After the transtasman bust up - what now for Virgin Australia?
Virgin Australia will make more flights across the Tasman following its breakup with Air New Zealand, but says it will not need additional aircraft. The airline says a fleet simplification programme that began two years ago was also aimed at more efficient use of its planes, including the 737-800s used to fly across the Tasman. When the seven-year partnership with Air New Zealand finishes at the end of October, the Australian airline will fly two new transtasman routes and increase the number of seats on existing ones, aiming specifically at the business market. Air New Zealand is also stepping up its transtasman flights. Virgin has more than 80 Boeing 737s. A small number of them need extra checks of their CFM engines following a global alert, but these will not affect schedules. Virgin Airlines group executive Rob Sharp said the restructuring came as the mining boom ended. The airline's Embraer E-Jets have gone from the fleet. "One of the core strategies is to use our 737-800s - the utilisation has historically been lower than what it could have been. We're not acquiring new aircraft but we're using capacity that we had within our fleet." The Australian airline says its transtasman capacity will increase by 13%, with 43,000 extra seats from October 28. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2018-04-27/unaligned/after-the-transtasman-bust-up-what-now-for-virgin-australia
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/logo.png
After the transtasman bust up - what now for Virgin Australia?
Virgin Australia will make more flights across the Tasman following its breakup with Air New Zealand, but says it will not need additional aircraft. The airline says a fleet simplification programme that began two years ago was also aimed at more efficient use of its planes, including the 737-800s used to fly across the Tasman. When the seven-year partnership with Air New Zealand finishes at the end of October, the Australian airline will fly two new transtasman routes and increase the number of seats on existing ones, aiming specifically at the business market. Air New Zealand is also stepping up its transtasman flights. Virgin has more than 80 Boeing 737s. A small number of them need extra checks of their CFM engines following a global alert, but these will not affect schedules. Virgin Airlines group executive Rob Sharp said the restructuring came as the mining boom ended. The airline's Embraer E-Jets have gone from the fleet. "One of the core strategies is to use our 737-800s - the utilisation has historically been lower than what it could have been. We're not acquiring new aircraft but we're using capacity that we had within our fleet." The Australian airline says its transtasman capacity will increase by 13%, with 43,000 extra seats from October 28. <br/>
