Virgin Australia to Mount Isa

[Wunala Dreaming]

Virgin Australia, in a joint statement with Xstrata has announced it will commence Brisbane - Mount Isa starting August.

No word yet on equipment, however one would expect 737-800s with Business (QF already offers 73H with J/Y) or possibly an Alliance Airlines F100.

Qantas only just recently upped Brisbane - Mount Isa with an extra 3 weekly (no doubting they knew DJ was coming!).

 

[Mal]

Didn't they try mt isa around 4 years ago and pulled out?

At least they seem to have secured a big corporate customer this time.

Personally im looking out for the sales... Isa is on my 'go see' list.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Fruitcake]

They've given ISA a go a couple of times - the first was in late 2001, after Ansett collapsed, but QF ramped up capacity dramatically and drove them off the route.

At least, that was what Brett Godfrey said at the time, although given the underdog rhetoric of Virgin Blue, especially in the early days, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle:
Virgin Blue Forced To Cancel Services To Mt Isa 6DEC01 | Virgin Australia

 

[Wunala Dreaming]

Didn't they try mt isa around 4 years ago and pulled out?

At least they seem to have secured a big corporate customer this time.

Personally im looking out for the sales... Isa is on my 'go see' list.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

BNE/ISA 0600/0840 DJ1267 MTWTF E90
ISA/BNE 0910/1115 DJ1268 MTWTF E90

Nice and early! E90 equipment and only Monday to Friday.

 

[Rotation]

I'm quite happy to see them back on the Isa route - I grew up there and still have family friends back there, and one of the biggest resisting factors to going back for visits, or for them to come to MEL was the exorbitant prices QF were charging for flights to BNE. Many of the people I speak to from there are always saying they wish Virgin came back, generate some competition, so I for one am pleased!

 

[Simo]

Schedule is not great as no weekend service and can not do it as a day trip from BNE.

I hope that is not going to kill the service again.

 

[Noob]

Schedule is not great as no weekend service and can not do it as a day trip from BNE.

I hope that is not going to kill the service again.

More likely that those times are what suited FIFO for the resource sector.

 

[Simo]

More likely that those times are what suited FIFO for the resource sector.

The next thing is will VA put a lounge into ISA,

I am not sure when the shift changeovers are but I have a few friends who do work in ISA and most of there shifts are 4 days on 4 days off.

No weekends and also no Friday afternoon flight will hurt the schedule as well.

 

[samh004]

Personally im looking out for the sales... Isa is on my 'go see' list.

Indeed, it’s also a stop off for the SkyTrans flight with many stops and there’s a few places in the general area I’d lie to check out, so sales would be appreciated.

Many of the people I speak to from there are always saying they wish Virgin came back, generate some competition, so I for one am pleased!

But when competition comes, most stick to the old carrier that’s lowered fares…

The next thing is will VA put a lounge into ISA

Qantas doesn’t have one there, so not sure what market VA sees for a lounge?

 

[Tuddy]

In all the releases they've said that the flights provide connections to 33 destinations. When booking a flight out of Isa, one can only connect on to Perth or Darwin. To travel from Sydney requires an overnight in Brisbane on the way up. Justin Montgomery said on an interview with ABC Northwest (Isa area) that they'd be looking to start up 737s on the route sooner rather than later as they see the demand as being there..how about a second E90 in the afternoon first to improve the connectability to the rest of the network? He also said the airline wanted to start flights before August 13 too which was logical (yet also interesting)

 

[Simo]

In all the releases they've said that the flights provide connections to 33 destinations. When booking a flight out of Isa, one can only connect on to Perth or Darwin. To travel from Sydney requires an overnight in Brisbane on the way up. Justin Montgomery said on an interview with ABC Northwest (Isa area) that they'd be looking to start up 737s on the route sooner rather than later as they see the demand as being there..how about a second E90 in the afternoon first to improve the connectability to the rest of the network? He also said the airline wanted to start flights before August 13 too which was logical (yet also interesting)

The reason why they would like it earlier is because of the Rodeo on the 10th 11th and 12th August.

I am also wondering if VA will try and beat QF to a lounge in ISA.

 

[eastwest101]

Interesting to see Xstrata supporting some competition again on the BNE-ISA route, although looking at some of the QF fares after DJ pulled out I expect that Xstrata got sick of the inflated QF fares. A good result for the Mt Isa folks anyway - lets see if they support VA this time....

The flight timings certainly suit BNE based FIFO workers and do not suit any business travellers from further afield that BNE, but a lot of businesses serving the ISA area are based in BNE/TSV and CNS anyway. If large expansion projects in the ISA area get the go ahead I wouldn't be surprised to see more frequency or capacity increases in the future. BNE-ISA has been a cash-cow for QF for a number of years so will be interesting to see how they respond.

 

[Noob]

BNE-ISA has been a cash-cow for QF for a number of years so will be interesting to see how they respond.

Most likely they will throw on an old 747 for a couple of months & quietly withdraw it.

 

[airtraveladdict]

I read on The Age that Qantas' prices to fly to Mt Isa was the same as flying to LAX. 14 hours compared to 1hour 40minutes. And before Virgin restarted the Mt Isa flights, Qantas prices were around $600 each way! and $1200 return. But they have since fallen to $385 each way. So if Mt Isa residents want prices to remain low, they should support the competition, because if Virgin leaves again, I'll bet the shirt off my back that Qantas will lift the prices back to $600 each way.

 

[Greggsy]

The reason why they would like it earlier is because of the Rodeo on the 10th 11th and 12th August.

I am also wondering if VA will try and beat QF to a lounge in ISA.

You gotta love rodeo time in the Isa.

 

[Noob]

I still believe the Qantaslink prop product is pretty good though, their staff are brilliant. Haven't tried Virgin Australia props yet so can't really compare - will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[eastwest101]

I still believe the Qantaslink prop product is pretty good though, their staff are brilliant...

No dash 8's there noob - all ISA-BNE services are QF B737's and in the future DJ E190's. Air North fly E170's from ISA-OOL and ISA-DRW as well. No way would you want to fly BNE-ISA in a Dash 8. They still use the Dash 8's for ISA-TSV services though as its not quite so far.

 

[Greggsy]

No dash 8's there noob - all ISA-BNE services are QF B737's and in the future DJ E190's. Air North fly E170's from ISA-OOL and ISA-DRW as well. No way would you want to fly BNE-ISA in a Dash 8. They still use the Dash 8's for ISA-TSV services though as its not quite so far.

That reminds me of when Macair used to fly the BNE-ISA leg for QF back prior to Ansett going under. 4 hours in a SAAB 340!


Greg.

 

[eastwest101]

..fly the BNE-ISA leg for QF back prior to Ansett going under. 4 hours in a SAAB 340!

That is my definition of torture as well... its a good old reliable aircraft but sure wasn't built for comfort!

 

[Noob]

No dash 8's there noob - all ISA-BNE services are QF B737's and in the future DJ E190's. Air North fly E170's from ISA-OOL and ISA-DRW as well. No way would you want to fly BNE-ISA in a Dash 8. They still use the Dash 8's for ISA-TSV services though as its not quite so far.

Cheers - so that would be mainline QF crew then?

It's amazing comparing things today to how they use to be. An ex-Ansett flight attendant I know said when she was on regional runs back 30 years ago they use to serve a roast dinner on board those little props O.O