$5 Fares on Virgin Blue
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$5 Fares on Virgin Blue
Heard today Virgin Blue are going to start selling thousands of tickets ex ML for $5 including ML-BN.
I know this is the silly season but is history about to repeat itself.
I know this is the silly season but is history about to repeat itself.
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This is madness if it's true. I bet there aren't too many seats at that price.
Surely, they would not want to pitch much lower than the lowest AN and QF fares.
Is this the beginning of the end for Virgin?
Surely, they would not want to pitch much lower than the lowest AN and QF fares.
Is this the beginning of the end for Virgin?
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seem to be plenty of seats around. Even on the evening of the wednesday before easter! I have booked.
Clever how it is ex-MEL and not to MEL, effectively forcing you to buy a return at a higher price. However combined with a $69 sale fare (also available) you can do a return for about $100 incl tax which is a bargain....
Clever how it is ex-MEL and not to MEL, effectively forcing you to buy a return at a higher price. However combined with a $69 sale fare (also available) you can do a return for about $100 incl tax which is a bargain....
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VB have just tipped their hand as to how desperate they really are.
$5 tickets are stupid as the general public will expect it to be continued.
They are in big trouble with the re emergence of AN and are acting accordingly.
This is exactly how Compass MK2 went under.
The writing's on the wall for VB.
$5 tickets are stupid as the general public will expect it to be continued.
They are in big trouble with the re emergence of AN and are acting accordingly.
This is exactly how Compass MK2 went under.
The writing's on the wall for VB.
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Alpha41
Here's some stats on the subject:
*Total days of the $5 offer = 34 days
*Total flights ex MEL 25x34 days =850 flights
* 10,000 divided by 850 flights =11.76 seats
per flight
*Ave seats per VB 737 is 162 so therefor they
are giving approx 7.25% of available seating.
Wirraway
Here's some stats on the subject:
*Total days of the $5 offer = 34 days
*Total flights ex MEL 25x34 days =850 flights
* 10,000 divided by 850 flights =11.76 seats
per flight
*Ave seats per VB 737 is 162 so therefor they
are giving approx 7.25% of available seating.
Wirraway
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It seems to me that the $5 fares ex Melbourne are the closest approach yet to a public acknowledgement by DJ that the Virgin/Lang offer was always dead, and had only to realise the fact. Not a bad interference run though...
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Fri "Melbourne Age"
Melburnians tempted by cheap air tickets
By CAROL NADER
Friday 28 December 2001
On another grey December day, a one-way ticket out of Melbourne proved a tempting offer yesterday.
Not that the weather need have had much influence after Virgin Airlines released 10,000 one-way tickets from Melbourne for $5. The unprecedented deal generated frustration among those who logged on to the Internet early, determined not to miss out.
Phone lines at Virgin's head office in Queensland were jammed at 9.30am, Internet delays of more than three hours were reported in the afternoon and by 7pm, more than 7000 tickets had sold. Virgin head of commercial operations David Huttner predicted all 10,000 would be sold by noon today.
The $5 tickets, to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Launceston and Canberra, are available only to those departing from Melbourne on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between January 9 and March 27. The offer ends on Monday and is exclusive to Internet bookings.
Ironically, travellers will outlay more on fees than they will for the fare itself, with taxes and levies taking the cost of the ticket to $20.
The cost of a return ticket starts at $69.
Mr Huttner said the initiative was aimed at encouraging people to travel by air, after the downturn since September 11 and the grounding of Ansett.
"We're saying to people now, `It's so easy to fly. There's not a shortage like there was a few months ago. Go on, get on a plane'."
Qantas and Ansett's administrator yesterday said they had no intention of matching the $5 fare because it was not commercially viable. But both responded immediately by introducing new one-way Internet-purchase low fares between major capital cities starting at $66.
The executive general manager of sales and marketing at Qantas, John Borghetti, confirmed that the carrier had revised its best fare down from $77 for 2.5 million seats announced on Boxing Day.
