Virgin Australia Regional (Ex SkyWest) 2 x A320's

[Bagpuss]

Don't post on here very much but I thought I had a good idea.

Why doesn't Virgin allocate two 737's to Virgin Australia Regional (ex SkyWest)

With the two A320's in Virgin Australia Regional's fleet re-do the interior and make them suitable to fly East Coast to West Coast. Therefore, this service would be A330 or A320. Wouldn't that be heaps better than A330 / B737 ?

(Another option could be to re-allocate TigerAir's A320's to Virgin and switch TigerAir to B737's from VA's main fleet)

I'm purely thinking of making good improvements for VA domestic with using the existing fleet.

 

[bullerdude]

The A320 is approximately the same size at the 737 - An A330 is a much bigger twin isle aircraft.

A320/B737... pretty much no difference.

 

[williamsf1]

Don't post on here very much but I thought I had a good idea.

Why doesn't Virgin allocate two 737's to Virgin Australia Regional (ex SkyWest)

With the two A320's in Virgin Australia Regional's fleet re-do the interior and make them suitable to fly East Coast to West Coast. Therefore, this service would be A330 or A320. Wouldn't that be heaps better than A330 / B737 ?

(Another option could be to re-allocate TigerAir's A320's to Virgin and switch TigerAir to B737's from VA's main fleet)

I'm purely thinking of making good improvements for VA domestic with using the existing fleet.

The A320s are mainly used for charter to smaller airports where operationally a 737 does not work. I understand the a320 can handle the heat( most of the destinations are well over 40c in summer) a lot better than the 737.

 

[Pleb Status]

For interest, these A320 aircraft have/had odd seat assignments (when they were operated by Skywest and I assume now).

Left side of the aircraft is A, B and C (as you would expect). Right side is E, F and G. No D to be seen anywhere. Have not seen this in Y on any other airline.

 

[Saab34]

Are the seats the same Y seat used across the 737 fleet?

Or have they kept the same seats as the previous operator? I think it was a ex British Airways A320.

 

[williamsf1]

For interest, these A320 aircraft have/had odd seat assignments (when they were operated by Skywest and I assume now).

Left side of the aircraft is A, B and C (as you would expect). Right side is E, F and G. No D to be seen anywhere. Have not seen this in Y on any other airline.

I noticed this on my LAN and TAM flights recently .... may be its a A320 thing ?

 

[93D]

Could it be more of a is more of a system thing as the fokker 100s seating is A-B then E-F-G, maybe making it easier to swap aircraft. Just a thought.

 

[bubblyguy]

The VARA A320s are very old!

A 737 BSI would be much nicer to fly on transcend then an ancient A320.

The VARA A320s are assigned to larger charter routes and also the IOT (Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands) flying.

VARA do get mainline Virgin Australia to operate a 738 to Boolgeeda to ensure enough capacity.

 

[kalboy]

I read somewhere last week or so that they are considering buying a third A320 for VARA.

 

[kalboy]

Source: The West Australian 23 Feb

Ms McArthur says the low capital cost of a Fokker 100 ($4 million to $6 million) makes it ideal for charter flying, while Virgin Australia's modern Embraer fleet is suited to regular public transport (RPT) flying. Orphans of the VARA fleet are two A320s.
"We are looking at expanding the A320 fleet," Ms McArthur says. "It's a good aircraft with great uplift in the heat and for the type of runways we have to use. We may increase the number of A320s depending on contracts. The great thing about charter is that the lead time for winning a new contract is about six months, which lines up with the timeframe for procuring the aircraft."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/26399876/virgin-rebrands-skywest-fleet/