Originally Posted by crxpilot
(Post 1334857)
Go to vegas on a tuesday or saturday and you will see about 99% of the planes based there sitting on the ramp....all part of the plan.
Also, Virgin America has an aircraft utilization of about 12.5 hours a day. During this 1Q2013 however, it's supposed to be reduced to save on losses. |
Originally Posted by atooraya
(Post 1334880)
If you go to Vegas, you'll easily see 10-20 allegiant planes sitting on the ramp as well. Are they going out of business too? :confused:
Also, Virgin America has an aircraft utilization of about 12.5 hours a day. During this 1Q2013 however, it's supposed to be reduced to save on losses. |
Originally Posted by johnso29
(Post 1334890)
I'm fairly certain VX has lease payments to make for those brand new A320s. I don't know for sure, but I think Allegiant probably owns their MD80s. That would give them much more flexibility WRT fleet utilization. 12.5 hours per day for utilization is a little low for brand new airplanes that require lease payments.
|
Originally Posted by CanoePilot
(Post 1334746)
Spirit has some of the best work rules in the industry. VX is on par with mesa when it confess to work rules.
I have heard that VX's line schedules have high day off counts-- maybe due to low block counts across the board? I don't know, can only speculate. I would like to know their work rules in regard to month-to-month transition conflicts, vacation bid conflicts, notification of junior assignments, etc. You know-- the stuff that supplements an hourly rate.;) |
Originally Posted by gatorbird
(Post 1334907)
Allegiant bucks the trend of low-cost carriers and buys MD-80s outright for cheap then flies them when demand is high (like not on Tuesdays). Pretty sure VX doesn't own the Airbii outright nor got them for a song.
|
So, how popular will this job opening be for current RJ captains compared to RJ FO's? Would be interesting to see what type of back grounds people are applying with to make the jump to Virgin with all the potential hardships on the horizon...
|
Originally Posted by atooraya
(Post 1334880)
Also, Virgin America has an aircraft utilization of about 12.5 hours a day. During this 1Q2013 however, it's supposed to be reduced to save on losses.
How's that old joke go? Losing money on every sale, but making up for it on volume? |
Originally Posted by Golden Bear
(Post 1334968)
According to this business model, they should drop down to 10 or even 2 hours a day to REALLY save money.
How's that old joke go? Losing money on every sale, but making up for it on volume? VX was founded to provide U.S. domestic feed for VA. Now that VA is partnered with DAL, what is the rationale for VX's existence? There is none. Branson will be pulling his money out soon. Even he can't afford to pour money down a rat hole forever. |
Originally Posted by gatorbird
(Post 1334694)
Looks like from this reply and others it was perceived that I was putting the VX pilot group down; not the case and my apologies if it appeared that way. My reply was in response to okbk's rather terse (paraphrased) reply that "parking aircraft is how the airline business works". I simply countered that with my own comment that some airlines choose to utilize their very expensive leased commodities and turn that into profitability. In essence, my comment was a shot at the VX operational philosophy- not it's pilot group.
I won't shy away from my disapproval of VX as a company; I (like many others) view it as an illegally foreign-owned carrier that is IMHO making very irresponsible and reckless decisions with investor money with little sign of turning the corner. Your statement is silly. Just as claiming that a Virgin Atlantic pilot is now pi$$ed that Virgin Atlantic is now an illegally foreign owned carrier, due to the 49% buyout by Delta. Delta has not done anything illegal, it bought a 49% of Virgin Atlantic. Branson has 49% of Virgin America. And for the last part, I think the decision being made now with the new VP are more financially responsible than before. Losing the money VX has with 52 airplanes over 6 years (2007-2012), how can you go down the same road with another 60 over the next 7 years? You just can't, so they are making changes. The growth slowdown will help the bottom line. Route changes are slowly coming, and you should see that in the next year. Bash Spirit all you want from a product point of view; I'll openly acknowledge it's bare-bones basic and lacking in customer service-- but it's profitable. While VX definitely offers the superior product (no real comparison actually...we're not even competitors), they don't have enough differentiation or brand loyalty to survive in their current state for long. Now I know the "brand loyalty" comment will draw some ire from some that it's there- I'm sure some is- but not enough to keep the place afloat. |
Originally Posted by CanoePilot
(Post 1334746)
Spirit has some of the best work rules in the industry. VX is on par with mesa when it confess to work rules.
Originally Posted by gloopy
Going forward, to any extent VAm is successful, it will hurt VAt/VAu/Skyteam/etc proportionately.
|
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:34 AM. |
User Alert System provided by
Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Lite) -
vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Website Copyright ©2000 - 2017 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands