Longhornmaniac From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 3094 posts, RR: 48 Reply 2, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10350 times:
Great news for AUS! I'm admittedly skeptical that they will be able to fill up an A319 with B6 and UA already established on the route, but culturally, AUS seems like a good fit for the target VX customer.
HeeseokKoo From South Korea, joined Jan 2005, 522 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10350 times:
Finally to Austin. Awesome.
SFO-AUS 1015AM-335PM
AUS-SFO 500PM-700PM
so the timing is not duplicated with Jetblue's one daily flight. BTW, UA has 4 daily flights, 3 regionals and 1 mainline. I hoped VX open a couple of flights each to SFO and LAX, but this is still an awesome news.
SCQ83 From United States of America, joined Oct 2012, 461 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10326 times:
Anchorage is quite interesting... when you think that they are getting new service with JetBlue, Virgin America and Icelandiar which are quite "cool" airlines. Is Anchorage the new hipster mecca (a la Portland, OR) or am I missing something?
BigGSFO From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2755 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10136 times:
Hmmm..SJC-LAX, SFO-AUS...I'm guessing VX is trying to make a run for some of that Bay Area tech traffic. You'd think they would have tried to capitalize on that earlier.
HiFlyerAS From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 607 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10134 times:
AS used to operate SFO-ANC in the summer but chose to drop that and instead increase LAX-ANC to 2x daily. Maybe they learned something VX doesn't know? Will be interesting to see what kind of response there is...AS is offering triple miles this summer SEA-ANC in response to B6's SEA-ANC.
Widget1580 From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 338 posts, RR: 16 Reply 8, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 10034 times:
VX has become so mainstream. All of the hipsters will flock to UA.
luv2fly From United States of America, joined May 2003, 11957 posts, RR: 51 Reply 9, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 9985 times:
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 4): Anchorage is quite interesting... when you think that they are getting new service with JetBlue, Virgin America and Icelandiar which are quite "cool" airlines. Is Anchorage the new hipster mecca (a la Portland, OR) or am I missing something?
Seasonal flights amd it is all cruise related I would bet money.
md3 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 83 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 9891 times:
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 4):
Anchorage is quite interesting... when you think that they are getting new service with JetBlue, Virgin America and Icelandiar which are quite "cool" airlines. Is Anchorage the new hipster mecca (a la Portland, OR) or am I missing something?
I'd say B6 and VX are two modern LCC's entering a market that hasn't seen that type of attention before. FI on the other hand, neither cool nor modern, just another way to get to Europe with smaller aircraft for a lower demand city such as ANC. Just my opinion.
I do hope they do well but can see AUS doing much better than ANC for them.
dwcontroller From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 140 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 9475 times:
Launching EWR and SJC with 3-4 a day, AUS x1 daily, ANC x6 a week. No new planes. Not cutting any routes.
Is there a frequency downgrade on the other markets? Where are the planes coming from? What cities are seeing less service?
Best phrase to hear at the airport - "All standbys have been cleared and may board at this time"
bobloblaw From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 1364 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 9450 times:
Quoting BoeingGuy (Reply 11): It will be interesting to see if AS defends their territory by adding back SFO-ANC. They have defended their Alaska territory in the past.
I think AS will add SFO-ANC
Quoting Kleiner (Reply 12): VX is using the JetBlue expansion strategy to go after AS on the west coast. They say they're going after legacies, but there's no doubt they mean AS.
Well the big difference is B6 actually makes money
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15733 posts, RR: 48 Reply 15, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 9416 times:
Quoting Kleiner (Reply 12): VX is using the JetBlue expansion strategy to go after AS on the west coast. They say they're going after legacies, but there's no doubt they mean AS.
That's just comical--AS is one of the most profitable carriers in the world, in terms of margin, and VX is probably right about now burning through its first $1B.
