2nd HKG CANCELLED/ 2nd Daily Cape Town

Please be advised that Virgin Atlantic will cancel VS238/239 Heathrow-Hong services with effect from 1st November 2006;



Passengers booked on the VS238 exUK will be reprotected on the VS200 LHR-HKG on the same day of departure.

Passengers booked on the VS239 exHKG (scheduled to depart after midnight local) will be reprotected on the VS201 HKG-LHR

on the previous day (departing before midnight local).





Edit by mod to title.... Nick

[Scrooge]

Say what [:0],so what does this tell us,will they pull out of SYD next?

I thought the second HKG flight was meant to allow more tickets to be sold for SYD,without that flight can SYD remain viable?

Maybe it's an equipment or crewing issue?

Or it could be not required based on re-assessing the current loads on the route.

It might even be related to Air New Zealand launching their LHR-HKG-AKL route, increasing the number of available seats in the LHR-HKG market.

Cheers,
Mike

[mcmbenjamin]

Grrr. Is this the stop of the whole VS Austrasia invasion? I thought OOL or BNE was next on the VS map.

[Scrooge]

Ok let's see if they end theSYD route,I can not see them continuing it with the loads they are getting (feel free to correct me on the loads)the 346 can do two trips LHR - anywhere in the same time it takes to do LHR-HKG-SYD rt and there fares are not close to double.If the HKG-SYD leg isn't full or the cargo isn't making VS a bundle then I cant see them keeping it.

That may well mess up my plans for a trip to Sydney in February now.....will hold back to see what's what before I book anything.

Originally posted by jetwet1
Ok let's see if they end theSYD route,I can not see them continuing it with the loads they are getting (feel free to correct me on the loads)the 346 can do two trips LHR - anywhere in the same time it takes to do LHR-HKG-SYD rt and there fares are not close to double.If the HKG-SYD leg isn't full or the cargo isn't making VS a bundle then I cant see them keeping it.

Absolutely, apparently that's the exact reason BA reconsidered, a full 747 doing two trip for double the revenue compared to one return to Aus!

Perhaps Aus is a trophy route for SRB rather than a serious money-maker ... be a shame though to pull back

I don't think Virgin will stop flying to Australia. On 14 July when I flew back to Sydney, the plane was full.

SRB and VS's pride would take a huge kicking by admitting defeat and withdrawing from the SYD route.

I cannot see it happening short term. Maybe it will be up for discussion early 2007 - dependent on loads for the upcoming Australian summer.

I would be sad to see it go personally....... [:#]

Flippin' typical! 48 hours after I finally book myself onto a VS flight (to SYD in Jan) - they start looking all wobbly on that route!

Maybe optimism instructs my take on it, but surely it'd be pretty inglorious to bail out tail-between-legs on a route that Branson publicly pursued for years?[:?]

What with Nov-Feb being high season in Oz, I'd have thought (hoped!) they'd stick firm until at least the Spring.

After that, if revenue remains soft, then I suppose there's going to be an interesting discussion to be had between the "bean counting" and "empire building" elements of management.

It's hard to put a monetary value on the prestige of keeping a daily kangaroo route up - but I just hope they come down on the side of reckoning it's worth more than they're losing on it. Fingers crossed...

Originally posted by xenole
That may well mess up my plans for a trip to Sydney in February now.....will hold back to see what's what before I book anything.

Us too -trip planned for summer 07 to Oz (although we were keeping all our options open regarding carrier until after the trip in October)

So what happens if you book with VS and then they pull the route? Does a code share pick up the booking?

Just to confirm - VS238/239 are no longer on sale as of this morning via VA.com as you would expect........ [:#]

I'd doubt that the cancellation of the new HKG rotation is because VS are thinking of pulling out of the SYD route.

As I said, it's more likely to be due to equipment or crew availability, just that bookings for the Winter aren't looking very buoyant in that market, or the additional seats in the market mean the new rotation isn't necessary yet.

I think people are reading far more into this than there is.

Cheers,
Mike

I doubt that VA will pull out of the SYD route, it's picked up now and cargo has always done pretty well. In any case, after all that effort and SRB challenging the QANTAS CEO to work as an FA on the innaugural flight, it's unlikely that VS would admit defeat soon.

I think that Mike is correct in what he says:D

VS.

Originally posted by mike-smashing
...it's more likely to be due to equipment or crew availability,...

One would hope that VS would have already done the calculation in terms of a/c availability. They may be reassessing the amount of slack and turnaround times they need or they are aiming to retire an additional a/c. Otherwise it may well be the ability to hire crew fast enough as Mike says.

Phil FM

P.S. We were also looking at a reward trip to Oz. If the worst happens (and I do not think it will) I guess it will solve the dilemma of VS or A380 on SG.

The decision was made due to many factors... its not an aircraft nor crew issue... the plane/crew planned for this will be used on new frequencies elsewhere in the mean time.

hmmm...

I could not find this on the VA site, is their a link?

I've just booked a D and a G class return for late December so I'm hoping both will be OK? - particularly the reward flight!

Anybody have experience on this?

thanks

Andrew

Could this be due to a new budget airline based in HK starting HKG-LGW services?

(Not to plug them but they do advertise a "from £75 return" for the route!)

Fish

(Edited to correct factual error)

I really hope they don't pull the SYD service [:0] We are booked to go in UCS in March. One of the tickets is an upgraded ticket using airmiles. Fingers crossed.

[Neil]

I wouldn't worry Mark - if VS pull out of SYD, which personally I don't see happening, then it won't be an immediate withdrawel, it would be announced months in advance before it happens.

[mitchja]

Dont forget that with Austrian Airlines pulling their SYD/MEL routes from Vienna from the end of next March, that will then only leaves 2 European airlines flying the SYD route - VS and BA.

Regards

Originally posted by mitchja
Dont forget that with Austrian Airlines pulling their SYD/MEL routes from Vienna from the end of next March, that will then only leaves 2 European airlines flying the SYD route - VS and BA.

If you ask me that's been in the post since the death of Ansett, and the loss of any *A feeder traffic. The *A strategy these days seems to be focusing on SQ and TG to serve Australia from Europe via SIN/BKK.

I'm actually surprised that *A hasn't tried to plug holes post-Ansett in Australia by doing cabotage with the other "local" carriers, such as NZ, SQ, TG, and ANA. ISTR NZ do have rights to operate domestically within Australia (QF have a domestic operation in NZ, and they are now co-operating across the Tasman), but don't given the post-Ansett financial turmoil they found themselves in. I guess the market just won't support it.

Cheers,
Mike

It's an aircraft issue, in that more revenue can be made elsewhere. Why compete with ANZ, BA, CX, QF & Oasis on London - Hong Kong if more $$'s to be made on another route.

Originally posted by Denzil
It's an aircraft issue, in that more revenue can be made elsewhere. Why compete with ANZ, BA, CX, QF & Oasis on London - Hong Kong if more $$'s to be made on another route.

Not quite... HKG is a HUGELY high yielding route (probably one of the most profitable routes in the world as an O&D). And I know it can handle the increased competition... indeed VS are pretty desperate for the extra capacity to Honkers. Rumours are CX are going to 5 a day!!!! (Plus CX desperately trying to get the MAN/SVO/HKG flights past regulatory hurdles!)

Its more of a cost issue. Or one particular cost. And the need to reduce this cost burdern before starting the service.

So ultimately for the moment it makes sense sending the Airbus where its going to be sent, on that frequency (details will be out soon)
until this cost issue is sorted out.