Virgin Bali expansion, next up CBR-DPS

[AIRwin]

On sale (return) for $399 Lite and $1449 Business:

https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/specials/take-off-to-bali-sale/

 

[aamslfc]

I give it 6 months - happy to be proven wrong, but I think it's a decision underpinned by complete nonsense.

Of all the international routes VA could have chosen, they picked this one?

What's the logic behind CBR-DPS? Where's the traffic coming from? Is this just a fleet utilisation thing? Are there subsidies involved? Is this a sneaky way to get more seats on the route as an operational backup in the event of another Poo Plane incident?

You'll get some people depart CBR instead of schlepping to SYD/MEL, but you're talking a handful of people every week maximum. Are there domestic and international connections for through pax?

I'd argue Fiji only makes the thrice-weekly Crash-8 work because a) Fiji is a premium holiday destination, and b) there's sufficient through traffic onto the rest of the network.

As for the poor sods on VA, they'll be spending nearly 7 hours on a 737 coughbox, either cramped in economy or wondering what is even remotely "business" about the bog-standard domestic recliner.

The hard product isn't priced much better than QF's (and is largely the same), and the soft product is a complete joke - so what's the incentive to fly VA ahead of the competition?

And don't start me on the lounge beforehand, where they are still too cheap to pay for the flavourings on the crisps.

Also curious that they launched with sale fares and reward seats in Y, but had outrageously overpriced fares with no apparent award availability in J for any of the dates I checked yesterday.

At those fares, I could just fly QF or GA in a lie-flat via the usual ports of SYD/MEL. Heck, I'd rather still go via HKG or SIN as I've done in the past.

As Batik found out, without a network to connect to, cashed-up bogans flying to DPS from CBR are few and far between. If they couldn't make it work with cheapish fares, then I doubt VA will either.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

QF to SIN and KLM to DPS is a nice combination.

 

[jase05]

I must admit I’m a bit dismayed at this route and can’t understand what VA are trying to do.
We flew VA J ADL-DPS many times over the years and loads always looked good and they had no problem pulling that route but they are going to try this route?
It just doesn’t make sense
We go over a few times each year so thankfully no shortage of airlines to get us there but it just takes a bit longer

 

[aamslfc]

QF to SIN and KLM to DPS is a nice combination.

Indeed - we've done similar before.

That KLM 5th freedom is fabulous - good timings, good hard/soft product in all classes, and jenever houses in J.

 

[Saab34]

Fiji loads from Canberra are around 60%, that’s going off the data last Aug and Sep. They have pulled back to 2 weekly, if they can maintain a similar passenger base that should keep loads into the higher 80s.

Batik loads had been dreadful but it’s hard to go back and look at the data as I recall they chopped and changed so much. Considering brand awareness and lack of connections, it was around 50-70 people per flight.

Virgin will obviously go higher with its brand awareness, loyalty program and connecting network. I’d probably guess somewhere 100-130 per flight.

I think HBA-DPS would be a good one twice weekly in winter.

 

[HS-TQE]

I give it 6 months - happy to be proven wrong, but I think it's a decision underpinned by complete nonsense.

If it's subsidised it would be at least 2 seasons (generally over 2 years) tops, typically for those type of arrangements.

OOL flights sometimes gets SYD overflow (connecting) passengers, I would not be surprised if MEL overflow (connecting) is routed through CBR.

 

[dajop]

Whilst I agree that it is questionable whether this route will work, picking up demand from MEL which is constrained may help

But frankly, I suggest outside the AFF echo chamber the target market for this is not people who are taking business class CBR-SYD/MEL-SIN-DPS. It’s turning a 6hr journey into something that’s 15hrs+. That’s a very niche market.

I guess also Wagga Wagga doesn’t have an international terminal so WGA-DPS was out of question.

 

[HS-TQE]

I'd say VA and Bain announcing CBR-DPS and still announcing nothing for WSI despite the NSW Government and WSI Airport subsidies on offer for all airlines to commence services at their airport is wild.

Bain must have some data (plus any potential CBR end subsidies) to announce CBR-DPS earlier.

 

[Saab34]

This one doesn’t appear to chew up much aircraft time, seems to be a 2pm-9pm block on the two weekdays is all that it’s taking up, and the Saturday has downtime. They have pushed the Melbourne departure back a bit in the morning after it returns from DPS. Seems to be a MEL-CBR-DPS-CBR-MEL run.

Seems to be more just stretching existing resources. One less aircraft overnighting at CBR also.

 

[Lucass]

I hope VA continues to expand both domestically and internationally. Hopefully they think about HBA/TSV to DPS, as well as some more pacific destinations.

 

[Saab34]

Jetstar hinted that more was still to come with Bali so I’d say one of those above destinations are in the works.

 

[Bali Guy]

Last year, Virgin 2.0 appealed to the regulator about JQ being allowed extra flights to Bali from Australia. The regulator disallowed the appeal, on the grounds that JQ was bringing many Airbus A321neos into service, This was before JQ closed down Jetstar Asia which released more planes for flights out of Australia. The regulator saw no evidence that Virgin 2.0 had the capacity to fly these extra flights, whereas JQ did have the capacity.

These CBR to DPS flights are a signal to the regulator that Virgin 2.0 does have extra capacity for more flights to Bali.

My family will be definitely flying to Bali on these flights.

They also flew to Bali on Batik Air from CBR.

Batik Air had a flawed product, pricing and marketing strategy for this service.

1. It presented the product as a premium product and priced it accordingly. My family found the quality to be similar to JQ, When I checked prices, a return trip was > $1,000. Sometimes, it was $650. This compared to return JQ fares from MEL and SYD of $400 at the time.

2. It marketed itself intensively to the local Indonesian community which is very small. It ignored the local media and travel agents.

 

[trisreed]

I hope VA continues to expand both domestically and internationally. Hopefully they think about HBA/TSV to DPS, as well as some more pacific destinations.

Bring back PHE-DPS! Would nice to have a J option (on a non-Indonesian carrier) "out of" Perth.

 

[Lucass]

Bring back PHE-DPS! Would nice to have a J option (on a non-Indonesian carrier) "out of" Perth.

YESSS PLEASE! I think this would be a perfect route for the e190-e2

 

[Bali Guy]

The other option for that region is Karratha.

Karratha wants flights to DPS.

 

[liam1098]

With AirAsia out of Darwin completely now, I wonder if VA will capitalise on this opportunity, and re commence DRW-DPS flights. VA could use Darwin as a springboard into Asia, if it utilises its domestic feed, especially with the SYD-DRW flights beginning

 

[Lucass]

With AirAsia out of Darwin completely now, I wonder if VA will capitalise on this opportunity, and re commence DRW-DPS flights. VA could use Darwin as a springboard into Asia, if it utilises its domestic feed, especially with the SYD-DRW flights beginning

I agree. If they could funnel pax through Darwin and fly onto destinations like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Bali it could be a good expansion tool for VA. Velocity FF is performing so well right now, adding more intl routes would significantly boost velocity revenue.

 

[HS-TQE]

I'd think the expensive landing fees in DRW will discourage carriers from setting up a hub there, even if Territory Government subsidies are involved. This has already been tried and failed with JQ years ago.

 

[twinaisle]

With AirAsia out of Darwin completely now, I wonder if VA will capitalise on this opportunity, and re commence DRW-DPS flights. VA could use Darwin as a springboard into Asia, if it utilises its domestic feed, especially with the SYD-DRW flights beginning

If a ULCC couldn't make it work

What makes you think that VA would even look at this route? Didn't work when VA was a full service carrier.