Virgin Blue worth less than a B777
 

VB should have stayed as a niche domestic carrier and left the long haul operations to established players. Even at this late stage it would not be too late to close down V oz and wear the losses, this probably being preferable to operating half full 777's across the Pacific. It doesn't take Einstein to work out how long it would take to deplete 600 mil of cash reserves (if that is what is still left). Wrong time, wrong place, bite off more than you can chew etc. Time will tell but I am sure most shareholders would be very nervous with the decisions coming out of Brissy. I hope I am wrong but like they say, the writing is on the wall.

Gee TIMMEEEE thanks for your insight. Plenty of other threads already on this. Perhaps Mods should refer you to the other two.

wirgin blew,
There might be other threads but the truth hurts huh.

Anyone else see Branson latest grandstanding yesterday as well as the Honda Formula one joke.

Branson seemed more interested in flogging his upcoming health & fitness venture in Oz.

As he insultingly puts it, we here in Oz can't run these ventures as well as he can.

His lack of interest in Virgin Blue was noticeable.

Bransons new health clubs.. 'Fit Virgin' ??

I might win a competition (new Tele?) with this suggestion :}


Mat Finish
never a shiny moment..:suspect:

Aircraft naming
 

Any suggestions for the new Voz aircraft? Maybe "virgin on the ridiculous?":ok: Or "on the verge?"

The Obama Government is taking some steps to improve the economy, so maybe (and its a real maybe) if VB can get through the next 12 - 18 months, VA could become the success story of the recession...

Maybe its time to speculate and buy a few VB shares?

How pollyannarish of you.:sad: Remember Gary Toomey saying Ansett had $1BILL in cash six weeks before they went belly up. It's not the money it's the debt, bankers get very nervous about their exposure to debt laden companies.:(

Crikey rescue 1!

The original projection for VA to turn a profit was 18 months. So I don't see how, based on their own forcast, they could become "the success story" untill at least some time after that. That of course was before the economic meltdown, and before the literal evaporation of the market they were pitching to. Now I'm just Joe Bloggs nobody, but I reckon DJ will be lucky to survive without the drain from VA.

I'm afraid that in 6-12 months VA, and hopefully not VB as well, will be just a memory. :sad:

On the bright side it won't take much work in the paint shop to paint a rat on the tail of those 777's, remember there are still a few ex Ansett ships flying about with the rat :ok:

Really, Goblin? :confused:

I thought all the 300/400's were from TAA?

Maybe Qantas might be interested in buying the777's off them? :eek:

hmmmmmmmmmm, well somehow I dont think they will be half full.....who else takes you SYD - LAX return for $975 including taxes!!!!!!!!!!! that is the cheapest on there at the moment but they were going even cheaper before!

The problem is, curved approach, that even at these prices(which are great), people are NOT travelling at all. The projections from June for many airlines (including those such as Singair, as posted in the straits times-not rumour) are quite honestly AWFUL. Just because you can afford the airfare, doesn't mean you can afford the holiday! With jobs being lost in every industry left, right and centre, many are conserving their dough for the basics, not luxury items like holidays.

I wish VA crew all the best and every success.:ok:

bigger problem
 

Curved,

The bigger problem is that even if they fill the planes with $1000 return tickets, they will be losing truckloads of money on each sector as they won't even be covering the fuel costs.

Madness with shareholder money.

tsalta

Just working some very rough numbers as I don't fly a 777 or have access to V's fuel hedging, but say it takes 100,000KG of fuel SYD - LAX, at 0.8 that's 125,000L. At AU$1 per litre, divided by seats (350), that comes to just under AU$360.

$1000 return fares will mean minimum $720 just for fuel costs, and that's assuming 100% load factors and not taking into account the extra fuel required for LAX - SYD. These fares would just cover fuel and taxes.

Therefore don't expect these cheap fares as the norm. They're around to gain initial market share at the worst possible time against (soon to be) 4 major carriers.

On another note, nice to see the management spending big on a launch party only a week after 400 job losses were announced......nice touch!

trip fuel 120T and I did go

I think that's unfair. The show goes on to bring in the revenue to keep the rest of the employees in work.

Historically the Aus-US market is flat February-March, but starts to pick up ex Aus during April, so the launch isn't too badly timed since the promotional fares aren't diluting otherwise high yield fares.

Overall though, there will be excess capacity, and therefore losses, from July.