QF744 From Australia, joined Feb 2004, 413 posts, RR: 1 Posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9755 times:
Here it is - the news we have been waiting for!
Virgin Atlantic have received approval to fly LHR-HGK-SYD; flights start December!
Here's part of their news release..
QF744
Virgin Atlantic Airways, the full-service international airline of the Virgin Group, announced today that it would launch daily scheduled services between Sydney and London via Hong Kong, commencing on Wednesday, 8 December.
Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic said: “I am delighted that Virgin Atlantic is now able to offer flights between Australia, Hong Kong and the UK – everyone at Virgin has long wished for us to operate to Australia and today’s announcement really is a dream come true. Australians have also been waiting for many years for the BA-Qantas duopoly to be broken and for new competition to be introduced.
“Today’s announcement is another major landmark in Virgin Atlantic’s development. Sydney is a prestigious route and will become our 23rd destination. Tomorrow is also the 20th anniversary of our very first flight from Gatwick to Newark in 1984. Australia is a country that everyone at Virgin has been hoping to fly to from since these early days and the news that our ambitions have become a reality will really add to our celebrations.
“Virgin Atlantic’s new services on the kangaroo route will be good news for consumers in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK, as it will mean that much needed competition and choice is brought to these markets. I am sure that Virgin Atlantic’s award winning service and innovative products will be well received both in the Australia-UK and Australia-Hong Kong markets.”
Virgin Atlantic Airways Flight VS201 will depart Sydney at 1615, arriving at Hong Kong at 2205. After a stop of just 90 minutes, the aircraft will then depart Hong Kong at 2335, arriving at London Heathrow at 0450 the following day.
Flight VS200 will depart London’s Heathrow Airport daily at 2130 arriving in Hong Kong at 1750 the following day. The aircraft will then depart Hong Kong at 1920 arriving in Sydney at 0710 the following day.
All services will be operated by 306-seat Airbus A340-600 aircraft with a configuration of 45 Upper Class Suites, 28 Premium Economy and 233 Economy seats.
Details of Virgin Atlantic’s introductory promotional offers will be announced later this year, and tickets will go on sale for the new services at the same time.
In addition to the Sydney route, Virgin Atlantic recently announced that it is due to launch a number of other new routes including Cuba and The Bahamas and an increase in services to the US, Caribbean, Asia and the Far East.
767-332ER From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 2030 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9525 times:
Would be wonderful if the article said that flights would be operated by the brand new Boeing 777-300ER's . Great to have another company operating this lucrative route.
Twinjets...if one fails, work the other one twice as hard!!!
Alitalia7e7 From Australia, joined Mar 2004, 185 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9511 times:
It would be great news is DJ would allow you to accumulate FFP on flights within Australia and redeem them on VS. I would switch my FFP to DJ as my company no longer uses QF.......
Cx123 From Australia, joined May 2004, 695 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9491 times:
YEAH????? Where is CX???? Did they get the LHR-JFK!!!
I am so excited!!! I have more options now for my holiday to LHR later this year!!!! ummm look forward to experience the Upper Class Suite!!!!!
WhiteHatter From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9476 times:
Good luck to VS.
There is enough growth potential on the kangaroo route. The charter market proved this with the multi-stop ops, and EK/MH/SQ carry a lot of passengers on the route too.
Let's hope VS can help drive the cost down. Why should it cost UKP £1000 or more when BY or MYT could do it for under UKP £500
Cx123 From Australia, joined May 2004, 695 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 9463 times:
As i said before, I am looking forward to the $4,000 AUD J Class tickets days back again to HKG!!!!
BTW, can I get UA Mileage Plus on VS's flights????
I think if VS joins Star Alliance it will make it much better and I will be willing to swap over (ummm hard decision to give up my Diamond MPO!)
WhiteHatter From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 9452 times:
VS and Star can't be that far off.
BD are the existing Star carrier in the UK, but there is now precedent for more than one Star carrier in a given country.
The entry of VS into Star would also make the BD/VS co-operation much easier. It's already there! VS could then codeshare on BD flights from MAN to ORD/IAD/YYZ along with UA and AC.
Cx123 From Australia, joined May 2004, 695 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 9295 times:
NO 0450 is for LHR not SYD!
Also WhiteHatter, HKG is a much better transit city to be in (compared to BKK and even SIN) the Proximity to China (a definite advantage) also gateway to North Asia (Japan, Korea).
This will open up far more opportunity compared to BKK/SIN and DXB.
Also just the SYD-HKG route is the most significant trunk route. I dare say it will surpass the SYD-SIN/BKK soon (when KA joins in the competition!!!)
