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Virgin Australia trims system capacity
November 8th 2019
Haneda launched at expense of Melbourne-Hong Kong, Sydney-Hong Kong survives. Read More »
Virgin Australia (VA) will reduce capacity in its domestic and short-haul international markets, CEO Paul Scurrah announced in his inaugural annual general meeting address.
VA has reduced its domestic capacity by 1.5% and plans to cut at least 2% more during its fiscal second half, to June 30, 2020. Some domestic trans-continent and resource sector flights will be removed from its schedule as well as some Australia-New Zealand flights.
VA added trans-Tasman capacity after former partner, Air New Zealand, ended its relationship with the airline and formed a code-share with Qantas.
The group is removing two A320s from LCC unit, Tigerair, and three F100s, used mostly for resource sector flights, from its collective fleet. VA aims to save A$50 million (US$34.43 million) by renegotiating lessor contracts and those of other suppliers.
It will launch Brisbane-Tokyo Haneda flights next March with the A330 now flying Melbourne-Hong Kong. The airline will retain its Sydney-Hong Kong service.
Scurrah said VA was “under-performing” in “a fundamentally very strong, attractive domestic market”.
VA has little free float but an AGM is required under Australian law. Scurrah told the AGM audience that since he joined VA, he has met all of the carrier’s major investors: Etihad Aviation, Virgin Group, Singapore Airlines, Nanshan and the HNA Group.
