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"Good DAY? MATE?"--Delta and Virgin Blue set up venture...article

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General Lee

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Aug 24, 2002
Posts
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Delta Air Lines and Virgin Blue Airlines Group Announce Plan to Form Joint Venture

Airlines will offer more destinations and improved service in the US-Australia and US-South Pacific markets

  • Press Release
  • Source: Delta Air Lines
  • On Wednesday July 8, 2009, 7:01 pm EDT
ATLANTA, and BRISBANE, Australia, July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Air Lines and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group announced today they plan to seek regulatory approval to form a joint venture that will expand both carriers' reach between the U.S. and Australia and the South Pacific.

The alliance will allow Delta and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group to compete more effectively in those markets by collaborating on route and product planning, codesharing on their respective networks and extending frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access to customers of both airlines.

"Together, Delta and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group will be a stronger and more effective competitor by offering consumers greater choice of destinations, frequencies and schedules, all on leading-edge aircraft," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president for network and revenue management. "For Delta, this agreement is a significant milestone in the expansion of our global network in the Australia and South Pacific region."
"Virgin Blue and Delta make a tremendously exciting fit," said Brett Godfrey, chief executive officer and co-founder of Virgin Blue Airlines Group. "Not only will we offer travelers many new benefits and possibilities, but also the alliance of two new entrant operators will ensure that vital competition is sustained on the trans-Pacific route."
In advance of their joint venture, the carriers are moving forward to implement codesharing, frequent flyer program reciprocity and lounge exchange privileges. Delta and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group will file antitrust immunity applications with the U.S. Department of Transportation and with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Delta began daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Sydney on July 1, 2009, with a Boeing 777-200LR equipped with 180-degree, full-flat beds in its BusinessElite class. V Australia, a Virgin Blue Group airline, operates a daily nonstop Boeing 777 service between Los Angeles and Sydney, and service three times weekly between Los Angeles and Brisbane. A new, three times weekly service between Los Angeles and Melbourne is planned for September 2009. The three class airline offers 33 Business Class fully lie-flat beds, 40 Premium Economy club seats and 288 economy seats plus two in-flight bars.
About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines is the world's No. 1 airline. From its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Tokyo-Narita, Delta, its Northwest subsidiary and Delta Connection carriers offer service to 382 destinations in 69 countries and serves more than 170 million passengers each year. Delta's marketing alliances allow customers to earn and redeem either SkyMiles or WorldPerks on more than 16,000 daily flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta's more than 70,000 employees worldwide are reshaping the aviation industry as the only U.S. airline to offer a full global network. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta . com
About Virgin Blue
Nine-year old Virgin Blue Airlines Group carries 18 million guests annually and comprises Australia's domestic airline Virgin Blue, Long Haul international airline V Australia, New Zealand-based Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue*, a joint venture airline with the Government of Samoa. Together the airlines operate a fleet of 80 modern Boeing 737-NGs, Boeing 777 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft flying to 28 Australian and 13 international destinations in the U.S., South Pacific and Southeast Asia. The airline group is much acclaimed for outstanding guest service. Recently, Virgin Blue was awarded Australia's highest national customer service accolade. The airline was acknowledged as having the highest customer service standards of any organization at the 2008 Australian customer Service Institute Awards.
Also in 2008 Australian travel agents again voted Virgin Blue Australia's "Best National Airline" and "Best Regional Airline" at the annual National Travel Industry Awards (NITA). Velocity, the airline's loyalty program, was recently awarded 2009 "Program of the Year" in the global Freddie Awards, which recognize the world's most outstanding airline frequent flyer programs.
*Polynesian Blue is not included in the joint venture alliance.





Obviously, this is to make sure we have feed in Australia, and they get feed from the US. Why wouldn't they do it with Virgin America? Can we get some cute "Virgin" stews in the deal? How about a "shrimp on the barbe?" Yeah, that is what she said.... Is this a "Good day?" or isn't it?

I don't think we were going to start LAX to Brisbane anytime soon (like V Australia already does). I think we were lucky to start the SYD service in this economic climate. Extra feed opportunities are good. Now, if we want ADDITIONAL flying to Australia ourselves, I don't want this to hamper it. Moak has to look at this carefully. Heck, I am sure he has our best interests at heart..............ah, yeah.....


Bye Bye--General Lee
 
Last edited:
I voted for all flying looked at, paid for, dreamed of, imagined or desired be flown by SWA pilots.

Did you?

