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747-237
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 Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:55 pm Post subject: Virgin Atlantic goes 787-9 on LHR-DEL |
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Virgin Atlantic to Start Boeing 787-9 Delhi Service in S15
Virgin Atlantic from 29MAR15 begins Boeing 787-9 operations on London Heathrow – Delhi route, replacing Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Reservation for the 787 service, which operates on daily basis, is now open.
VS300 LHR2200 – 1040+1DEL 789 D
VS301 DEL1325 – 1755LHR 789 D
Source: Airlineroute.net
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ameya
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Will there be a chance in capacity overall or class wise ?
Since its a day flight, there is a lot of potential to have code shares to a lot of destinations in India. Their choice is limited only to Jet, which itself competes on the LHR-DEL sector
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abhijith16
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| ameya wrote: | Will there be a chance in capacity overall or class wise ?
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A total reduction of 14 seats per week.
The thing is Virgin is swapping the amount of Y+ seats they offer with Y. (A reduction of 91 seats per week in Y+, but an increase of 91 seats per week in Y.)
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airbus340
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Joined: 16 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| abhijith16 wrote: | | ameya wrote: | Will there be a chance in capacity overall or class wise ?
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A total reduction of 14 seats per week.
The thing is Virgin is swapping the amount of Y+ seats they offer with Y. (A reduction of 91 seats per week in Y+, but an increase of 91 seats per week in Y.) |
VS have 38 Y+ seats on the A346 and 35 on the A343 which used to operate on the DEL route .
With the A333 VS suddenly had a Y+ cabin with 48 seats sell out of a market where Y+ is only now sort of finding takers from the discerning traveller who will shell out over a above a Y fare for better comfort .
Hence the Y+ on the A333 was too big for the India Market . Look at BA on their 772 they have either 40 Y+ on a 4 Class aircraft and only 24 Y+ on a 3 Class aircraft .
Even on their 77W they have 44 Y+ . So by the looks of it VS put in too big a Y+ cabin on the A333 and hence are rolling back on that decision on the 787-9 .
A bigger Y cabin is never a problem to fill up and for an airline the size of VS the J cabin too with 31 seats is just apt .
On the whole the 787-9 again highlights that VS still see a future in India and hence their latest product is flying into DEL . |
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Caliguy
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Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Agreed. Think VS definitely wants to play in India. My guess on BOM was that it wasn't super strong performer (although being able to sell some connecting pax to BOM probably helped VS' USA-LHR flights). I think BOM was primarily cut because it was two day slots in LHR which is what DELTA needed to expand on US-LHR. VS could have returned to a night flight on the BOM route, but I think they learned from the past that you need connecting pax to make BOM work. That said, I will really miss VS on the BOM route (always had J saver award availability through Delta) plus great experience flying them and the clubhouse. |
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Spiderguy252
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Location: Indian Ocean
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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VS's India strategy has been scattergun - to state it mildly.
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airbus340
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| Spiderguy252 wrote: | | VS's India strategy has been scattergun - to state it mildly. |
I would beg to differ . As an airline with a handful of aircraft and flying from a slot restricted airport , VS has always been very bullish on India .
They started flying to DEL in the year 2000 with an AI codeshare . Very quickly VS got rights and started daily flights on the A343 . DEL was a A346 route all year round for a good few years pre recession .
DEL then switched back to the A343 with the A346 flying the busy winter period .As of date DEL gets the A333 which is their latest in flight product and soon will see the 787-9 .
VS tried BOM with the same timings as DEL to begin with . Very soon they switched to daily flights . In course of time they realized unlike DEL , BOM needed connections to work . Then the whole BOM terror attacks happened and with a drop in traffic and IT selling cheap seats , VS pulled out .
They bought an early morning slot and launched BOM again , this time with connections to the US . While this was happening the DL deal happened and VS have now focused their assets in the US market where they will make significantly more money and have NO threat from the Middle East 3 . Plus the Virgin brand is massive in the US and a lot of DL folk prefer to fly with VS than DL .
Each time you start up or pull out from a route its costs money , VS have tried BOM twice hence they wanted it to work . The loads were good but not good enough compared to flying the same aircraft and using the slot to the US .
They have again upped their game on the DEL route with the B787-9 and will always be a formidable competitor on this route .
They have an active code share on the BOM route with 9W and 9W use the VS network for connections to the US . So for any loyal VS fliers they still have an option to fly out of BOM albeit with 9W . |
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