Melburnians tempted by cheap air tickets
By CAROL NADER
Friday 28 December 2001
On another grey December day, a one-way ticket out of Melbourne proved a tempting offer yesterday.
Not that the weather need have had much influence after Virgin Airlines released 10,000 one-way tickets from Melbourne for $5. The unprecedented deal generated frustration among those who logged on to the Internet early, determined not to miss out.
Phone lines at Virgin's head office in Queensland were jammed at 9.30am, Internet delays of more than three hours were reported in the afternoon and by 7pm, more than 7000 tickets had sold. Virgin head of commercial operations David Huttner predicted all 10,000 would be sold by noon today.
The $5 tickets, to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Launceston and Canberra, are available only to those departing from Melbourne on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between January 9 and March 27. The offer ends on Monday and is exclusive to Internet bookings.
Ironically, travellers will outlay more on fees than they will for the fare itself, with taxes and levies taking the cost of the ticket to $20.
The cost of a return ticket starts at $69.
Mr Huttner said the initiative was aimed at encouraging people to travel by air, after the downturn since September 11 and the grounding of Ansett.
"We're saying to people now, `It's so easy to fly. There's not a shortage like there was a few months ago. Go on, get on a plane'."
Qantas and Ansett's administrator yesterday said they had no intention of matching the $5 fare because it was not commercially viable. But both responded immediately by introducing new one-way Internet-purchase low fares between major capital cities starting at $66.
The executive general manager of sales and marketing at Qantas, John Borghetti, confirmed that the carrier had revised its best fare down from $77 for 2.5 million seats announced on Boxing Day.
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$1 airfares: Virgin Blue
From AAP
28dec01
THE next volley in the aviation price war may send fares as low as $1, cut-price airline Virgin Blue said.
Virgin Blue today released an extra 2,500 $5 fares, after the first 10,000 on offer were snapped up by eager travellers.
The budget carrier announced $5 one-way fares from Melbourne to five capital cities on its website late Wednesday.
The deal was to run for three days, but interest in the super cheap fares was so intense the deal was sold out within 24 hours and Virgin's internet servers almost went into meltdown.
Virgin Blue chief executive officer Brett Godfrey said the company released extra $5 seats today and would release more tomorrow, bringing the total number of super special seats to 15,000.
Mr Godfrey yesterday promised Virgin would offer similar specials in other cities if the Melbourne $5 fare was a success.
Today he confirmed more specials would be offered and warned Qantas and the soon to be revamped Ansett that Virgin could go lower than $5 fares.
"We might do $1, who knows," Mr Godfrey told AAP.
"I think I'd be disappointed if I put it above $5 the next time. I'd like to probably bring it down."
Mr Godfrey ruled out paying people to fly Virgin.
"You don't need to," he said.
"Five dollars is next to nothing anyway and it's a great ad."
Mr Godfrey said Virgin Blue wasn't trying to buy the loyalty of the flying public with the $5 deal.
Qantas, meanwhile, said it had a very strong response to the summer seat deal it announced yesterday.
The airline yesterday released 2.5 million summer seats priced from as low as $66 one way for post-Christmas travel.
With the Fox-Lew takeover of Ansett scheduled for early February, Mr Godfrey said the revamped airline would not be a threat to Virgin Blue, especially as it would only have half the number of planes as the original.
"We're pretty profitable as it is anyway," he said.
"It would have to take quite a dent in our yields to hurt us anyway.
"I'm pretty confident about the next couple of years, otherwise we wouldn't be talking up the possibility of a float."
"I think we've found our niche and I believe Australians will continue to support us because we've supported them and the last thing we want to do is regress to a situation where we had two airlines again."
From AAP
28dec01
THE next volley in the aviation price war may send fares as low as $1, cut-price airline Virgin Blue said.
Virgin Blue today released an extra 2,500 $5 fares, after the first 10,000 on offer were snapped up by eager travellers.
The budget carrier announced $5 one-way fares from Melbourne to five capital cities on its website late Wednesday.
