a few years back when DJ attempted to enter the KGI market...

The 737-800 was too big for the PER-KGI market.

With the E-Jets heading west and a E-Jet PER base (3xE190 required) and significant gaps in the schedule thus far announced services, expect more destinations to be added. :ok:

Looks like Pilotdude09 was right on the money:D

With (I think) 28 Ejets on order, this is just the beginning.

I'm sure Qantas and Skywest knew this was coming too.

Additional capacity could be used on East coast runs (ADL extra services, maybe CBR) and maybe even something like DPS??

True, however NWN airport is privately owned, so nobody can stop you from flying there, just landing there.
When AN decided they would continue to fly there after Qlink won the contract off them back in the 90s, the owners said " oh no you won't ".

I guess this has changed ?

It's a moot point, because unless the 190s carry a flying spanner on every sector, they will be AOG most of the time anyway................:mad:

sorry cunning, wrong again, it's actually owned by the Shire of East Pilbara, a Local Government body...BHP sold it to the Shire in 1996 so the part about AN may be true not sure....

not sure Brett Godfrey would know where Newman or Karratha are would he? Not the sort of place people go for a "weekend in the country" unless they know people...

Note QF have responded with a sale this evening matching these fares...

Port Headland will be next I'm told. Maybe, PER-DRW too.

My contact says they are even looking at flights to Coco's and Christmas I, not sure who has the contract to fly there?

PER Base for crew to start soon too, expressions being sought now.

E190s to fly ADL-PER-ADL and as mentioned 3 overnight in PER. E190 has no major operational restrictions into/out of the above ports. CBR is now totally E-Jet territory too these days bar one or two 737 flights a day.

Also look out for VB/PB heading to Bali and even POM soon! Ex BNE/DRW/PER to DPS from Nov I've heard.

Look out boys and girls...

The E-Jet will be a real winner in the west, as long the dispatch reliability slowly improves.

As we turn the corner into '09 and the arrival of new equipment ramps up, DJ should be in a good position to exploit the opportunities that this "golden age of flying" has brought us.

Qantas will need to replace crews on the '330's as they move on to the BUFF's.

And when the 787's finally arrive, lots of pilots required for that one.

Hopefully the expansion plans of all the domestic carriers come to fruition. One man's meat however.... Difficult times ahead for the East coast regionals methinks?

I believe POM is Port Morseby? I'll stop you in the tracks right here, all available capacity seat wise has been used by relevant carries, so unless a carrier reduces seats it will be unlikely to see DJ in POM

That contracted is currently held with NJS and the winner of the flights should be announced soon, however I am told DJ never applied for the rights