SANFan From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 4721 posts, RR: 15 Reply 16, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9377 times:
I'm truly surprised at what we're seeing from Virgin early this year. Most were expecting a very uneventful year in 2013 with a/c deliveries delayed, Cush's talk about concentrating on getting profitable and developing existing routes with little expansion, retrenching, etc.
So far, it seems like the company is on a pace to shatter past growth patterns. According to my records, the most new stations added by Virgin in a year over their brief 7-year history has been 4, which happened twice -- in 2010 and 2011. (In their start-up year, they "added" 5 cities but I don't consider that.)
So far in 2013 they've added EWR, SJC, ANC and AUS. And it's not even the middle of February! Plus, they've also connected a couple of dots this year -- LA and Vegas -- and that's VERY unusual! They also seem to be following separate courses from SF and LA more than before. EWR was started from both CA hubs but since then, all adds have been from one or the other. Interesting
I wonder if this activity will continue? Are we truly seeing some changes in the business model and expansion plans? I don't know if this will all help the bottom line but it's interesting to see something different happening... finally.
DCAJet From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 367 posts, RR: 5 Reply 17, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9376 times:
Quoting jetMarc (Thread starter): Is Anchorage the new hipster mecca (a la Portland, OR) or am I missing something?
Nah, just cruise lines traffic. The VX product should appeal to the premium cruise line sector - Celebrity, Seabourne (sp?), so if their marketing team has done its homework, ANC could be a keeper for VX. Hope they do well, as God only knows we need some competition to UA @ SFO.
"Unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten"
UA735WL From United States of America, joined Apr 2012, 98 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9327 times:
Awesome that they finally decided to add AUS .....I'm going to SFO in July...now I know who I'm going to fly!);
[Edited 2013-02-12 08:21:01]
I do find their timing strange, though...with UA'S recent upgauge to mainline, it almost seems like they waited for their competitors to add capacity before starting the route.
SANFan From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 4721 posts, RR: 15 Reply 19, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9271 times:
Quoting Kleiner (Reply 12): VX is using the JetBlue expansion strategy to go after AS on the west coast
I don't particularly agree. Virgin is headquartered and hubbed in CA. AS is a major west coast presence; there's bound to be a lot of overlap on their respective route maps.
Virgin is still looking for the low-hanging fruit and doesn't generally care about how much competition there is on a potential new route. I would think that if VX were specifically going after AS, they would have jumped on LAX-ANC instead of SF-ANC. (Now if we see VX start SEA-AUS, I might re-think my stand!)
LHCVG From United States of America, joined May 2009, 1369 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9195 times:
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): Great news for AUS! I'm admittedly skeptical that they will be able to fill up an A319 with B6 and UA already established on the route, but culturally, AUS seems like a good fit for the target VX customer.
That seems to be the VX model -- take routes UA flies out of SFO and fly them yourself. So far, they've gotten pretty good at losing money doing it, and at offering gimmicks like the status match. But who knows - as you point out, AUS-SFO might well be in VX's wheelhouse.
Quoting bobloblaw (Reply 14): Quoting Kleiner (Reply 12):VX is using the JetBlue expansion strategy to go after AS on the west coast. They say they're going after legacies, but there's no doubt they mean AS.
Well the big difference is B6 actually makes money
SocalApproach From United States of America, joined Feb 2013, 53 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9133 times:
Quoting SANFan (Reply 16): I'm truly surprised at what we're seeing from Virgin early this year.
I couldn't agree more. Here we all are expected VX to be in hot water deferring plane deliveries and staying stagnant in growth because "they are out of money" but with all this growth it seems quite the contrary! I personally am very excited about all the VX news. I want them to stick around.
Quoting dwcontroller (Reply 13): Is there a frequency downgrade on the other markets? Where are the planes coming from? What cities are seeing less service?
