Virgin Australia will deny Qantas a monopoly in the lucrative corporate travel market by maintaining a full-service business class product as part of a relaunch plan under its new owners Bain Capital.after announcing on Wednesday it will axe 3000 jobs
"We were not about to create a business travel monopoly," Mr Scurrah said, with Virgin to offer "very good value" business class tickets and maintain its airport lounges.He said that, contrary to popular opinion, Virgin had not been losing money because it moved away from its budget roots but because it signed bad contracts that were now being renegotiated, and had a complicated fleet with eight different aircraft types.
Virgin will dump its long-haul Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 aircraft and strip its mainline fleet back to its Boeing 737s that will fly domestic and short-haul international routes. Virgin's regional and charter operations are under review and it will retain some of its Fokker 100s and Airbus A320s. Tony Webber, from aviation consultants Airline Intelligence and Research, said that even if Virgin could improve its own profitability by lowering costs, it was unlikely to win over Qantas’ rusted on corporate travellers for long with lower airfares.UBS analyst Matt Ryan said the plan Virgin outlined was positive for Qantas because it was a similar offering Virgin had for the past five years where the larger airline claimed 90 per cent of the domestic profit pool.
pwhatch When aviation gets in the real world that flying is most boring experience known ! Less comfortable than a bus
pwhatch when did Virgin become the darling of SMH?
pwhatch I wish virgin well...they need the support of its customers and staff and make this airline a better airline than before..