8herveg From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2006, 1105 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 7590 times:
Chicago and Nairobi have been recently announced to start in 2007, but does anyone know of any other routes Virgin Atlantic are hoping to serve?
At the moment they are receiving a new A346 every month. Does anyone know how many they ordered?
Surely with these new aircraft arriving, new routes should be announced more frequently? Or are these aircraft replacing older ones?
What is the situation with Rio de Janeiro? Will Virgin ever fly there?
I can imagine these destinations in the long term:
Beijing (hopefully to start before the 2008 Olympics!)
Bangkok
Calcutta
Seychelles
Mauritius - although, I think they are starting that already, but for some reason it cannot be booked on the website!
Toronto
Vancouver
Philadelphia
Abu Dhabi
Bahrain
B742 From UK - England, joined Mar 2005, 3760 posts, RR: 21 Reply 1, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 7588 times:
Quoting 8herveg (Thread starter): Mauritius - although, I think they are starting that already, but for some reason it cannot be booked on the website!
LGW-MRU starts in November 2007 (B744), perhaps you cannot book flights as of yet.
I hope we can see BKK.
MEL has been mentioned on several occasions, although rumours only.
8herveg From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2006, 1105 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 7559 times:
Quoting B742 (Reply 1): LGW-MRU starts in November 2007 (B744), perhaps you cannot book flights as of yet.
I guess that makes sense. Nov 2007 is quite a while away!!
I too hope they serve MEL, although I feel if BA cannot manage it, I don't see how VS can, unless they set up a codeshare with Virgin Blue? At least BA had the advantage of being a OneWorld partner with Qantas so would allow for onward connections.
I don't think they could set up this route based on O & D traffic. There just isn't enough between these two cities as well as the 2 x daily Qantas route.
IAD380 From United States of America, joined May 2006, 804 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 7341 times:
I wonder if VS is seriously considering starting flights to a South American city, such as RIO, GRU, or EZE. If it did, it would be one of the few airlines that serves six continents.
MSYtristar From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 6242 posts, RR: 51 Reply 5, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 7332 times:
You better believe that I spoke with the flight crew of the VS A346 that was here yesterday and got their thoughts on VS serving MSY. They liked the idea...a lot! I'm still keeping the dream alive....
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31112 posts, RR: 74 Reply 7, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 7234 times:
Maybe with AA not flying MIA-MAN anymore and with VS' recent expansion of MAN services, they'll finally get around to starting MIA-MAN, which they promised back in 1989...
Sketty222 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2006, 1772 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 7034 times:
Quoting 8herveg (Reply 2): I don't see how VS can, unless they set up a codeshare with Virgin Blue? At least BA had the advantage of being a OneWorld partner with Qantas
Compltley agree with you on that one
Quoting MAH4546 (Reply 7): Maybe with AA not flying MIA-MAN anymore and with VS' recent expansion of MAN services, they'll finally get around to starting MIA-MAN, which they promised back in 1989...
VS are starting a new MAN-MCO service next year probably to contend with AA's seasonal MAN-MIA route. I know MCO is ot MIA but VS are a premium leisure airline
DJ748 From Australia, joined Jul 2006, 355 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 6 hours ago) and read 6859 times:
Quoting B742 (Reply 1): MEL has been mentioned on several occasions, although rumours only.
If they start a service to Melbourne, I wonder if they would think about starting a service to BNE. Virgin Blue have a nicely sized hub here in Brisbane so inbound passengers could easily connect onto tourist destinations such as CNS, or even get a train direct from the airport to the Gold Coast (saves needing to fly to OOL).
If VS play their cards right, they could easily make the service work, and would bring back the BNE to London (whether it be LHR or LGW) since BA stopped serving BNE 6 years ago now.
MCOGVADCA From China, joined Oct 2006, 442 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 3 hours ago) and read 6742 times:
Quoting Sketty222 (Reply 11): VS are starting a new MAN-MCO service next year probably to contend with AA's seasonal MAN-MIA route. I know MCO is ot MIA but VS are a premium leisure airline
VS has been flying MCO-MAN year-round for many years now, and is arguably a more established route than MIA-MAN given the latter is only a seasonal service. Unless you mean that VS is starting a second daily MCO-MAN...?
Also, I would contend that these two routes are quite different with very little overlap, not many people who can afford VS would opt to fly into MCO and then drive to Miami. Just my two cents...
12 months: mco fra ory nce mxp doh pvg hkg bkk zrh iah lhr gva iad clt lax nrt sin mnl ceb del jai gay vns szx zuh
SevenHeavy From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 1126 posts, RR: 10 Reply 15, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week 1 hour ago) and read 6634 times:
VS receive their next A346 (G-VWEB) next week. After that the next delivery if February '07.
There is also the possibility of a couple of A343 rejoining the fleet after return from other leases.
