Just try to search for flights from HKG-SYD on Google today, which shows the flight schedule of VA direct flight schedule to and from SYD as below, and HKG-MEL schedule which has not yet update on VA official website. The information are also appear on flightaware.

VA80 SYD0135-0815HKG 332 X123
VA82 SYD0830-1510HKG 332 X123

VA81 HKG1950-0750+1SYD 332 X12

VA87 MEL0940-1720HKG 332 D
VA86 HKG1950-0720+1MEL 332 D

I thought VA is only going to start from one city to Hong Kong where it now seems to be both SYD and MEL. But the schedule for SYD-HKG seems not so real as VA80 depart at the curfew hours of SYD and not likely to have twice daily to Hong Kong but one daily back to Sydney.
But I am still interested to see how VA ties with HX and UO for connection to mainland China and NE Asia. Could that be a threat to QF and CX flights Aussie to Asia market?

Both VA and HX will codeshare each others' flights between Australia, Hong Kong and mainland China, providing feeds to both's flights.

Actually, VA is now partly owned by HU, which also owned HX.

For UO, as a LCC in Asia, even it is also under HU's umbrella, I don't think there will be cooperation with VA.

hongkongflyer wrote:

Both VA and HX will codeshare each others' flights between Australia, Hong Kong and mainland China, providing feeds to both's flights.

Actually, VA is now partly owned by HU, which also owned HX.

For UO, as a LCC in Asia, even it is also under HU's umbrella, I don't think there will be cooperation with VA.

Chinese regulations prevent foreign carriers to codeshare between HKG and Mainland China so it will be just interline beyond HKG. With Chinese airlines virtually serving SYD and MEL from every first and secondary Mainland cities directly, I don't see why anyone would want to transfer in HKG anymore. From CX's recent woes, we know to compete with that much Mainland capacity, their ticket prices to Mainland China have been unsustainable and often below cost. It would be a tough tough market for VA to go into, even with HNA's help. The question is if HNA will subsidise them then it perhaps may be worthwhile.

xiaotung wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

Both VA and HX will codeshare each others' flights between Australia, Hong Kong and mainland China, providing feeds to both's flights.

Actually, VA is now partly owned by HU, which also owned HX.

For UO, as a LCC in Asia, even it is also under HU's umbrella, I don't think there will be cooperation with VA.

Chinese regulations prevent foreign carriers to codeshare between HKG and Mainland China so it will be just interline beyond HKG. With Chinese airlines virtually serving SYD and MEL from every first and secondary Mainland cities directly, I don't see why anyone would want to transfer in HKG anymore. From CX's recent woes, we know to compete with that much Mainland capacity, their ticket prices to Mainland China have been unsustainable and often below cost. It would be a tough tough market for VA to go into, even with HNA's help. The question is if HNA will subsidise them then it perhaps may be worthwhile.

The fares may be competitive... and its a good way to earn Delta status/miles since VA is a tier 1 partner

Wonder whose lounge they will use? Their offering is confusing for MEL at least- Tasman NZ, NAN VA domestic or $15 voucher, and no indication for LAX but rumour is EY.

Wish them all the best, always good to see new flights, but it's going to be tough going up against CX, and QF into HKG, and QF/MU, CZ/QF and all the other myriad of smaller Chinese carriers.

Why send a 77W to Abu Dhabi but a 332 to Hong Kong? You can pack more people and cargo to HKG.

b747400erf wrote:

Why send a 77W to Abu Dhabi but a 332 to Hong Kong? You can pack more people and cargo to HKG.

Because AUH is beyond the range of an A330 but HKG isn't. Simple as that really.

With the relaunch of MEL-LAX their 77W fleet is fully utilised even with the termination of SYD-AUH.

b747400erf wrote:

Why send a 77W to Abu Dhabi but a 332 to Hong Kong? You can pack more people and cargo to HKG.

Their partner is EY which has its hub at Abu Dhabi with connections all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

How many spare frequency is left in the HK-Aus bilaterals for QANTAS and VA to expand flights? I think CX has already maxed out on the quota on HK carriers for SYD, MEL, PER and BNE while the other Australian destinations do not have restrictions on the number of flights.

Today VA has received interim authorisation by the ACCC for an alliance between Hainan Group, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express and is expected to announce MEL-HKG flights this week

https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-austral ... -this-week

Good for VA, a first step into major Asian business routes has been a long time coming but hopefully will help their situation.

