Virgin Australia is set to soar - Tigerair set to close

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Just two months shy of its 20th birthday, Virgin Australia hands over the keys to Bain Capital.

The US-based global investment giant, anointed by airline-appointed administrator Deloitte on the back of a multi-billion dollar bid, is now in the cockpit.  Bain intends to accelerate Scurrah’s own pre-pandemic plan, which he’s often described as “turning a great airline into great business.”

Some of that was set in motion as the coronavirus shockwaves hit: like shutting down the budget Tigerair arm, 

TIGER AIR A320-232 VH-XUH (CN 6749)            File Photo

closing the New Zealand crew bases, and replacing the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777-300ER jets with a single fleet. Bain has adopted much of Scurrah’s plan and is adapting more of it to suit the times, with the necessary downsizing becoming more a matter of essential rightsizing in the face of the dramatically reshaped travel landscape. The scene continues to prove a highly fluid one. Within the space of the past 24 hours Melbourne cancelled all international flights following a surge in coronavirus infections; Queensland announced it would reopen its borders from July 10 to visitors from all across Australia except for Victoria; and South Australia abandoned a previous decision to open its eastern borders to NSW and Victoria as of July 20. Bain’s blueprint for Virgin Australia 2.0 will recast the airline as a leaner ‘value-based’ player with a dash of that on-brand Virgin flair, and straddling the middle of the market rather than entering a dogfight with Jetstar in the budget space or going head-to-head with Qantas as a full-service airline for corporate travellers.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3ZG VH-VOZ (CN 35302)        File Photo 

The airline will move to an all-Boeing 737 fleet, with far fewer planes.

Bain’s local managing director Mike Murphy has said he expects the sweet spot for relaunching Virgin to be around 60-70 planes, close to half of the current total fleet, with the suggestion that there’ll be enough fat in the reduced schedule to have some jets on hand to ensure a high reliability of service should technical issues occur. Fewer planes means fewer flights, with Bain set to axe some routes and in other cases trim the frequency of services, while focussing on the busiest and most profitable routes such as the 'golden triangle' between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Full story sourced from here

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/free-of-baggage-virgin-australia-is-set-to-soar