Virgin Cancels, Qantas Flies

[bertair]

I have not long got off a direct flight to CFS from MEL.
Although I was booked with QF and had no worries, a fellow pax who I know came on board telling me he was not a happy chappie.
You see he was booked on the Virgin Direct flight to CFS and was off loaded due to the flight cancellation.
All he was offered was a refund of fare and said that he had to scramble fast to get an available seat on the QF flight.
I know now that Virgin cancelled a number of flights today to & from CFS and other ports north citing that is was due to the cyclonic weather.
Some SYD services of Virgin were also cancelled as is my understanding.
Yet I do not know of any QF services on the same routes as being cancelled.
So we have basically two airlines flying in this country with one cancelling flights and the other continuing to serve the passengers.

In the US and Europe airlines keep flying except in the most extreme weather, so are we to believe Virgin or is it because they see a poor loading figure and pull the flights whenever a reason that will satisfy the public can be used.
Or is it just my cynical nature working today ?

 

[opusman]

A few years ago a volcano in Chile erupted and Qantas grounded all their flights to/from HBA for a few days because of ash, while VA kept flying. Swings and roundabouts. Each airline makes its own assessments as to whether it is safe to fly in these sorts of situations.

 

[straitman]

Or is it just my cynical nature working today ?

I think it is just your cynical nature working overtime.

The reasons for flight cancellations are many and varied and each airline and even aircraft types may have slightly different trigger points.

 

[JohnK]

I notice VA today cancelled all flights to/from OOL where as QF and JQ were still operating.

I have a flight SYD-OOL tomorrow evening on VA.

 

[juddles]

....So we have basically two airlines flying in this country with one cancelling flights and the other continuing to serve the passengers....?

As with many such conundrums, the answer is actually very simple.

It is merely that you are getting a glimpse of the secret agreement that VA and QF have, whereby to maintain their duopoly they have agreed to piss off their customers in equal amounts and keep everyone guessing. This time it was VA´s turn to do something mysterious.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Isnt it to do with qf/jq rnav approach capability being better than virgins.... they can operate with reduced minima. Waiting for an expert to chime in.

 

[N860CR]

Isnt it to do with qf/jq rnav approach capability being better than virgins.... they can operate with reduced minima. Waiting for an expert to chime in.

There is merit in that. Although I'm not sure of the capabilities of the individual airlines.

Realistically... If it gets to the point where you may scrape in using an RNP approach v's another type then things are pretty bad.

It does seem Virgin were overly cautious in this particular instance. These irregular events are a nightmare for flight operations departments and I guess to by cynical, the easiest option is probably to throw your hands up and say "no it's all too hard today"

 

[Boris spatsky]

Isnt it to do with qf/jq rnav approach capability being better than virgins.... they can operate with reduced minima. Waiting for an expert to chime in.

Virgin 737s are RNP AR approved into OOL, but i do not know the approved minima for the three airlines so cannot compare. I agree that this is probably a case of Virgin Ops saying it is all too hard on the day based on the weather (risk assessed).