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

smi0006 wrote:

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

hongkongflyer wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

You do realise QF has an extensive interline agreement with CX and KA (plus QFF can still earn status credits/points) and also interlines with HX. Out of China, QF has a JV with MU and codeshares with CZ. Further to this, under the Australia/Hong Kong bilateral there are no codeshares between Hong Kong and China. So their predicament is the same out of HK.

qf789 wrote:

Today VA has received interim authorisation by the ACCC for an alliance between Hainan Group, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express and is expected to announce MEL-HKG flights this week

https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-austral ... -this-week

There is no slots left for any HKG carriers between HKG and BNE/SYD/MEL/PER, I have no idea how they are going to announce that flight. There are heaps of slots available for Australian carriers into HKG from anywhere in Australia.

getluv wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

You do realise QF has an extensive interline agreement with CX and KA (plus QFF can still earn status credits/points) and also interlines with HX. Out of China, QF has a JV with MU and codeshares with CZ. Further to this, under the Australia/Hong Kong bilateral there are no codeshares between Hong Kong and China. So their predicament is the same out of HK.

I recently checked HNA Group's fares in Business to Mainland China. Return business tickets to major Chinese cities are like $1800 return. I guess QF would rather not have that kind of feed. Once again, I don't know how VA could ever make money from their Chinese adventure.

VA confirms MEL-HKG, will run 5 weekly from 5 July 17

VA87 MEL1025-1805HKG 332 1
VA87 MEL940-1720HKG 332 3
VA89 MEL35-815HKG 332 246

VA88HKG1950-720+1MEL 332 X57

https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-austral ... -on-july-5

I think we will see the QF lounge in MEL undergo a significant refit soon, leaving the only hole in the QF product the 744s which appear on this route in high season. I wonder if we could see double daily 330s on QF during high season to compensate?

getluv wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

You do realise QF has an extensive interline agreement with CX and KA (plus QFF can still earn status credits/points) and also interlines with HX. Out of China, QF has a JV with MU and codeshares with CZ. Further to this, under the Australia/Hong Kong bilateral there are no codeshares between Hong Kong and China. So their predicament is the same out of HK.

Feed doesn't need the onward flight to be codeshared.

QF and CX doesn't have friendly relationship even both in OW.
CX blocked Jetstar HK, in addition, they are competiting with each other seriously on HKGSYD and HKGMEL. Both using KA as their feed @ HKG.
There is no / low intention for KA offering good deal to QF for their passangers' onward connections (CX would rather passangers to fly CXKA all the way from Australia to China).

In addition, MU and CZ present in HK is not that strong, if a QF passanger want to fly to China, especially those smaller city,
they can always flying to PVG / CAN to connect to MU / CZ's domestic flights and basically can reach any city they want to go.
(Flights between HK and China are treated as internation flights, so KA can only served to a very limited number of cities when compared to MU and CZ)

So don't overstated KA's feed that can provided to QF @HKG.

smi0006 wrote:

I think we will see the QF lounge in MEL undergo a significant refit soon, leaving the only hole in the QF product the 744s which appear on this route in high season. I wonder if we could see double daily 330s on QF during high season to compensate?

The MEL lounge is fine. It's one of the best first class lounges worldwide.

hongkongflyer wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Do we think QF will respond? Do they have spare frames too?

Not sure if it's due to VA or part of their medium term planning, CX have announced today 350s to PER, and a second daily to MEL, making MEL 77W and 2x 350s daily. Plus a QF 744 and odd 330s.

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

QF flies SYD-PEK direct with a A$300 fare in Y, not to mention mainland carriers (including HU) flies direct (or via CAN/PVG/XIY/KMG......) to SYD at lower or similar prices.

hongkongflyer wrote:

getluv wrote:

hongkongflyer wrote:

QF lack the feed that VA have (provided by HX and HU Group)

You do realise QF has an extensive interline agreement with CX and KA (plus QFF can still earn status credits/points) and also interlines with HX. Out of China, QF has a JV with MU and codeshares with CZ. Further to this, under the Australia/Hong Kong bilateral there are no codeshares between Hong Kong and China. So their predicament is the same out of HK.

Feed doesn't need the onward flight to be codeshared.

QF and CX doesn't have friendly relationship even both in OW.
CX blocked Jetstar HK, in addition, they are competiting with each other seriously on HKGSYD and HKGMEL. Both using KA as their feed @ HKG.
There is no / low intention for KA offering good deal to QF for their passangers' onward connections (CX would rather passangers to fly CXKA all the way from Australia to China).

