Are V Australia going to fly to South Africa?

[concorde70]

It was announced last year that V Australia would be flying to South Africa from August this year increasing to five flights a week by October.
Does anyone know if this is still likely to happen?

Since the announcement the effects of the GFC are being felt in Australia and V Australia have deferred delivery of some of the 777 that would be needed to service this route. There is also chatter about additional routes to the USA being started.

Late last year the IASC approved a two year extension to the Qantas/SAA code share agreement and in so doing stated that had V Australia not entered this route than the IASC would not have granted the extension? Therefore if V Australia fail to enter this route then they in conjunction with the IASC will have done a great disservice to the public as they would have allowed the cosy duopoly on the Australia/South Africa route to be unnecessarily extended. The Sydney - Johannesburg route is at present the most expensive offered by Qantas.
In addition in granting a two year extension to the code share arrangement the IASC appear to have overlooked the fact that during this time the Soccer World Cup is being held in South Africa, this event is likely to attract a large number of Australians and New Zealanders and residents of surrounding countries to the Australia/South Africa route.

Presuming that V Australia do start a route to South Africa it is assumed that it would be from Sydney to Johannesburg. Would there be a possibility that they would consider alternate city pairs that would not conflict with Qantas and SAA, for example Melbourne or Brisbane to Cape Town or Durban. Cape Town would be an obvious tourist destination and would still tie up with Virgin Atlantic.

I would be interested in your thoughts on this topic.

 

[docjames]

I've been wondering about this. There are some threads already on this topic if you have a search.


Virgin have been very quiet on this for some time now, which to me suggests there's ongoing issues getting this route underway. One would have to be the amount of money it's costing getting the Pacific flights going, and to commit to a new route at this stage would be an even bigger cash drain, even if it turned profitable quickly, there'd still be plenty of costs in advance of revenue.

I like the cape town idea, although business class travel would presumably be greater in and out of JNB so lucrative if they can capture that market. Perhaps even a PER-JNB-CPT would be good.

I also think there's still issues with ETOPS requirements with the 777 as the route would be longer than with a 4 engined aircraft as there's a lack of alternative landing sites that means they'd have to route a long way north compared to SAA/QF.

 

[Dee Thom]

I recall a bit of hype in the media earlier this year to this effect, but as docjames said, the current financial stuation, and V Aus bleeding $$$$'s on the LAX route seem to make an entry to JNB/CPT a non event in the near future.

There was also recent talk of V Aus routing to Japan, probably NRT. This would be good for BNE folk, who have to go via OOL or CNS if they are a QFF member. We go to NRT a few times a year for family reasons, and since JD took over from QF, we fly TG via BKK for $3000 less in J, plus a bit of shopping for herself in BKK. Direct BNE/NRT in Y+ would be a big yes, don't think JAL have introduced Y+ as yet on this route.
Cheers Dee.