Ozjet suspends flights

[Mahtoh]

Der. That is all.

Such insight.

You are on a frequent flyer website. Does it need to be spelled out?

 

[BlacKnox]

Sad news indeed .

Is it true that SYD-MEL is the 3rd busiest domestic route in the world? Read that in the SMH. You'd think it could sustain a 3rd carrier wouldn't you? But we've seen it all before.

Yes, this is true. The number 1 and number 2 routes are both in Japan.

I know CTS (Sapporo) - HND (Tokyo) is the busiest in the world. But what is number 2?

 

[NM]

I know CTS (Sapporo) - HND (Tokyo) is the busiest in the world. But what is number 2?

I believe second is cough (Fukuoka) - HND (Tokyo).

 

[BlacKnox]

I know CTS (Sapporo) - HND (Tokyo) is the busiest in the world. But what is number 2?

I believe second is cough (Fukuoka) - HND (Tokyo).

That makes sense given both routes support 3 carriers. For CTS-HND it's JAL, ANA & Air DO, for cough-HND it's JAL, ANA & Skymark. Shame the SYD-MEL route couldn't support Ozjet.

 

[justinbrett]

Would have thought New York - Washington would have been up there.

 

[BlacKnox]

Would have thought New York - Washington would have been up there.

Nope. The busiest routes in the U.S are:

1 New York-Fort Lauderdale
2 New York-Orlando
3 New York-Chicago
4 New York-Los Angeles
5 New York-Atlanta
6 New York-Washington

Busiest airports are Atlanta (Deltu hub) and Chicago (United hub).

 

[Yada Yada]

Here is part of the interview with Paul Stoddart on ABC radio's AM program this morning:

OzJet suspends services
AM - Monday, 13 March , 2006 08:08:00
Reporter: Karen Barlow

TONY EASTLEY: When it took off four months ago, the budget airline, OzJet was trying to muscle in on a notoriously tough aviation market.

Within weeks the airline was losing millions of dollars on its budget business class flights between Sydney and Melbourne.

With no turnaround in sight, OzJet is now suspending its services and putting off around 60 of its workers.

Ticket holders are being promised a refund or a transfer to Qantas.

OzJet's Chairman, former Minardi Formula One boss, Paul Stoddart, says OzJet will now concentrate on charter work.

He's speaking here with AM's Karen Barlow.

PAUL STODDART: It's very sad, very sad for our staff who have put in so much effort, and for the loyal passengers that were travelling with us, but sadly there wasn't enough of them.

KAREN BARLOW: Why have you come to this decision?

PAUL STODDART: Um, we've given it four months and we said we'd give it six months. Clearly we can see the forward bookings and the trend that traditionally comes after the Australia Day holiday when business goes back to work just hasn't happened for us.

More...

 

[DPG]

In the interests of not being arrogant and unsympathetic, I express my compassion for the staff involved in this unfortunate situation.

Well that makes a change! I read somewhere that you were arrogant and unsympathetic!

lol

D P G

 

[NM]

Would have thought New York - Washington would have been up there.

Does not count in the busiest routes since New York and Washington (DC I asusme you mean) are milti-airport cities. Generally, when measuring route traffic it is between airport pairs, so New York - Washington would be made up of JFK-IAD, LGA-IAD, EWR-IAD, JFK-WAS, LGA-WAS, EWR-WAS. And sometimes BWI is also considered Washington. None of these individual pairs comes close to SYD-MEL pairing.

 

[MetroAir]

Damn shame, I was looking forward to BNE and some competition!

 

[N860CR]

I think it'd be interesting to see how O7 would have gone if they hadn't tried the highly serviced SYD-MEL route. As has been mentioned, many travellers frequent that route and are tied into corporate accounts, frequent flyer programs, old habits etc. If they'd have tried something like SYD/MEL to Hamilton Island, Proserpine etc which only have LCC's serving them maybe it would have gone ok. I'd imagine a traveller who is happy to pay several thousands of dollars to stay on one of the Whitsunday Islands for a week would probably be interested in flying "business class" for a slight price premium.