In addition, MU and CZ present in HK is not that strong, if a QF passanger want to fly to China, especially those smaller city,
they can always flying to PVG / CAN to connect to MU / CZ's domestic flights and basically can reach any city they want to go.
(Flights between HK and China are treated as internation flights, so KA can only served to a very limited number of cities when compared to MU and CZ)

So don't overstated KA's feed that can provided to QF @HKG.

What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with Jetstar HK or CX/QF being frenemies. This about feed that you put way too much importance on like most A-netters.

Do a dummy search of AU-China fares on the QF website and you will see many interlining options with CX/KA and even HX. You will see the same thing on AU-Korea, AU-Taiwan, AU-Philippines flights. In fact, some QF/CX flights are cheaper than QF's codeshare partners.

Point is, QF don't have feed issues at all ex-HK.

The MEL lounge is fine. It's one of the best first class lounges worldwide.

The MEL Lounge is terrible. Really good if you are upstairs in the First Class Lounge. Dreadful for everyone else. It is dark, depressing and has a very ordinary food selection.

VA also need to sort out what they are doing lounge-wise in MEL. Originally they would've planned to use NZ for everywhere except the SQ and EY codeshares but now that relationship has turned a bit toxic, they need to work out their longer term plan. MEL's lounge complexes are all pretty much full and even if a downstairs area became available they may want to avoid it. Their current best option would be the EY Lounge particularly as the day flights to HKG aren't going to be when EY pax are filling up the lounge. The night flights are problematic though. Ideally, they will develop their own lounge, probably shared with Hainan etc but given the space issue, this isn't happening anytime soon.

smi0006 wrote:

I think we will see the QF lounge in MEL undergo a significant refit soon, leaving the only hole in the QF product the 744s which appear on this route in high season. I wonder if we could see double daily 330s on QF during high season to compensate?

QF run the 744 daily MEL-HKG year round now, slots are the issue if they can't get more you won't see more flights. Do the 744's need another refresh? The Skybed MK2 has been in them 4-5 years, and some people are saying that product is dated on the A380. Will QF refit the 744ER fleet which will be around another 5-6 years atleast after the A380 gets a refit?

ZK-NBT wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

I think we will see the QF lounge in MEL undergo a significant refit soon, leaving the only hole in the QF product the 744s which appear on this route in high season. I wonder if we could see double daily 330s on QF during high season to compensate?

QF run the 744 daily MEL-HKG year round now, slots are the issue if they can't get more you won't see more flights. Do the 744's need another refresh? The Skybed MK2 has been in them 4-5 years, and some people are saying that product is dated on the A380. Will QF refit the 744ER fleet which will be around another 5-6 years atleast after the A380 gets a refit?

True, slots are key. Year round 380 ex-MEL and SYD would be beneficial- I can see it both ways with the 744ER, if they could increase capacity with the new seats, I could see value in a refresh of J&W over 5-6 years these seats could be paid off. Be good for product consistency, and QF have done a lot of product invenstmebt recently.

qf789 wrote:

VA confirms MEL-HKG, will run 5 weekly from 5 July 17

VA87 MEL1025-1805HKG 332 1
VA87 MEL940-1720HKG 332 3
VA89 MEL35-815HKG 332 246

VA88HKG1950-720+1MEL 332 X57

https://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-austral ... -on-july-5

Congrats to VA! I suppose there are not enough A330s to launch SYD-HKG-SYD alongside the MEL flights. It is a pity that VA is not in a sound financial situation, as that prevents them from ordering new long-haul aircraft to perhaps resume AUH and to fly to HKG both from SYD and MEL.

EddieDude wrote:

Congrats to VA! I suppose there are not enough A330s to launch SYD-HKG-SYD alongside the MEL flights. It is a pity that VA is not in a sound financial situation, as that prevents them from ordering new long-haul aircraft to perhaps resume AUH and to fly to HKG both from SYD and MEL.

The trouble is VA do not have the money or resources to rapidly expand an intl network. My guess is that this is less a strategic move and more an attempt to find some more profitability for an aircraft type that doesn't really suit them. Their habits of chopping and changing routes is not doing their brand much good. They need to find a path and stick to it for some decent amount of time. I doubt that intl, a notoriously risky and low yield venture is it.

Flights commence tomorrow. Big day for Virgin Australia!

Expect a lot of publicity around this one with yours truly, Sir Richard Branson on board.

Do VS's flights connect with VS flight from London ?