QF744 From Australia, joined Feb 2004, 413 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 9251 times:
CX123, I totally agree - HKG will become one of the most significant trunk routes between Australia and Europe... but it will take a lot of catching up to rival SIN...
don't forget there are four airlines that use SIN..
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4414 posts, RR: 76 Reply 14, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 9206 times:
Does this mean an effective downgrade for Hongkong or does Hongkong get extra capacity to make up for the one they're about to lose to Sydney? BA recently increased its Hongkong flights from 14 to 17 weekly, so it would be kind of strange to see Virgin scale back.
Cx123 From Australia, joined May 2004, 695 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 9158 times:
What do you mean by downgrade?????
I thought this agreement will increase the overall frequency between AUS and HKG???
QF744, despite SIN has those main airlines, I think on an overall basis, HKG has stronger prescence in the overalall Asia region.
With the codeshare agreement with SU, I really can't think of any major cities in the world you can't reach via HKG?
Also HKG will be building the new terminal by 2006 to cater for the arrival of A380. It might even become the first airport in Asia to be ready for this aircraft.
HKG definitely has so much more potential overall any other airport in the region. (both Cargo and Pax)
QF744 From Australia, joined Feb 2004, 413 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 9089 times:
then again QF is about to post a record profit this year (end 30 June)... making them one of the most profitable airlines in the world, if not the most!
should be interesting to see how much traffic QF picks up on HKG-LHR... all their other flights via SIN and BKK are full!
for us Aussies, it will mean getting to Europe easier (and hopefully quicker).. and I also like the idea of a HKG stop-over.. much more to do there than in SIN & BKK!
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4414 posts, RR: 76 Reply 19, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 9084 times:
For VS's London-Hongkong route, the extension of the existing flight comes down to a capacity downgrade, as the Hongkong station will now have to share its aircraft and available seats with the Sydney station, whilst the deployed aircraft remains unchanged. That is unless VS adds capacity on the Heathrow-Hongkong leg or plans to upgrade VS200/201 to a B744.
QF744 From Australia, joined Feb 2004, 413 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 9034 times:
And now for my 200th posting ....
You would expect that VS will upgrade their HKG schedule, or change flight times by a few hours... not sure how easy that will be to fix quickly, since you can count the plane away from HKG for over 22 hours.
Cx123 From Australia, joined May 2004, 695 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (8 years 11 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 8821 times:
Urmm I thought VS is already doing Double daily already?
Do you mean Triple Daily?
So many Options to choose from soon!!! and all goin to my favourite city LHR!
25 Antares: QF 744. Qantas is unfortunately no where near being the most profitable airline in the world. In terms of net margin on sales after abnormals it is at
26 Cx123: Kaddyuk I thought all flights from LHR-SYD will take 2 days (incl. BA and QF??) Stopover in HKG is much more interesting and the airport is much nice
27 Srbrenna: Nice swipe at BA as well. Another PR coup for Branson as he is playing on the fact that nobody realises that this route was controlled by internationa
28 Antares: Let's not forget that when Branson flies LHR-HKG-SYD he is in fact 49 % owned by Singapore Airlines. It is part of their strategy (which has not been
29 N754PR: Are VS not adding the second flight to Hong Kong??. I see the flight to Sydney is just the Hong Kong - London flight (VS200/201)
30 Nickofatlanta: I wonder why a press release dated today includes the following: Andrew Pyne, general manager for international affairs and alliances at Cathay Pacifi
31 Carduelis: QF744, a writer, does not give the source of his news . . . it would make it appear more credible if it were quoted from a known reliable source . . .
32 Sky0000547: Yes the VS200/201 does get very full especially during December time. I already booked by Xmas VS flight to HKG way back in April now that the same fl
33 Srbrenna: It is not a question about how many times they would like to travel HKG - SYD. This is a reciprocal agreement. 1 UK carrier can have 5th freedom right
34 Sky0000547: It is not a question about how many times they would like to travel HKG - SYD. This is a reciprocal agreement. 1 UK carrier can have 5th freedom right
35 Srbrenna: An excellent point. I am cursing for not thinking of that myself!
36 PlaneMad: Brilliant. I can't wait to fly this route.
37 Gigneil: Its been fairly positive that they'll add a second daily LHR-HKG. N
38 Airliner777: I'm happy to see how the aviation industry has recovered from the "big hole" since the past couple of years. It is great to see how VS is increasing t
39 N754PR: So is VS going to plod on with one daily service from LHR to HKG while CX and BA offer 2-3 daily flights? All I hear is how rude the VS ground staff a
40 United Airline: Yeah! HKG is more exciting!!!! Heard that VS plans to launch a 2nd daily flight between HKG and LHR. Can anyone confirm that?[Edited 2004-06-22 01:04:
41 Richard28: Carduelis, here is the link to the release on the VS website. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/press_release.view.do?press_id=2134 Rich.