The deal was to run for three days, but interest in the super cheap fares was so intense the deal was sold out within 24 hours and Virgin's internet servers almost went into meltdown.
Virgin Blue chief executive officer Brett Godfrey said the company released extra $5 seats today and would release more tomorrow, bringing the total number of super special seats to 15,000.
Mr Godfrey yesterday promised Virgin would offer similar specials in other cities if the Melbourne $5 fare was a success.
Today he confirmed more specials would be offered and warned Qantas and the soon to be revamped Ansett that Virgin could go lower than $5 fares.
"We might do $1, who knows," Mr Godfrey told AAP.
"I think I'd be disappointed if I put it above $5 the next time. I'd like to probably bring it down."
Mr Godfrey ruled out paying people to fly Virgin.
"You don't need to," he said.
"Five dollars is next to nothing anyway and it's a great ad."
Mr Godfrey said Virgin Blue wasn't trying to buy the loyalty of the flying public with the $5 deal.
Qantas, meanwhile, said it had a very strong response to the summer seat deal it announced yesterday.
The airline yesterday released 2.5 million summer seats priced from as low as $66 one way for post-Christmas travel.
With the Fox-Lew takeover of Ansett scheduled for early February, Mr Godfrey said the revamped airline would not be a threat to Virgin Blue, especially as it would only have half the number of planes as the original.
"We're pretty profitable as it is anyway," he said.
"It would have to take quite a dent in our yields to hurt us anyway.
"I'm pretty confident about the next couple of years, otherwise we wouldn't be talking up the possibility of a float."
"I think we've found our niche and I believe Australians will continue to support us because we've supported them and the last thing we want to do is regress to a situation where we had two airlines again."
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Very very clever marketing.
Apart from the millions of dollars of free advertising and publicity, guess what?
Thats 15,000 seats of unused Virgin capacity (Wirraways bit over 7.5%) that Ansett wont get a sniff at over the period they are starting up.
I would take a bet that people being what they are, they will retain a goodly part of the return passage.
Make no mistake this business wins or loses on mere %age points of overall traffic gained or lost.
In any event any new entrant like AN in this environment is going to have a long hard row to hoe.
Apart from the millions of dollars of free advertising and publicity, guess what?
Thats 15,000 seats of unused Virgin capacity (Wirraways bit over 7.5%) that Ansett wont get a sniff at over the period they are starting up.
I would take a bet that people being what they are, they will retain a goodly part of the return passage.
Make no mistake this business wins or loses on mere %age points of overall traffic gained or lost.
In any event any new entrant like AN in this environment is going to have a long hard row to hoe.
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....."We're pretty profitable as it is anyway," he said.
"It would have to take quite a dent in our yields to hurt us anyway.".....
Where have we heard these types of statements from chief executives ? Compass ring any bells?
I just hope that the above is true and not a cover up to hide a desperate situation.
Either way, AN and DJ are going to find it very tough until the market sorts itself out and sanity prevails.
"It would have to take quite a dent in our yields to hurt us anyway.".....
Where have we heard these types of statements from chief executives ? Compass ring any bells?
I just hope that the above is true and not a cover up to hide a desperate situation.
Either way, AN and DJ are going to find it very tough until the market sorts itself out and sanity prevails.
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Gaunty
if QF used 747s to put VB out of business you would bleat.
The beauty of all this is there is not a single reason in the world for VB to whinge anymore.Don`t want to hear anything about terminals,or QF predatory pricing or the myriad of moans echoed previously.
No more whinging VB,how refreshing.
if QF used 747s to put VB out of business you would bleat.
The beauty of all this is there is not a single reason in the world for VB to whinge anymore.Don`t want to hear anything about terminals,or QF predatory pricing or the myriad of moans echoed previously.
No more whinging VB,how refreshing.
