YBBN Spotting

I recently had the opportunity to spend an afternoon out spotting at Brisbane (YBBN/BNE) and here are the first fruits of that spotting trip.

Vincent Aviation currently have their BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO in Brisbane, its seen here operating as VIN810 to RMA

Virgin Australia are well represented at their home base - here we see Virgin Australia/Skywest ATR 72-500 VH-FVL operating as VA667A to Moranbah (MOV)

Seen departing for Newcastle (NTL) as VA1106 is Boeing 737-8FE VH-VOQ

The final Virgin bird in this post is another Boeing this time B737-8BK VH-VUM departing for SYD as VA954

Qantas Boeing 737-838 VH-VXO wears special Share the Spirit titles and is seen here departing for Townsville (TSV) as QF974

And just to prove that no matter how well you frame a shot and prepare - often nature intervenes and something photobombs you (Q400 VH-QOJ)

This has to be my favourite photo of the ones I have edited so far, its Tiger Airways A320 VH-VNF rotating off 01 bound for SYD as TT802

Virgin move to Sabre

Preparations at Virgin's Brisbane head quarters are ramping up in preparation for Saturday's move from the old Navitaire system to the more common and reliable Sabre system.

This means that from the weekend onwards not only will Virgin Australia's booking & check-in systems be different but all Virgin Australia flights will move to the VA code away from the DJ code.  This will see flights  that previously operated by 4 separate divisions (Pacific Blue (NZ) DJ/PBN, Pacific Blue (Aus) DJ/PBH, Virgin Blue DJ/VOZ,  V Australia VA/VAU) finally unified under the one code, despite having been unified under the one name for sometime now.

As most Virgin frequent flyers will know the online Velocity members area (My Account) will be offline from 10.30pm tomorrow night (Wednesday 9-Jan-13) until Sunday 13-Jan-13 to enable the change, with members asked to complete any bookings or points redemption before Wednesday.

"Nor will it be possible to check in for flights via mobile phones or the internet this weekend. Passengers will also be unable to book flights via Virgin's website from Saturday until Sunday afternoon.
The airline has also warned passengers flying between next Monday and January 20 to turn up at airports at least an hour before a domestic flight and three hours before an international service because checking in might be slower than usual.
Virgin will increase staff at airports and call centres by 30 per cent this weekend to handle the complex switch in reservation systems. About 4000 Virgin staff have undergone training over the last year."

I hope this change works out well for Virgin as the outage they experience with Navitaire last year cost them dearly.  Sabre is a great system that is used by a large number of airlines world wide and seems to be stable and efficient.

Sabre also operates the virtuallythere.com website which give passengers booked on any flight or airline within the Sabre system the option to:

• Check the status of any flight including delays, cancellations and gate info
• Book ground transportation, travel extras and travel protection to complete your trip
• Email your itinerary to friends, family and colleagues right from your mobile or PC

Check out more about the Virgin switch via Fairfax Media's Business Day reporter Matt O'Sullivan HERE

or check out Sabre from its corporate website HERE or virtually there HERE

Virgin announce 1st ATR route

Virgin Australia through their blog http://blog.virginaustralia.com/ and twitter account have announced the first routes their new ATR fleet will begin operation on.

The first flights from October will be Brisbane-Gladstone twice daily and a once daily Brisbane-Port Macquarie, plus additional flights on the Sydney-Canberra route, bringing the route up to 60x/wk.

Below is the pic from the blog which shows off the ATR in Virgin colours

from virgin australia blog

VA/NZ launch trans-tasman alliance advertising

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand have launched their joint advertising campaign's as their new trans-tasman alliance begins.

Air New Zealand have sent two emails to their airpoints members regarding this, the headers of both can be seen below

 

Air New Zealand's "Bromance" sale is an interesting one (name wise), but it does include some good deals for the introduction of the alliance.

Virgin Australia have launched the following advertisement as seen on their facebook page

 The front page of the Air New Zealand website looks like this

As you can see Air New Zealand are not only advertising the direct services but also $50 add on fares to other ports on the Virgin Australia domestic network.  The link below this to the find out more shows you how the Virgin Australia (Pacific Blue) fares and service equates to the Air New Zealand Seats to Suit fares. See for yourself HERE

At time of writing the Virgin Australia website was showing advertising for their daily happy hour sale.  But in their media release section is the release pertaining to the new tie-up (HERE) below is an extract of what customers can expect.

From July 26, Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia trans-Tasman services will offer:

• Reciprocal Frequent Flyer programmes that cover both airlines’ networks, enabling Airpoints and Velocity members to earn and redeem frequent flyer points on each other’s services;
• Reciprocal lounge access for eligible customers¹;
• Priority seating in dedicated zones for top tier frequent flyers;
• Priority Check-in, Baggage and Boarding for Premium Guests and eligible Airpoints and Velocity members; and
• Complimentary tea, coffee and water in-flight to all customers, as well as a food and beverage service for customers on the relevant fare types. The new Virgin Australia food and beverage service includes a continental breakfast, lunchtime wrap or evening meal with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

ASH CHAOS

Airport terminals have turned into scenes of utter chaos as passengers deal with the fall out of volcanic ash from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chille.  Trans-tasman and domestic flights in New Zealand have been cancelled as have domestic flights to Tasmania and now Melbourne.

Qantas and Jetstar began the cancellations, cancelling their flights across the tasman and to tasmania, with Tiger and Virgin following suit with flights into and out of Victoria.   HERE HERE

Read more about the cancellations and airport chaos:
theaustralian.com.au HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE
couriermail.com.au HERE
stuff.co.nz HERE
nzherald.co.nz HERE

Airline announcements
Qantas HERE
Virgin Australia HERE
Jetstar HERE
Tiger HERE

First Glimpse

The first glimpse of the new regional aircraft in Virgin Australia colours.  The ATR 72-500, soon to grace regional Australian skies.

airliners.net

If 1+1=OneWorld, does 1+2=Star?

1+1=OneWorld
Qantas are sponsoring Malaysian Airlines for entry into the oneworld alliance with the process expected to take 18 months to complete.
At the same time Qantas and MAS will look at options for co-operation on Asian routes, and how they can help each others market share.

1+2=Star??
In a move that will strengthen the rumours about Virgin Australia's possible entry into the Star alliance, Virgin have announced their Asian partner will be Singapore Airlines.  Virgin now have significant partnerships with two Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines.

It has long been speculated that Air New Zealand would sponsor Virgin for entry into Star, and now with two firm partnerships it looks possible that Virgin may go the way of star.  Virgin CEO John Borghetti speaking at the partnership with SQ launch has stated that entry into Star isnt something they are contemplating at the moment and is something that they may look into in 2012 or later.

Read more on the two new partnerships QF & MAS from Steve Creedy at theaustralian.com.au HERE and VA & SQ from David Flynn at ausbt.com.au HERE

Virgin's Velocity revamp step 1

Step 1 of the long awaited and anticipated revamp of the Virgin Australia Velocity rewards program has begun, with Virgin Australia announcing changes to the way frequent fliers earn status credits.

Fliers now only need to earn 250 credits to qualify for Silver level and 200 to maintain it, in the new rolling 365 day period.  For Gold Level membership fliers need 500 credits to qualify and 400 to maintain.

The most significant change is that Virgin Australia now uses a rolling 365 day window for calculating how many status credits its Velocity members have, rather than expiring them in bulk on a fixed date every 12 months as Qantas does (and Virgin Blue used to do).

Read more about the first step in the revamp from either the virginaustralia.com release HERE or from Dan Warne of Australian Business Traveller HERE