A report in The Courier Mail says that Virgin Blue’s first new Brazilian passenger jet flies in to Australia tomorrow on a mission to revolutionise Australian regional air travel.
The 74-seat aircraft built by Brazilian company Embraer Aerospace is the first of 20 planes, worth $30 million apiece, that Virgin Blue has bought to challenge the turbo-prop models used by Qantas and Rex Aviation to dominate regional markets.
Virgin Blue managing director Brett Godfrey, talking on the airline’s seventh anniversary, said the company was embarking on a twin-pronged growth strategy.
Mr Godfrey is aiming to build market share on regional routes and to win long-haul passengers from Qantas by offering discount fares on the carrier’s most profitable route, across the Pacific between Australia and the US.
As part of the expansion plans, Virgin Blue holds options for a further seven Boeing 777s, worth in excess of $2 billion.
By the end of next year, Virgin Blue will have a fleet of 80 aircraft, including seven 350-seat Boeing 777s that are due to begin arriving late next year along with the last planes from Embraer.
Virgin Blue’s 19 other planes on order from the Brazilian manufacturer – five E170s and 14 E190s – will be delivered during the next 12 months.
Virgin is also looking at airports in more than 20 cities and towns across rural Australia, including places as far apart as Devonport on the northwest coast of Tasmania and Emerald in central Queensland.
During the past few months, evaluation teams also were dispatched to Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Burnie, Dubbo, Mildura, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga to check on likely ticket sales from these markets, suitability of airstrips and requisite facilities in small air terminals.
Six centres in Western Australia and three in the Northern Territory were also checked.
The 53-seater planes are expected to create profits on routes where Boeing 737s lose money.
Report by The Mole
