V-Flyer

JetAirways have now ceased international flights as of today

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47905089

Whats the impact of this for VS? Will we see VS Step into the void on any of the routes?

They may be tempted to re-start BOM, if they can get the appropriate slots at LHR.

clarkeysntfc wrote:They may be tempted to re-start BOM, if they can get the appropriate slots at LHR.

I presume whatever slots are vacated by Jet are both available and reasonably suitable?

This is potentially problematic for VS’s TATL objectives at MAN, where I understood it was hoped that routing India-USA traffic over MAN would support additional frequencies, longer seasons and more routes on the TATL network, and also free up capacity for more p2p on the VS and Jet network at LHR.

A key objective for VS (which is as much a DL, AF/KL decision) is finding a new partner in India (assuming Jet does eventually collapse).

It was mentioned on the back of the Shai Weiss interview that BOM was rumoured to be restarted as well as Tokyo - or at least was being contemplated. I think with Jet serving 3 daily flights to London, VS could look to restart BOM with demand there to be captured IMHO.

The slots have been given to Etihad who will lease or sell them for a signifcant price. Question might boil down to how much VS or others are willing to pay for what are rare slots and how quickly they can react whilst not make a rash decision/route resumption. (My 2 pence)

Dobbo wrote:
I presume whatever slots are vacated by Jet are both available and reasonably suitable?

The 3 Jet slot pairs are owned by Eithad (who bought them from Jet in 2013) and leased back to Jet.

So these 3 slots are now Eithads problem so they could either use them themselves, lease them out or sell them to whoever is willing to pay for them (Eithad paid $70m for these 3 so they aren't cheap). Whatever they do they need to act fairly quickly because of the 80/20 use it or lose it rule for LHR slots.

I'm not sure what 'spare' slots VS and DL already have or if they are in the market for slots.. The Guernsey-LHR flybe service is using a VS slot for 6 months for example.

I hadn’t appreciated that they were Etihad owned slots. I suppose there’s a high probability they’ll cash those in. Wonder if VS would be in the market for them (I assume “yes” at the right price).

VS has a lot of work to do, of which funding a new partner in India (which I assume is going to be necessary) but one issue.

It also needs to decide what it wants from connect (we have a flavour from public statements and court documents but that’s about it), whether it wants to order any new (or nearly new!) aircraft (which can also be short haulers now) and how to leverage its position in the AF/KL/DL partnership (which in fairness they’ve probably either been told what to do and/or have already figured it out).

I think if Jet go under (and I don't think that's a sure fire thing, given refinancing work underway) then VS will launch Mumbai - I'm tempted to suggest from Manchester if they can't get the slots at LHR.

EY will cash them in, most likely to a Chinese carrier in my opinion.

LREDI wrote:I think if Jet go under (and I don't think that's a sure fire thing, given refinancing work underway) then VS will launch Mumbai - I'm tempted to suggest from Manchester if they can't get the slots at LHR.

EY will cash them in, most likely to a Chinese carrier in my opinion.

I agree with the above - which all seems logical to me.

One point to add, is that even if Jet survives in some form (either as an entity, or perhaps the branding) there is no guarantee it will be in a form of any use to Virgin Atlantic, or better options might exist.

Who knows - lots up in the air at the moment.

According to a comment on One Mile at a Time these are the slot pair times and current destinations.

A 05:45 D 08:30 – BOM
A 16:55 D 20:20 – BOM
A 17:20 D 19:45 – DEL

Not sure how useful these would be to VS/DL. It's the times that matters. They can use them for any destinations they like unless for some reason these were previous remedy slots with restrictions on them.

Dobbo wrote:

clarkeysntfc wrote:They may be tempted to re-start BOM, if they can get the appropriate slots at LHR.

I presume whatever slots are vacated by Jet are both available and reasonably suitable?

This is potentially problematic for VS’s TATL objectives at MAN, where I understood it was hoped that routing India-USA traffic over MAN would support additional frequencies, longer seasons and more routes on the TATL network, and also free up capacity for more p2p on the VS and Jet network at LHR.

In the case of MAN, this bit of news over the weekend about SQ codesharing MAN-BOS/JFK/ATL/LAS/LAX may help fill the void slightly...

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... 20atlantic

The timing of the SIN-MAN arrival also lends itself for connection opportunities.

It certainly helps, and perhaps illustrates the possibilities that a “hub” (of sorts) might be able to offer Virgin Atlantic at MAN.

What I don’t think is (yet) in situ is a reciprocal codeshare on SQ’s SIN-MAN and MAN-IAH services (or onwards from SIN) or any indication that “Virgin Connect” (or whatever FlyBe will be branded as) will continue to feed SQ at MAN/LHR.

The demise of Jet has likely hurt VS’s plans, but I wonder if VS need to find a new Indian partner Vistara (owned by Singapore Airlines - I’m not sure if this is in whole or in part) might be an attractive partner at some stage.

I wouldn't go as far as saying Jet Airways has demised for good yet, though the outlook is rather bleak unless a solution to the funding issue can be found. It could be a case of VS just sitting tight for the time being to see what happens, though if the appropriate level of funding was found today I don't know how quickly they can restore a full schedule. Even then, I expect Jet Airways not to re-appear in its full form prior to the cuts as it would surely have to be a case of starting over and cutting anything that isn't profitable.

I think VS will wait and see with Jet.

If this is the end then I can see a partnership with Vistara (49% owned by Singapore) and a return to BOM from Summer 2020.