From a routes perspective there is still room for modest growth in 2007. Look for Toronto in Mar/Apr 2007. Beijing and HKG2 Fall 2007.
That will be about all for 2007. As you know ORD,IAD2,MRU are already announced.
For 2008 look for SFO2, possibly additional India frequencies and Bahrain/Abu Dhabi. Also an outside chance for Guangzhou, depending on the chinese economy.
6thfreedom From Bermuda, joined Sep 2004, 3265 posts, RR: 22 Reply 16, posted (6 years 5 months 1 week ago) and read 6603 times:
Quoting DJ748 (Reply 13): If they start a service to Melbourne, I wonder if they would think about starting a service to BNE. Virgin Blue have a nicely sized hub here in Brisbane so inbound passengers could easily connect onto tourist destinations such as CNS, or even get a train direct from the airport to the Gold Coast (saves needing to fly to OOL).
I would think MEL would come online before BNE, and i cant see both happening at once, as the sector requires 3 aircraft for a daily service.
I think a few options could be MEL via BKK, or even via PEK when rights become available. MEL has equally as good a hub as BNE, with connections to more populated cities, such as ADL, Tasmania, canberra etc.
That being said, BNE desperately needs some China services, so perhaps an extension of a Chinese city to BNE??
The problem with an Indian expansion right now is that there is HUGE overcapacity in the market, and with the new Indian Airlines (and in particular IT) pushing on for international services (without thinking about the economics of it) it's a very tough market only getting tougher. That said, I would expect that - if VS chose another Indian destination - HYD (like someone mentioned above) or BLR would come before CCU; Calcutta might be an Indian economic up comer but it's still no BOM or so at all.
With QR, EK and EY adding new widebodies to their fleets on a daily basis practically, I think the yield environment here is gonna be tough. I think VS can keep their DXB service in the long run, but I doubt there'd be room for more M.E.
Quoting B742 (Reply 1): MEL has been mentioned on several occasions, although rumours only.
There is an excellent thread out there on this subject, a couple of months old I think. Basically, no one could seem to agree! Personally, I don't think so, again, yields are too low (which of course also has something to do with the M.E. carriers)
Quoting DJ748 (Reply 13):
If VS play their cards right, they could easily make the service work, and would bring back the BNE to London (whether it be LHR or LGW) since BA stopped serving BNE 6 years ago now
BNE could, like MEL, be interesting, but again, BA probably left because of poor yields, and I reckon they haven't got any higher in recent years - and they're certainly not about to.
Quoting 8herveg (Thread starter): Beijing (hopefully to start before the 2008 Olympics!)
Bangkok
Toronto
Vancouver
Philadelphia
They all seem very likely, also Rio could be cool (cooler than Sao Paulo anyway!).
Love VS, flying with them BOM-LHR in four days, can't wait, it was such a nice experience last time, even flying in Y!.. Sadly they don't use 346 on LHR-BOM, would love to try that a/c...
Cheers,
Kevin777
"I was waiting for you at DFW, but you must have been in LUV" CPH-GOT-CPH-GOT-CPH-GOT-CPH...
Juventus From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 2835 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (6 years 5 months 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 6469 times:
Cancun is trying hard to lure Virgin. Thousands and thousands of British tourists get there via the US on American carriers. CUN wants a schedule flight from the UK.
Behramjee From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 4439 posts, RR: 43 Reply 21, posted (6 years 5 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 6345 times:
Quoting Kevin777 (Reply 17): The problem with an Indian expansion right now is that there is HUGE overcapacity in the market, and with the new Indian Airlines (and in particular IT) pushing on for international services (without thinking about the economics of it) it's a very tough market only getting tougher. That said, I would expect that - if VS chose another Indian destination - HYD (like someone mentioned above) or BLR would come before CCU;
The Indian markets over served from UK are MAA, BOM and DEL only.
If VS flew nonstop to AMD or BLR from LHR, they will make money on both routes due to lack of nonstop flights. Only BA flies to BLR nonstop from LHR, where as no Western carrier except for KU flies to AMD.
Sketty222 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2006, 1772 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (6 years 5 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 6284 times:
Quoting MCOGVADCA (Reply 14): Unless you mean that VS is starting a second daily MCO-MAN...?
Thats what I meant
Quoting Juventus (Reply 20): Cancun is trying hard to lure Virgin. Thousands and thousands of British tourists get there via the US on American carriers. CUN wants a schedule flight from the UK.
Completely agree wth you on that one. BA stopped flying there about 3-4 years ago now and from what I can remember the flights were always quite busy
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8804 posts, RR: 19 Reply 23, posted (6 years 5 months 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 6178 times:
Quoting 8herveg (Thread starter): I can imagine these destinations in the long term:
If they were to start PHL, I see a couple of things hindering them from doing so.
