[sparkyflier]

Good to see VS go to Male – this is very much their kind of route and surprised it took them so long to go there.

But the Providenciales route is a surprise, however makes sense as upon investigation the routing will be LHR – Providenciales (PLS) -Montego Bay and then back via PLS. PLS will certainly attract people wanting to be in the front of the plane making the route rewarding I am sure. An example of how a tag can save slots, reduce costs and serve different markets.

[MarkivJ]

Maldives sounds like a bad idea (much like any EU carrier flying to BKK these days) as between the MEB3, at least EK and QR, they own the Maldives market. Whilst I admire VS venturing into territories, given their fiscal challenges, they’d have been better advised to launch into more premium bus-leisure cities than MORE holiday resorts.

[cwoodward]

Given their loyal upper mid market holiday customer base I suspect that they can lure customers from EK and QR on the route without too much difficulty.

[AMcWhirter]

Details haven’t been officially divulged …

but according to reliable sources VS will operate a seasonal service to Male (Maldives) effective October 22, 2023.

There will be three flights a week LHR-MLE.

I realise the launch date is far away and bookings are not yet possible but I thought I ought to let you know.

Changes are possible.

[AMcWhirter]

Looks as though VS *may* never return to LGW.

At today’s conference CEO Shai Weiss confirmed that its impending membership of Skyteam would provide better connectivity with AF which operate at LHR (and not LGW).

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/virgin-atlantic-chief-all-but-rules-out-return-to-gatwick-37287

[petersmaze]

Bali is really high yield leisure at best. Perhaps Jakarta if can partner with GA onto Australia – but GA seems “quiet” at the moment. Not sure really strong enough demand for that area.

[cwoodward]

There is not a lot of leisure traffic to Jakarta and not enough business traffic to sustain anything more than once a week. This because the destination is well catered for via HK and S’pore.
Bali is interesting but is already well saturated by very strong players. A big lower end mass tourist market particularly from AU NZ and high end resort market from Asia Europe and US. Is there room for Virgin ? In my view it would need a big long term commitment of at least 3 times a week but could work. Penang could perhaps be interesting.

BTW Cathay restarted Denpasar this month with a A330 and restarting Phuket early in January (it was previously a Dragon Air route-Cathays HK express is already flying the route twice a day

[AMcWhirter]

We didn’t see this coming.

When VS recently suspended its Pakistan routes from Manchester it gave the impression the London services would be secure.

But today VS announced that London-Pakistan would be suspended.

London-Lahore flights end on April 30.

London-Islamabad on July 8.

So will VS now be concentrating more on transatlantic ?

[sparkyflier]

Hi Alex and thank you for informing this discussion about this news – which is a bit sad and disappointing. I guess not the kind of route Delta want.

But re your question about using these slots for more transatlantic routes, given they leave LHR 22:25 I suggest not – not USA anyway! They operate 3 flights weekly into Islamabad and on the other 4 days into Lahore.

I guess we will find out soon so that VS can start marketing that route.

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cwoodward, AMcWhirter

[MarkivJ]

South Africa?
Sao Paulo?
Or new India destinations?

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tomwjsimpson

[MarkivJ]

To add – not sure how true this is but pre-pandemic, BA had announced expansion to its BLR services from daily to 10x weekly. VS was apparently miffed at the time as they’d been trying that route for a while now and didn’t get the green signal. Perhaps they’ll supplement the daily AF and KL services with 3-4x weekly flights?

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sparkyflier

[sparkyflier]

MarkivJ you are right about BA wanting to add flights to BLR, and with far more attractive schedules than what they currently use. If VS did use some of these slots to go to BLR they would be preferable to BA.

Re the options, I think GRU is better suited to a October/November launch.

Also the HK route slots have not yet been allocated, so think there are 2 daily later evening slots which could arguably ply 3-4 different routes.

ICN has been discussed at length here and maybe the arguments have not changed.

I remain of the opinion that BKK and HKT would be viable routes, but not sure as there is no Skyteam member there it will happen. But neither AF or KL go to HKT and so maybe they would be happy to codeshare on that.

Re Africa think Accra and Nairobi could be options, the former would provide plenty of feed into the VS USA network.

On a separate note, re their fleet I would be far more likely to choose VS if they had A330/A350 on a route over 789 and maybe removing the 789 would simplify their fleet.

[MarkivJ]

Thanks Sparkyflier. I’m curious about your last statement about VS removing the 789?

[sparkyflier]

MarkivJ – I am saying in my opinion the J product with seats facing away from the window and which do not recline as such are not an attractive product. Their premium economy service is more attractive to me, but on the 789 (787-9) you still have the 787 “electronic” windows which I am not a fan of.

Also for a smallish airline having three long haul types – A350-1000,789 and A330 this does not seem that efficient, and so wonder if removing the 789 given it has a less competitive product IMO could be an option, consolidating around A350 and A330.

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cwoodward, MarkivJ

[AMcWhirter]

Some time ago I wasn’t sure about VS starting London-Seoul (ICN).

After all ICN had failed for BA and today’s flights to NE Asia take a couple of hours longer because of the Russian overflying ban.

Besides South Korea, ICN acts as a gateway to NE Asia and even to Australasia.

In the case of Japan the connections are to regional points rather than just Tokyo.

As for Australia I haven’t checked today’s prices but pre-pandemic both KE (Korean Air) and OZ (Asiana) were discounters between London and Sydney via ICN. J class fares upwards of £3,000-£3,500 return (a far today from the £10,000 demanded today by QF and SIA !).

Yes an overnight stay was required on the return but then these two South Korean airlines would provide complimentary 4 star accommodation, transfers and meals.

So with VS joining Skyteam I wonder whether VS will use the spare capacity (from cancelling Pakistan) to operate LHR-ICN as a code-share with fellow member KE ?

[Author]

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