There are cities already at this very moment with frequency cuts. I cant speak for every city but for SEA specfically over the past summer they were 4-5x daily on SEA-SFO. Now on some days they are as low as 1x daily SEA-SFO....1x DAILY! SEA-LAX has also seen cuts from the past summer and is as low as 2x daily from 5x daily over the summer. So they have the planes that are sitting around to do all this expansion. ANC is seasonal anyways and AUS is only 1x daily. That Can easily be run with an aircraft arriving from SEA/SAN/LAX or possible a city from the east coast since it doesn't depart until after 10am. VX may very well be going back to the strategy of 100% aircraft usage/day
BoeingGuy From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 2311 posts, RR: 7 Reply 23, posted (3 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 9121 times:
Quoting BigGSFO (Reply 21): Perhaps. VX hasn't pissed off AS for awhile. Maybe it's time for another investigation into VX's ownership.
Yeah, I'm sure AS is just trembling in their boots over VX.
I can't speak for Bill Ayer and AS's leadership, but it appeared that AS just expects their competitors to play on a level playing field and obey the laws.
I wouldn't count on it. As stated above, SFO has been dramatically decreased by AS. UAX has taken gate 24, so AS operates from only 2 gates now. And since '07 have dropped from 31 daily flights to 16 daily. If AS does restarted SFO-ANC, then they clearly have a beef with VX.
UA on the other hand, maybe add a 2nd daily?? We shall see....
"Some pilots avoid storm cells and some play connect the dots!"
25 MaverickM11: Virgin is looking for the oxygen mask. There is no low hanging fruit for VX, in case anyone hasn't noticed yet.
26 doug_Or: Anecdotal, but it seems they have some slack in their schedule (at least their current winter one). There are always a few planes sitting around at t
27 SANFan: Agreed. In the past, Virgin has had a lot of slack in their skeds, with many a/c sitting around in SFO (and LA?) so this could be just a matter of ti
28 diverdave: Nothing like bringing a knife to a gunfight, eh? I'm thinking AS will restart SFO-ANC. UA should have no love for VX, and who knows, might even be pe
29 SCQ83: Yes, I know about the cruise traffic, but I was wondering if there is some kind of gentrification of ANC and would be in the typical "Top 100 places
30 jfklganyc: Notice B6 followed the same path with JFK and BOS. One size doesnt fit all in an industry with low profit margins. This may work better for VX
31 sfoa380: It's really quite amusing reading all the hate that surrounds VX, especially from the AS folks. You all act like it's your money they're burning. Who
32 BoeingGuy: I fly AS all the time and find them to still be awesome. Not sure what your definition of mediocre is. Just about always on time. Very friendly crews
33 RWA380: I can not see why AS would start a 4-5 hour flight, on a route that they have previously retreated from, just so they can mess with a little 6x a wee
34 Roseflyer: This summer will be interesting for Alaska. Their cash cow anchorage route where they have 20 or so SEA-ANC flights will be competing now with JetBlue
36 austinairport: Neat! I'll admit I was very shocked when this popped up on my Facebook feed. I can't wait to see Virgin America at AUS.
37 ASA: Interesting ... I didn't know that! They'll probably play the movies for free - like in the Caribbean routes?
38 B6JFKH81: Yes, when I did the LGB-ANC run, the TV's went out somewhere off the coast of Seattle. Movies were free.
39 hatbutton: VX has stellar service and amenities but is wildly unprofitable, so what's your point? HA makes money, which is better than losing money, but to sust
40 airportugal310: This pretty much hits it all on the head, except the part maybe about AS being mediocre (though I'm not impressed, my opinion is really not important
41 HiFlyerAS: Well said. The summer schedule is pretty firm at this point. No extra a/c will be sitting around to fly a route out of spite. While I'm sure they're
42 deltaflyertoo: LOL, agree. VX in my view has tarnished the Virgin band as a whole. THere used to be something special about taking that one daily VS flight to Londo
43 as739x: UA will be giving no gates to AS. All the gates in T-1 are express gates and can not handle a 737. (UA) have no gate availability as is and it treadi
44 AllegiantFlyer: Im in shock after seeing this....i had NO idea VX was even considering ANC
45 cv880: IIRC, Virgin Group owns 25% of VX & 51% of VS and DL will own 49% of VS, yet DL seems to be in bed with AS, so maybe what appears to be intense h
46 diverdave: I would agree that the cabin interiors of the AS fleet are rather comfortable. David
47 SEA: Realistically though, there is no low hanging fruit for anyone in the US market at this point and economy.
48 bobloblaw: Youre over-reading, Why would DL's relationship with VS which owns 25% of VX mitigate how AS responds to VX?
