Air New Zealand ends alliance with Virgin Australia [goes with Qantas]

[oz_mark]

Seems that Air NZ is still selling VA tickets for December 23 this year on VA metal, which is odd in the sense that the blurb on their website is that its/all is no broken, ie, no more agreements about selling Air NZ tickets on VA.
Must be a fluke or am I reading something wrong.
Maybe someone at Air NZ didn't get the memo!

On Trans-Tasman?
They will still be selling domestic VA flights connecting to/from an Air New Zealand Trans Tasman flight

 

[Falcs]

Looks like an ugly divorce, they've jumped into bed with Qantas instead.

Qantas and Air NZ announce codeshare partnership

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Interesting outcome. Some will be pleased, some not.

 

[stm1sydney]

Looks like an ugly divorce, they've jumped into bed with Qantas instead.

That was probably NZ's plan all along. Terminate the VA relationship, wait a couple of months for the dust to settle, announce the replacement.

 

[Fifi]

There is just one knock after another for VA. Seems like it is getting more difficult to retain WP, due to less flexibility or ability to score SC. Hope VA will announce something positive soon

 

[andrewpf]

Is there a time where VA are better off pulling out of the NZ market completely to put its aircraft on domestic Australian routes? How important is the feed from Air NZ?

 

[MH_fan]

Ok...I did not see that one coming...
This is another reason why being in an alliance is useful.

 

[serfty]

Hmm ... Works well for me being QF LTG ...

And really well for some QF WP kiwi friends.

 

[pauly7]

And the thinly veiled barbs continue:

Quote Air NZ: ‘Happy for Virgin to come and talk to us about a baggage interline agreement if they like’

Ouch.

At this point VA are probably happier to interline with Jetstar New Zealand over NZ

 

[serfty]

To be honest I really think this is going to cost AirNZ far more than QF.

I wonder if Airpoints Elite will get domestic QF J lounge access in Oz.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I wonder if this will spur VA into TTing the TT () routes and adding some connecting NZ cities. Let's face it, the flight times/ crew shifts are not a problematic consideration and some good planning could really cause NZ some annoying hurtful pain, whilst at the same time freeing up some VA metal for AU domestic routes.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I wonder if this will spur VA into TTing the TT () routes and adding some connecting NZ cities. Let's face it, the flight times/ crew shifts are not a problematic consideration and some good planning could really cause NZ some annoying hurtful pain, whilst at the same time freeing up some VA metal for AU domestic routes.

All well and good,but then what for VA? They just cede Trans-Tasman traffic? What do their elites do? Do they accept that loss of customer base too, who will surely direct majority spend to QF/NZ?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

All well and good,but then what for VA? They just cede Trans-Tasman traffic? What do their elites do? Do they accept that loss of customer base too, who will surely direct majority spend to QF/NZ?

I'd assume if they go down this track, elites will get some VA benefits whilst flying TT, TT. They will lose a portion of customer base regardless, so why not do it on their terms? They may actually also pick up customer base if they do it well.

 

[Bagpuss]

The tie up with Qantas and AirNZ is the domestic sectors for code sharing, not flying over the TT.
I would guess that the profitable trunks are probably the capital cites from either Country. As far as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane go VA have this mainly covered anyway.
Virgin did run domestic flights in NZ and they could do so again using Virgin or Tiger branding, if they think it’s commerically worthwhile. They do have some ATR’s they could use in either Virgin or Tiger branding.
If Virgin wanted to have a good crack, they could pull off Bali being a leisure destination and have their pure focus on Australia, New Zealand and islands, LAX and Hong Kong.
If you book a flight on Delta from LAX to Auckland it uses Virgin Australia metal.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the AirNZ Qantas tie up is the beginning of reductions at Jetstar NZ.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

As far as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane go VA have this mainly covered anyway.

I may be thinking far too simplistically, but I'd be thinking VA, QF and NZ have that mainly covered. JQ seems to be on it's own as the LCC (and some of the JQ fares are not what I'd call LCC), so surely there's room for a shift from competing with two full service carriers and take on JQ at the LCC end?

 

[gazzax2]

Sad news for virgin.

 

[dajop]

so surely there's room for a shift from competing with two full service carriers and take on JQ at the LCC end?

Wouldn’t call NZ a “full service carrier”, as far as Trans Tasman goes ...

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Wouldn’t call NZ a “full service carrier”, as far as Trans Tasman goes ...

But do they charge "full service carrier" fares?

 

[HS-TQE]

A few facts:

Joining Skyteam isn't going to help Virgin on the Tasman market. The only alliance which will help is Star Alliance to regain access to Air New Zealand. (Emirates are not an alliance member)
Following the demise of Virgin Samoa, Virgin have a "spare" airframe from it's maniline fleet
Virgin wont go bust due to this. They existed prior to their entry into international services and an airline can exist just being a domestic airlines
Virgin will continue to fly to New Zealand from Australia

What happened in light of recent events with the upcoming QF codeshare (which benefits me to some extent), I'm fairly sure I read that NZ and UA made sure that VA is "Persona Non-Grata" to the Star Alliance organisation. Pretty much sealing the door shut on VA joining *A in the future, even in the unlikely event of SQ making a take-over bid (due to alleged events at that meeting between the NZ CEO and VA CEO).

SkyTeam is VA's only Alliance option now, especially with DL being one of VA's few strongest allies, and the codeshares with VS (which DL half-owns).

 

[johnnyfive]

'World's cheapest airline' Tigerair could land in New Zealand as parent company prepares to announce 'exciting news'

'World's cheapest airline' Tigerair could land in New Zealand as parent company prepares to announce 'exciting news'