Gup
 


Obviously, this is to make sure we have feed in Australia, and they get feed from the US. Why wouldn't they do it with Virgin America? Can we get some cute "Virgin" stews in the deal? How about a "shrimp on the barbe?" Yeah, that is what she said.... Is this a "Good day?" or isn't it?

I don't think we were going to start LAX to Brisbane anytime soon (like V Australia already does). I think we were lucky to start the SYD service in this economic climate. Extra feed opportunities are good. Now, if we want ADDITIONAL flying to Australia ourselves, I don't want this to hamper it. Moak has to look at this carefully. Heck, I am sure he has our best interests at heart..............ah, yeah.....


Bye Bye--General Lee



Move along, Gen.... RJs are the devil-don't worry a bit about this stuff..... I absolutely LOVE the fact that you are actually stump-dumb enough to let the big boys continually get away with one punt-fake after another, after another, after another....

-Normally, I like to root for the underdog, but you are just so freaking learning-disabled..... You do not have my sympathy.
-Keep on watching out for those evil RJs! They are the devil!
 
This is an interesting development--and one I would not have expected. I suspect there is more to this that we are not hearing. Some of the issues I see with the plan.

First, DALPA needs to be very careful about the wording of the LOA that will need to be in place to allow this. The Reps seem to be aware that scope is a hot issue, lets hope the big boys have gotten the hint. This agreement is about planes with "Heavy" behind the callsign, so maybe they will realize the importance of well written and protected scope language.

Second, regulatory approvial. On the surface this appears to be in the corner of the globe that has little effect on the industry. However a JV was just effectivly denied by the new Democratic admin. I'm sure UA and CO would be pretty PO'd if this went through. In addition this would severly hurt United which is already in a weakened state. As it turns out we have a Chicago boy in office now and he may not want anything that would not be favorable to the home team.

Third, this is a very limited market. I'm not sure how much total revenue and risk there is to share. How much are you going to fly in the US to Australia market? A couple of flights to Sydney and maybe one to Brisbane is about all that can be justified. I am not an expert on matters, but if I had to pick an Australian to ask to the dance it would have been Qantas. A much larger and established presence and more domestic Australian feed.

Delta management is an intelligent group and I'm sure they have not jumped in without a solid plan. I for one am interested to see how this plays out. Hopefully in the end this will benefit DL pilots in a postive way and that our jobs and future growth will be protected.
 
Move along, Gen.... RJs are the devil-don't worry a bit about this stuff..... I absolutely LOVE the fact that you are actually stump-dumb enough to let the big boys continually get away with one punt-fake after another, after another, after another....

-Normally, I like to root for the underdog, but you are just so freaking learning-disabled..... You do not have my sympathy.
-Keep on watching out for those evil RJs! They are the devil!

Say what????? Again, you don't understand. We are lucky to have even started a SYD route, especially in this economy. When it comes to the size of plane we fly, we fly the SMALLEST plane to SYD from LAX. Our 777LR is dwarfed by the 744s, A380, and 777-300ER that also fly the route. We have never been to Australia before, and we have no feed from there to the US. This is not a bad deal, as long as we keep flying there while the code-share venture is in place. If we stop flying there, then it was a bad venture, and I am sure Dalpa will make sure of that, otherwise it would be stupid. As far as an American airline going to other cities than SYD in Australia, United goes to Melbourne via SYD, and they cannot carry pax between the two cities (cabotage). Will we do the same or go nonstop to Melbourne eventually? We would have to see how many of our own passengers want to connect in SYD onward to Melbourne on a daily basis and travel on Virgin Blue. If we get enough that want that, we may start it. It is "open skies" to Australia.

Feed from Virgin Blue is okay, as long as we keep the route.

And CRJ567, you may want to watch how your DCI carriers are doing instead of how we are doing. Thanks to us losing the Mesa lawsuit, looks like we will keep them around longer and still park the same amount of RJs. That means more shifts for you at McRonalds....


Bye Bye--General Lee
 
Why fly there yourselves when you can codeshare your jobs away?

Cool,
Gup


You have Volaris and Westjet. And, we actually started flying there ourselves, but now have feed from a LCC in Australia to make sure our one daily flight is full. Your management doesn't even trust you to fly outside the contiguous 48, and make management pilots (retired guys probably) fly to San Salvador for C and D checks, while those pilots "check" the girls down there. You get leftovers in LBB. But hey, if you do need to go to Australia to see "another land", try a jump on us. Thanks to this codeshare venture, you may have to sit upfront.


Bye Bye---General Lee
 

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