1) Available space at PHL, although you did mention that this was a long term possibility. Maybe something will open up, because I believe gate space is an isssue here, but I believe I could be very wrong on this. What about US and WN growing PHL there, and airlines like DL playing musicle gates/slots regarding the US/WN expansions?
2) Suppose they start PHL service from either LHR or LGW. They would compete with BA and US respectively. However, given the massive international O&D, this might not be such a problem...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
HUYguy From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2006, 274 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (6 years 5 months 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 6019 times:
I know it wouldn't ever happen, but wouldn't you love to see VS metal flying over Maho Beach! An amazing site that would be. Realistically though, could anyone else see Virgin fly to Honolulu? That might be better suited to LGW though. Or maybe Osaka. I don't know, purely guesses. As for South America, I think it would be a matter or when rather than if.
25 PanAmOldDC8: By the way Virgin is adding an extra flight a day to Barbados to offset the closing of the old BWIA and start up of Caribbean Airways starting in Apri
26 SJUSXM: Gate space should not be a problem for one daily flight leaving with the European bank, at least now that we got the Int'l terminal open. DL and WN a
27 777FlyGuy: [quote=MSYtristar,reply=5]You better believe that I spoke with the flight crew of the VS A346 that was here yesterday and got their thoughts on VS ser
28 Ek-a380: Why does India get mentioned so often, Pakistan is underserved and is one of the main types of traffic that the likes of EK, QR and EY carry onwards a
29 MSYtristar: BA did MEX-MSY-LGW with the L15 in 1982...before that, NA flew MSY-CDG/AMS for a short while in 1979. Besides that, just charters, and the interchang
30 Steeler83: Yeah, what am I thinking??? They'll go to A-west I am sure. Duh! The DOMESTIC gates are the ones that are a nightmare
31 Vega: Gate space surely wouldn't be a problem in A. The only reason US is squawking so loud about not having enough international gates (pre-DL takeover pr
32 BY738: Wonder if there would be any expansion from GLA if their short MCO series does well
33 Sevenforeseven: Ek-a380 perhaps "Security issues" have a lot to do with it??? If yo see what I mean.
34 FCAFLYBOY: VS have been flying MAN-MCO for ages! Is it extra frequency or something? No.... they're a scheduled airline, like BA.
35 Steeler83: Yeah, I don't know why I thought there would be slot troubles. A-west is a brand new terminal that can easily be expanded... On top of that, your arg
36 777FlyGuy: Thanks for the FYI. I never knew about that BA service. I thought NA flew some route to Europe for awhile, just off on my destinations.
37 LipeGIG: IMO they will fly to Rio by 2008. Agree 100% and Rio was on their past wish list. Felipe
38 Kevin777: Strictly speaking, that might be the case, but India is not bigger that low yields/over served cities pull down the yields of the overall market. If
39 David_itl: MAN-MCO has been operating upto 9 weekly since July so perhaps we could be looking at going to 10 to 12 weekly? The potential routes for them ex-MAN r
40 777FlyGuy: I saw a photo on a.net of 4 VS 744's at MCO. Pretty awesome awesome sight. Almost thought it was London for a sec.
41 Connector4you: It's just hard for me to believe that Virgin will ever open Vancouver. I even have some doubts about them flying into Toronto as well. Canada and UK h
42 Zvezda: BA, VS, and QF (until nonstop service starts) have a big disadvantage on the Kangeroo route relative to hub operations like EK and SQ. The latter hav
43 CactusTECH: We should defenetly start taking over South America CCS to BOG and GIG
44 Kevin777: Just throwing in a few VS wild cards here...: PHX SAN With increasing relations betwen U.K./Europe and Southwestern U.S., for instance Europeans buyin
45 LXA340: The loads on LHR-TLV flights on both LY and BA are very good. BA just upgraded it's day flight in March from 763 to 772 and is considering to upgrade
46 Kevin777: Hmm.. to be honest I just don't think it's VS potential; guess it's a bit to short for their onboard product (and four-engined a/c).. Does BA do a "f
47 Cornish: Well asides Chicago, Nairobi and Mauritius which we know about, Rio has long been mentioned as on the wish list. HKG was supposed to get extra flights
48 Cornish: Oh as an aside - I've also heard a rumour from an impeccable source that the bmi A330 that got pulled from Mumbai services due to the cracked undercar
49 LXA340: The day flight operated by 777 offers all the 4 onboard classes and on the 763's there are all classes available besides F as the 763's don't have an
50 YVRLTN: There is plenty of business during the summer, although from YVR to London there are 4-6 flights a day to London between AC, BA, Z4, VZ & TS, not to
51 LHRBFSTrident: Australia is booming and has been for some time - especially the Queensland Coast - and I suspect that BNE has indeed changed its yield profile to so
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