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How Long Have VS Served India

CHRISBA777ER From Singapore, joined Mar 2001, 4890 posts, RR: 61
Posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 688 times:

How long have VS served Mumbai and Delhi - and do they only use the A343 on these, or do they get the A346 now and again?

Proud to be European!

14 replies: All unread, jump to last

RoseFlyer From United States, joined Feb 2004, 5614 posts, RR: 27
Reply 1, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 660 times:

Virgin Atlantic has been serving Bombay (Mumbai) India since March 31st 2005. It has almost been a year now.

Jacobin777 From United States, joined Sep 2004, 13323 posts, RR: 68
Reply 2, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 652 times:

how are the flights doing?

i've read that LHR-SYD isn't doing too well.....I hope this route is doing better..

I also believe they would get better results if they used a smaller plane, such as an A330 (which would be cool to see in VS colours)

"Up The Irons!"

Aseem From India, joined Feb 2005, 2038 posts, RR: 10
Reply 3, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 652 times:

Quoting CHRISBA777ER (Thread starter):
do they get the A346 now

AFAIK!! they still use A343, and quite often the much discussed Virgin Nigeria. SRB did bring A346 when he made a special trip to BOM.
rgds
VT-ASJ

ala re ala, VT-ALA ala

Gr8Circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2364 posts, RR: 2
Reply 4, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 640 times:

Quoting Aseem (Reply 3):
SRB did bring A346 when he made a special trip to BOM.

I had read at that time, that BOM is unable to handle 346's....is that true? And if so, what is the reason? If BOM can handle 747's, why not the 346?

HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 27734 posts, RR: 60
Reply 5, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 550 times:

Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 4):

The Length at the International Tarmec apart from the Side Bays.
regds
MEL

Think of the brighter side!

David_itl From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 5433 posts, RR: 17
Reply 6, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 496 times:

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I'm pretty sure that DEL began in 2000 using AI's spare frequencies which became "free" when AI pulled out of MAN, though it would have been operated as codeshare service with AI initially as BA had all the UK frequencies.

747uk From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 28 posts, RR: 0
Reply 7, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 461 times:

Quoting Jacobin777 (Reply 2):
how are the flights doing?

i've read that LHR-SYD isn't doing too well.....I hope this route is doing better..

Actually the HKG-SYD section of this flight has really picked up in comparison to last year. Average load factor seems to be around the 85%-95% mark. (based on the next 7 days)

747 uk

6thfreedom From Bermuda, joined Sep 2004, 2946 posts, RR: 26
Reply 8, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 439 times:

Quoting 747uk (Reply 7):
Actually the HKG-SYD section of this flight has really picked up in comparison to last year. Average load factor seems to be around the 85%-95% mark. (based on the next 7 days)

A bit hard to base year round loads on 7 days during peak season, especially as HKG will be full for lunar new year traffic.

According to BTRE, loads for 2004/05 were around 37% in and out, including HKG and LHR traffic.
http://www.btre.gov.au/statistics/xls/int/FY05_Tables.xls

After that:
July In/Out 82.6%/58.2%
Aug 58.9%/76.3%
Sept 43.4%/40.7%

Jacobin777 From United States, joined Sep 2004, 13323 posts, RR: 68
Reply 9, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 427 times:

Quoting 747uk (Reply 7):

Actually the HKG-SYD section of this flight has really picked up in comparison to last year. Average load factor seems to be around the 85%-95% mark. (based on the next 7 days)

Quoting 6thfreedom (Reply 8):
after that:
July In/Out 82.6%/58.2%
Aug 58.9%/76.3%
Sept 43.4%/40.7%

wow..it looked like loads dropped quite a bit afterwards...and this is a problem with VS, they have only large planes...if VS had an A330, it would have been better served for them.......until they can get this route established...then send the A330's off to some other new route............

not to mention, there basically wouldn't be any over-water flying so VS wouldn't have to deal with ETOPs issues.........

I'm sure SRB would be happy to drop the "four engines for long haul" mantra if using a twin results in a profit..

to top it off....the A330's would look nice in VS colours... yes

by the way, thanks for the info guys.. Smile

"Up The Irons!"

6thfreedom From Bermuda, joined Sep 2004, 2946 posts, RR: 26
Reply 10, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 410 times:

Quoting Jacobin777 (Reply 9):
wow..it looked like loads dropped quite a bit afterwards...and this is a problem with VS, they have only large planes...if

Not only have loads dropped, but VS has some of the lowest fares going around for SYD-HKG.

Cricket From India, joined Aug 2005, 2352 posts, RR: 4
Reply 11, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 361 times:

VS is offerinf India (DEL/BOM)-LHR for only Rs 17,700+taxes right now in a promo (which is cheaper than AI's promo and only S2 offers cheaper direct, not for too much longer), they haven't managed to acquire the high-yield passengers who seem to be hooked onto BA Club World. So while VS has high loads, yields are not as great as BA and might fall below AI"s as well.

Have you flown the A380 yet? I have. TWICE!

Kkfla737 From United States, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1
Reply 12, posted (3 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 281 times:

I believe DEL-LHR began in 2001 or 2002 with spare frequencies owned by AI under the India-UK bilateral. The flight was two or three times a week operated under a codeshare with AI but with VS aircraft. Richard Branson inagurated the service with great fanfare by riding an Elephant into Delhi.

2005 and the new bilateral saw VS gain their own frequencies to both DEL and BOM as well as the possibility to serve Bangalore as well.

Nimish From India, joined Feb 2005, 2705 posts, RR: 8
Reply 13, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 206 times:

VS flies the 346 to DEL on occasion (I've written up a TR a couple of months ago on this - available here - VS - DEL-LHR-DEL - 343+346 Pics! (by Nimish Nov 18 2005 in Trip Reports)). They don't have much visibility in offline stations (like BLR), which is definitely a cause for concern for their overall growth in India.

As an example, BA has had a rather large presence in BLR for a long time - which helped in the past to add feed to their services from BOM/DEL (and now of course BLR is an online station).

Latest Trip Report - GoAir BLR-BOM-BLR

Horus From Egypt, joined Feb 2004, 5230 posts, RR: 74
Reply 14, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 200 times:

Quoting CHRISBA777ER (Thread starter):
How long have VS served Mumbai and Delhi

The first VS LHR-DEL service (VS300) was on July 5th 2000. It was operated by B747-400 G-VXLG even though the service was actually served with a B742 on a twice weekly basis. The initial timetable was:

VS300 LHR-DEL --3-5-- 22:30/11:15 0 B742
VS301 DEL-LHR ---4-6- 13:30/17:55 0 B742

Horus

EGYPT: A 7,000 Year Old Civilisation

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