OzJet obviously offered an excellent product at a fair price, however the market they were targetting didn't seem to want it. A Jetflex fare from Sydney to Hamilton Island is $449, surely Ozjet could have come close to that.

 

[ric_melb]

The commentators today have been saying Ozjet failed to find a market because of:

Old planes,
Lack of frequency.
No frequent flyer scheme.

etc.

Personally if they couldn't make a go of MEL/SYD I doubt they could have suceeded on other routes.

 

[danielh]

Well a FF scheme is a big thing for me and this has stopped me (apart from my company policy to fly Qantas) from trying OJ out.

With regards to a flight to Perth, I just took a flight this afternoon (MEL-PER) and luckily enough there were 34 spare seats on the plane so I managed to block a row of three for myself.

First time I actually enjoyed the lie down on a plane. In the old days I would feel the metal separators between the seats digging into my waist and find that the arm rests would not fold all the way back. The plane I took (I can't recall model, maybe 767-300) did not have this problem.

Right now just chilling out in the Hotel room. I'll be flying back tomorrow and hope to do the same.

Regards
Daniel

 

[Mal]

I see their failure as being caused by several things:

1. No FF scheme (already discussed here).
2. Business pax loyalty to Qantas (especially their lounge/FF points)
3. lack of lounges in initial stages.
4. Poor scheduling of flights (cancelling many didn't help).
5. Bad media publicity. (Some driven by media outlets strongly against O7)
6. Advertising that was badly targetted.
7. Started at the wrong time of the year ( Maybe Early Jan would have been better?)
8. Pax not caring about the difference in service/seating for such a short flight.

Maybe if they stuck around and expanded they would get the following they wanted...

It was fun flying O7. Would have liked to see them suceed and prosper.

 

[JohnK]

Truly sad news. :shock:

Just when passenger numbers on SYD-MEL routes were on the way up.

 

[MrPC]

Would have thought New York - Washington would have been up there.

There's a substantial rail service between the two cities via a long established four track electrified main line.

The expresses are $164 (business class seat) and take a touch under 3 hours, the regionals are 3¼ to 3½ hours and are $63-84 for a coach seat. Negligible security hassles, baggage hassles, terminals are in the middle of town (though Reagan National in DC sort of counts), minimal check-in time, better food, better company, you can use your laptop all the way en route and can even use mobile internet services if/when in range, you can walk around and stretch your legs without irritating too many people, and the services to interim destinations are about as good as the services between the corridor's endpoints.

 

[Mal]

A very interesting article about Ozjet is on the Australian's Aviation site:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18452162%5E23349,00.html

""The operating losses on a bad week were a million dollars and on a good week they were three-quarters of a million dollars," Stoddart says. "

 

[jakeseven7]

Comment I heard on a 737-800 QF flight

PAX in Business to FA 'Yes so Ozjet cancelled their flight so we were moved onto this flight'

FA 'Thats lucky, their planes are older than me'

Another PAX 'Its only a matter of time before one falls out of the sky'

All laugh as we taxi past an old Ozjet 737 lying empty at a gate

2days later ozjet dead.

Now its quite sad story... poor old jets

 

[N860CR]

Unfortunatley it's misguided opinions like that which forced Ozjet to close its doors. For reference sake, most planes in Australia would be older than that flight attendant, yet we still have one of the worlds best aviation safety records. Accidents are caused by crew error, poor maintenance, poor weather or a combination of those. The age of an aircraft is rarely the cause of an accident.

 

[Yada Yada]

When OzJet first began operations, I was one of those who expressed concern about the age of the aircraft. I was totally misguided. :roll:

I flew four times with O7 and can say that their aircraft were in excellent condition. They beat the hell out of any QF or DJ cabin I've been in, and there were never any mechanical issues. The planes flew as smoothly and quietly as any 737-800 I've been aboard. They seemed in much better condition than QF's old 767's.