Virgin Atlantic axes Dubai route
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at 09:56 by Flightlevel.
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Alex McWhirterParticipantBREAKING
Virgin Atlantic will axe its London (LHR) to Dubai service from March 31, 2019.
More news to follow.
27 Jun 2018
at 13:03
OlneyflyerParticipantWith Delta owning 49% of Virgin I will be interested to see whether the slots will be used for other US service were the revenues may be higher that Dubai.
28 Jun 2018
at 21:15
AlanOrton1ParticipantThey seem to be retrenching and becoming more and more focussed solely on US routes.
Given SAA’s withdrawal from the CPT route, and that Virgin did use to fly to CPT, it wouldn’t be hard to think there’s an opportunity for them here.
29 Jun 2018
at 10:34
Edski777ParticipantLet’s be reasonable about this decision: EK is making it virtually impossible for any other carrier than EK to operate to/from DXB.
They are operating now from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and so on. On many routes with an A380, low ticket prices and multiple flights a day.
Add to that that for transfer passengers options via Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris are available as well.Virgin Atlantic is just pushed out of this market. Question is if in the long run this won’t happen on other major routes as well and Virgin will become an operator between the UK serving second tier destinations across the Atlantic.
29 Jun 2018
at 10:50
capetonianmParticipantEK’s prices GB-DXB are pretty much the same as any else’s for point to point traffic. Where they undercut everyone else is on O&D traffic (connections).
As VS won’t have online connections to/from DXB, they won’t attract volumes, and there is probably overcapacity on the route with 14 flights a day between London (LHR LGW STN) and DXB, of which 10 are EK.
Hardly surprising that nobody else can compete.
29 Jun 2018
at 11:03
GivingupBAParticipant[quote quote=872318]Previous post is advertising.[/quote]
That is right of course. And johnwick’s post really inspired me with confidence, he can not even spell “guidens”.
29 Jun 2018
at 11:09
Alex McWhirterParticipantOur piece was written quickly as our aim is to bring you important news as soon as possible.
In a previous posting MarkivJ said he though VS would operate more flights to the US West Coast.
Well I now see there is a new US service which will commence at the same time as VS axes Dubai.
Routesonline.com reports that VS will start a second daily Boston service on March 31, 2019. (VS is transferring its LGW-Las Vegas flight to LHR so it’s not a new route)
29 Jun 2018
at 11:35
AlanOrton1ParticipantNo surprise really that they’re adding a US route.
I don’t really buy the oversupply argument or Virgin being pushed out. I suspect their US paymasters see BOS (a DL focus city) as making them more money hence why they’re binning DXB.
EK, while a dominant player, aren’t a monopoly as BA haven’t scaled back their service (up to 3 x daily).Would appear Virgin are going head to head with BA on the BOS route as their flight timings are very close to each other. BA have been 4 x daily on this route for a while.
29 Jun 2018
at 13:57
canuckladParticipantThe other thing to consider is that , not only has EK invested in the regions and Scotland giving us more options than ever before, from it’s Dubai Hub it flies non-stop to 11 destinations in the US and YYZ.
This will have diluted the transit market through LHR heading to Delta hubs , plus EK will have also syphoned off sub-continent traffic heading across the Atlantic.
Just another example of a western airline choosing flight rather than fight !!
29 Jun 2018
at 16:51
Alex McWhirterParticipantAnd Delta is considering a return to Dubai.
It would then fly non-stop Dubai to the USA and distribute domestic US passengers through its US hubs. It that were to happen there would be less need for indirect (Virgin Atlantic) flights via LHR.
29 Jun 2018
at 17:04 -
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