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For those of you who think that this signals the demise of VB, check out www,ryanair.com
One Way fares from Dublin which incl. Tax
Edinburgh € 10
Paris € 10
London (STN) € 10
London (LGW) € 10
Glasgow € 10
Liverpool € 10
Manchester € 10
Leeds € 10
Bristol € 10
London (LTN) € 10
Brussels € 10
Birmingham € 10
Bournemouth € 10
Teesside € 10
Cardiff € 10
It looks as if VB are following a marketing model which have proven to be extemely successful in Europe.
Mutt.
One Way fares from Dublin which incl. Tax
Edinburgh € 10
Paris € 10
London (STN) € 10
London (LGW) € 10
Glasgow € 10
Liverpool € 10
Manchester € 10
Leeds € 10
Bristol € 10
London (LTN) € 10
Brussels € 10
Birmingham € 10
Bournemouth € 10
Teesside € 10
Cardiff € 10
It looks as if VB are following a marketing model which have proven to be extemely successful in Europe.
Mutt.
Gaunty, you are 100% correct (as usual)!!!
VB just filled their empty seats at $37 per seat!!! ($5 + $69 / 2, as almost every passenger will return to Melbourne - God knows why!)
The Philosophy of Yield Control, Revenue Management and Airline Marketing" should be a required subject for all pilots.
A brilliant masterstroke by VB!
<img src="cool.gif" border="0">
VB just filled their empty seats at $37 per seat!!! ($5 + $69 / 2, as almost every passenger will return to Melbourne - God knows why!)
The Philosophy of Yield Control, Revenue Management and Airline Marketing" should be a required subject for all pilots.
A brilliant masterstroke by VB!
<img src="cool.gif" border="0">
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Well sportsfans - another interesting day at the coalface. The DJ system and phones have been unreachable so guess what we have been selling - albeit upselling. AN and QF - In my humble opinion if one is going to pull such a stunt one needs a Global Distrubition System - ie - a large proper mainframe such as Sabre or Galileo or a dirty big internet server.
I will not for a second say that vacant capacity dumping is not a good way to get people used to a very good service, but firmly believe that p*ssing off more potential passengers than you gain is a very bad move commercially.
More power DJ but I believe you have alienated more people than you have pleased with this one.
Too small a market to keep doing it too I am afraid. It will bite.
Time and experience is needed.
Best all
EWL
I will not for a second say that vacant capacity dumping is not a good way to get people used to a very good service, but firmly believe that p*ssing off more potential passengers than you gain is a very bad move commercially.
More power DJ but I believe you have alienated more people than you have pleased with this one.
Too small a market to keep doing it too I am afraid. It will bite.
Time and experience is needed.
Best all
EWL
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bulldog69 me old
No bleating.
QF dont need to use B747s to put Virgin out of business because;
1 Geoff doesn't need to worry about Virgin and understands that he needs at least one solid competitor to keep the market stimulated, it's called synergy.
2 He also understands that it would be financially really dumb to take a high capacity aircraft off a high yield/capacity route just to prove a point.
[quote] The beauty of all this is there is not a single reason in the world for VB to whinge anymore.Don`t want to hear anything about terminals,or QF predatory pricing or the myriad of moans echoed previously.
<hr></blockquote>
Disagree and agree, hows that.
Virgin or any new entrants have every right to whinge about terminal access given the corrupt Tammany Hall politics and policies that placed them with their current owners.
And tell me again that the Tesna scam is about putting pilots and staff back into work. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">
Predatory as a concept only comes into force where there are only two unequal forces. QF as do Virgin and Ansett, if they are as smart as they say they are, understand that spending 80% of your effort to go after the last 5% just doesn't work.
As EWL says 'vacant capacity dumping' is fine and a good way to get people on board for the longer run. But it will only work in the context of your existing route and capacity structure. Creating capacity just to be able to dump it as you suggest QF can with B747 is madness.
Equally dumping it without being able to service the demand in a timely fashion is equally damaging.
Watching "Airline" the other night was a salutory lesson in "Passengers Are Stupid 101". A small number of intending pax for the airline in question had been delayed due to a major accident on the freeway to the airport. The flight could not be held and had to leave without them because of schedule and TO slot demands that were going to reverberate for the rest of the day.
