Pilbara airline to begin direct South-East Asia flights

[Happy Trails]

Hmmm, echoes of this thread from last year.
VN start Port Hedland-Saigon service

https://thewest.com.au/news/north-west-telegraph/hedlands-very-own-airline-ng-b881128729z

The newly established Pilbara Airlines is now officially taking bookings for trips flying direct from Hedland to South-East Asia.

The company announced earlier today that residents of the region could now book direct return fares from the Pilbara to popular tourist hotspots this December, including Singapore, Manila and Ho Chi Minh.

Tickets for the direct flights can only be purchased through South Hedland-based agent Grab Travel, starting from today.

 

[ozfflyer]

great news

Is this a virtual airline with VN operating the flights on a charter basis ?

in the news report in the west 7 March 2019, it says ....................

"Mr Carter said Grab Travel is focusing on securing a plane to run daily flights to Perth at 6am with a returning flight at 4pm."

Qantas (B737s) & Qantaslink (B717s & F100s) + Virgin (B737s) & Virgin regional (A320s & F100s) fly into Port Hedland, but think the VIrgin F100s are operated by Alliance Airlines.

Thought only an Australian or NZ airline can sell seats on a domestic only sector.

Maybe Nauru Airlines, who sound like they will be flying "refugees" to Xmas Is, might be able to easily do Port Headland to Perth & back.

(Nauru Airlines, who are strictly speaking a foreign airline, have all their aircraft registered in Australia, so they can do whatever domestic flights in Australia, they want & are probably "popular" with Australian govt.)

Qantas are nver cheap, but maybe Alliance could fly PHE/PER/PHE at a reasonable price ? They seem to have a lot of aircraft sitting around doing SFA Thursday to Sunday, when not doing FIFO work.

 

[ozfflyer]

did a search online for Pilbara Airlines & nothing appeared.

Could not do an ASIC search for Pilbara Airlines as site undergoing maintenance until later tonight.

UPDATE

exists on asic register

Company Summary

Name: PILBARA AIRLINES PTY LTD
ACN: 631 938 899
ABN: 20 631 938 899 (External Link)
Registration date: 27/02/2019
Next review date: 27/02/2020
Status: Registered
Type: Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Locality of registered office: PORT HEDLAND WA 6721
Regulator: Australian Securities & Investments Commission

 

[ozfflyer]

Hmmm, echoes of this thread from last year.
VN start Port Hedland-Saigon service

https://thewest.com.au/news/north-west-telegraph/hedlands-very-own-airline-ng-b881128729z

The newly established Pilbara Airlines is now officially taking bookings for trips flying direct from Hedland to South-East Asia.

The company announced earlier today that residents of the region could now book direct return fares from the Pilbara to popular tourist hotspots this December, including Singapore, Manila and Ho Chi Minh.

Tickets for the direct flights can only be purchased through South Hedland-based agent Grab Travel, starting from today.

the only catch with only having the one agent selling tickets(the flight organiser by sounds of it) is that other agents will bag it. Think Grab Travel might be better off selling through other agents & offering them a huge commission early on, but stating it's only an introductory high commission.

The funny thing is, if the flights are full the media, will say SUCCESSFUL AIRLINE, when the media has no idea whether the airline is making money or not. The airline might go out 1/2 full on average but charge much higher fares & make money & then the media will say negatively, can only 1/2 fill aircraft.

In reality, they'll probably have many different fares, like most airlines.

Airlines selling flights in big cities, will often offer stupidly low opening fares to attract FREE media attention, that is much cheaper than advertising. But with a market in Port Hedland, that has been screwed for decades, Grab Travel, probably has a captive audience, who can't wait for some cheaper fares.

 

[ozfflyer]

Port Hedland(PHE) to Brisbane is over 400 miles further than PHE/SIN, so a narrow body such as an A319/320 or a B737 could easily do it in just over 3 hours.

Maybe Scoot could do it ?

Maybe Cebu Pacific could do PHE/MNL ?

 

[OZDUCK]

I have seen a 'rumour' on Airliners.net that they are chartering Royal Brunei aircraft for this project. No basis given for the claim however.

 

[ozfflyer]

I have seen a 'rumour' on Airliners.net that they are chartering Royal Brunei aircraft for this project. No basis given for the claim however.

don't think they have any E-jets or any on order. Think their smallest aircraft is an A320.