49 cv880: From the looks of things VX appears to be holding off warfare with AS @ LAX.....just saying that DL may or may not have some influence going forward,
50 RyanairGuru: This is highly unlikely. DL holds a share of Virgin Atlantic, which also has Virgin Group as a shareholder. Virgin Group - which DL have to relation
51 cv880: Which I am well aware of except that one doesn't know what the future will bring. I'm more interested in seeing what DL does with regard to VX's entr
52 EA CO AS: I'd love to hear what his point was, if any. Anyone remember McClain? Premium service! Premium amenities! Put the other carriers to shame! Oh yeah, a
53 DariusBieber: Seems like both these routes will be axed within a year or so. Don't see any of the yields being very high, especially SFO-AUS.
54 mariner: Oh. If it's true that Virgin America gets a Silicon valley crowd, it could do okay - one high tech city to another. I wish 'em well, whatever happens
55 DariusBieber: It's just that United, Southwest (to Oakland) and JetBlue are already in this market. Don't see how four carriers can offer the same destination in a
56 AeroWesty: WN flies OAK-AUS 1x/day plus SJC-AUS 2x/day.
57 HiFlyerAS: Sounds like Bay Area-AUS is already pretty well served. I bet UA will throw another mainline jet on SFO-AUS to replace one of the RJ's in response.
58 SCQ83: Umm Virgin Atlantic has been flying for a while to Accra and Lagos, hardly hype destinations. And now they are even starting Aberdeen in Scotland (I
59 mariner: Yes, I understand that. But - again - IF it's true that Virgin America has a loyal following of techies, then AUS seems like a good city for them. I
60 SurfandSnow: First of all, is anyone else appalled by the new VX route map? It looks awful compared to what they had before this expansion. Ok, rant over. It is gr
61 StuckInCA: This. I love VX, but assertin that AS is anything but great is really just a mistake. They've never done me wrong, and have quite often done the oppo
62 RWA380: Well I know AS just found a way to use an otherwise RON'd plane and turned it into a PDX-FAI-PDX flight, w/o adding planes. I think there are so many
63 seahawks7757: They seem to be more after UA who operates SFO-EWR and SFO-ANC. Last time I checked AS doesn't operate either route. Doubt it, especially since they
64 bobloblaw: That is always a good question. But it can be funded from cancellations in other markets. They definitely do. I think the SJO flight goes on to PDX a
65 stlgph: Coming down just minutes ago ... jetBlue adding second daily San Francisco to .... Austin for the summer season. Oh and Ft Lauderdale Beginning May 21
66 BoeingGuy: SFO-ANC would probably be a good market for AS's 737-700s. It's got the range and a smaller airplane for an emerging seasonal market. I'd really like
67 as739x: Most summer it was a 73G. I believe it was operated only one summer as a -800 and that was after I left AS. The 73G is actually not the greatest plan
68 psa1011: Looks like UA is already retaliating: http://airlineroute.net/2013/02/20/ua-sfo-jun13/ SFO will have three flights to ANC on most days this summer. Gu
69 yellowtail: Seems to me like VS is going for it all. Might was well throw caution to the wind and see what happens. Didn't ANC just get more DL service too?
70 psa1011: Yes, from LAX. And UA will also restart EWR-ANC (another blow to VX?)
71 as739x: I agree. I don't expect them to restart it. Specially how much they have downsized SFO.
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