The pax held the airline responsible for their inability to meet their schedules, even though it was a result of the accident. No amount of polite requests to understand the airlines and other passengers problem was going to convince them that it wasn't the airlines fault.
So far Ansett are the ones who have been doing most all of the bleating and running to the Government for help. All QF and Virgin have been saying/bleating is, if you give it to them, how about us?
Torres mate of course
None of them are wearing any clothes
[ 28 December 2001: Message edited by: gaunty ]</p>
No bleating.
QF dont need to use B747s to put Virgin out of business because;
1 Geoff doesn't need to worry about Virgin and understands that he needs at least one solid competitor to keep the market stimulated, it's called synergy.
2 He also understands that it would be financially really dumb to take a high capacity aircraft off a high yield/capacity route just to prove a point.
[quote] The beauty of all this is there is not a single reason in the world for VB to whinge anymore.Don`t want to hear anything about terminals,or QF predatory pricing or the myriad of moans echoed previously.
<hr></blockquote>
Disagree and agree, hows that.
Virgin or any new entrants have every right to whinge about terminal access given the corrupt Tammany Hall politics and policies that placed them with their current owners.
And tell me again that the Tesna scam is about putting pilots and staff back into work. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">
Predatory as a concept only comes into force where there are only two unequal forces. QF as do Virgin and Ansett, if they are as smart as they say they are, understand that spending 80% of your effort to go after the last 5% just doesn't work.
As EWL says 'vacant capacity dumping' is fine and a good way to get people on board for the longer run. But it will only work in the context of your existing route and capacity structure. Creating capacity just to be able to dump it as you suggest QF can with B747 is madness.
Equally dumping it without being able to service the demand in a timely fashion is equally damaging.
Watching "Airline" the other night was a salutory lesson in "Passengers Are Stupid 101". A small number of intending pax for the airline in question had been delayed due to a major accident on the freeway to the airport. The flight could not be held and had to leave without them because of schedule and TO slot demands that were going to reverberate for the rest of the day.
The pax held the airline responsible for their inability to meet their schedules, even though it was a result of the accident. No amount of polite requests to understand the airlines and other passengers problem was going to convince them that it wasn't the airlines fault.
So far Ansett are the ones who have been doing most all of the bleating and running to the Government for help. All QF and Virgin have been saying/bleating is, if you give it to them, how about us?
Torres mate of course
None of them are wearing any clothes
[ 28 December 2001: Message edited by: gaunty ]</p>
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
That is the best one yet! A brilliant master stroke!!!
How many airline managers have any idea if yeild management or marketing?
VB will be out of business in 12 months...wait and see.
That is the best one yet! A brilliant master stroke!!!
How many airline managers have any idea if yeild management or marketing?
VB will be out of business in 12 months...wait and see.
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Lerxt
[quote] How many airline managers have any idea if yeild (sic) management or marketing? <hr></blockquote>
I suspect quite a few.
You'd better hope that the ones running the airline you fly for do, it's ACTUALLY what makes it all work, NOT how good a pilot you may or may not be.
[quote] How many airline managers have any idea if yeild (sic) management or marketing? <hr></blockquote>
I suspect quite a few.
You'd better hope that the ones running the airline you fly for do, it's ACTUALLY what makes it all work, NOT how good a pilot you may or may not be.
So reading the above and related posts...Let me make sure I have this correct.
All the managers of all the airlines operating in Australia are incompetent? Especially the ones working for the airline you don't. <img src="eek.gif" border="0">
All the airlines would be better run by pilots?
Virgin Blue have no more money? Yeah right! <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
Welcome to the New Year. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
All the managers of all the airlines operating in Australia are incompetent? Especially the ones working for the airline you don't. <img src="eek.gif" border="0">
All the airlines would be better run by pilots?
Virgin Blue have no more money? Yeah right! <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
Welcome to the New Year. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