42 QF744: Carduelis, the fact that I am a writer means I receive the press release via email - and the post was in fact several hours BEFORE any of the news age
43 Carduelis: The Press Release was not there at the time of my posting. However, as it is now showing, it therefore gives a valid factual VS statement. Press Relea
44 QF744: The release came out of Australia, not the UK this time... probably explains why it wasn't up on the UK site... Still wondering when Cathay will annou
45 Cx123: I know??? Where is the CX press Release?? Nothing as yet??? I am concerned that CX will loose out of this deal!
46 747firstclass: Does CX have the slots to start the LHR-JFK flight or is this going to be a long protracted ordeal for CX to get the slots while VS operates LHR-SYD?
47 Cx123: That is EXACTLY how I feel about this as well!!! Comeon EU guys! be fair to CX!
48 QF744: CX will get the slots from LHR-JFK.... it was part of the deal that saw VS get HKG-SYD. Interesting how 2 days before the announcement that QF said th
49 Cx123: Highly Unlikely CX and QF will codeshare. THE HKG-LHR route is like a battlefield. I mean possibly with BA but as they always isolate CX in many ways,
50 Sky0000547: So is VS going to plod on with one daily service from LHR to HKG while CX and BA offer 2-3 daily flights? All I hear is how rude the VS ground staff a
51 QF744: Sounds like VS will barely have enough planes to cover the SYD extension! latest reports out of Australia are that it is looking UNLIKELY now that VS
52 Ctang: Qf744 I think you are wrong. I spoke to Virgin Atlantic's staff in SYD yesterday and they told me flight will start on 8 December and fares will be re
53 Cx123: So do they have approval or not????? Also why CX haven't got hte approval???? Is it because they were only given the extra HKG-SYD flight in place of
54 Nickofatlanta: I don't think VS or CX have final approval - see the link in reply 31.
55 Cx123: So VS is Bullshiting afterall The following is stupid: "British Midlands Airways (BMI) disputed the deal, saying it was unfair to allow a foreign airl
56 Zanadou: To get to the Press Release, you need to click on the link above and select your regon as "UK" ... otherwise it will tell you it's not avaliable any m
57 Cx123: So do they have PERMISSION or not???? "Virgin Atlantic Airways today announced that it is to launch daily scheduled services between London and Sydney
58 QF744: sounds like they are HOPING for the approval to come in before December; therefore 7/8 December being the first flights... as many know, it's common p
59 Cx123: So I guess it is another Misleading advertisement from VS! I know most airlines normally disclose the following: * subject to government approval. Tha
60 QF744: Cx123, Totally agree - sounds like a "20th birthday" stunt from VS... hahahaha.... nah just kidding! If there is an outcome in September, then VS shou
61 Cx123: yeah same. I am thinking of going to JFK at the end of the year and also want to via HKG I wanted to experience the Upper Class Suite and the Chauffeu
62 QF744: you would assume that the launch fares would be below QF & CX.... interesting to see how they will price the route!
63 Cx123: Urmm, I am pitching at 3888AUD from SYD-HKG-SYD! A Lucky number for Chinese and seems reasonable still!!!
64 EIRules: When are VS starting flights to Cuba? Anyone have any idea if they would be offered as part of a Great Escapade ticket like mainland USA such as MIA,
65 Leezyjet: From what I heard, it was the UK Government that had given their approval to the route, but this still means the EU have to give it their approval.
66 Airchabum: Hello all Ok then...it would apear that when SYD services commence there will still be only one daily LHR-HKG-LHR service as at present with 346 eqpt.
67 Cx123: Can you please Add (Subject to GOVERNMENT Approval). So are they using only 1 Aircraft?? 346 from LHR-HKG-SYD-HKG-LHR????
68 Airchabum: CX123 To clarify; it was initially planned that a 2nd daily LHR-HKG-LHR service would start up when services to SYD commence but the current plan is t
69 Gigneil: So are they using only 1 Aircraft?? 346 from LHR-HKG-SYD-HKG-LHR???? No, this route will require 2 aircraft at least to operate daily. N
70 Qantaspower: 3 aircraft are required to operate this route.
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. Great to have another company operating this lucrative route.
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