[Anonymous]

[LeTigre]

Virgin America has been struggling recently, here’s a glimpse why…

8 days ago…

http://airlineroute.net/2012/12/11/vx-ewr-apr13/

Virgin America announces 3x daily route from both LAX and SFO to Newark (EWR).

Today…

http://airlineroute.net/2012/12/19/ua-laxsfo-s13/

United increases service (around similar dates) from 6 to 14 daily on EWR to LAX route.
United increases service (around similar dates) from 7 to 16 daily on EWR to SFO route.

Capacity dumping to destroy a competitor? I’m really surprised at how blatant this behaviour is, feels quite like bullying, but it may well be Virgin America that has the last laugh, as running 16 empty flights a day can’t be cheap!

[dutchyankee]

Sadly, this tactic has happened in the past when stronger carriers have done similarly on various routes to ‘kill’ off a weaker carrier. I hope Virgin America’s superior product will win the day, but one can not really compete with Fortress United at Newark, and with that type of schedule, Virgin is probably doomed on that route.

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Incredible!

I have never flown Virgin America, but after a recent United experience I will be giving it a wide berth.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Would it be fair to say that UA are switiching some of the services from JFK or LGA into EWR – from what I can tell some of these services to these airports look reduced. However not surprised if part of the logic is to thwart the VX flights but some reasoning may be to better connect with the hub at EWR??

[DavidGordon10]

Dear alexpo1, do you mean you are giving Virgin America a wide berth, or United? I could understand either. Maybe you mean both!

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Good evening DavidGordon10

‘It’ refers to United! Hope to try Virgin America for the first time one day…

[Edski777]

What if we include the Virgin Atlantic/Delta & Skyteam Alliance in this discussion? Suddenly there is a nice feeder system for Virgin America on these two routes from both sides of the atlantic and pacific. If this is going to happen Virgin America with these allies can take on UA and hold out for a while, especially with the better product offering of Virgin America. If UA can’t generate enough traffic soon they will be flying empty and will ultimately lose so much money they will have to scale back.

I agree with the assumption that Virgin America on its own won’t be a match for UA.

[Shearer]

UA is doing the right thing to protect its patch.
If EI had done the same when FR started we wouldn’t have FR today. I wonder what the aviation world in Europe would be like without them?

EI didn’t appreciate that FR grew the whole market, so dumping prices while maintaining same capacity seriously weakened them.

[DavidGordon10]

Thank you for the clarification, alexpo1. I agree with you about United short-haul within the USA, but it is not alone in the USA, in being much weaker domestically than internationally.

[Author]

Posts