Virgin looking at Pakistan!!!

[PK773ER]

just found this on anet
http://www.airliners.net/discussions/ge ... n/2644528/

[sadiqhassan]

just found this on anet
http://www.airliners.net/discussions/ge ... n/2644528/

Quite interesting. I would guess that they will fly to LHE/ISB first before KHI.

Cheers

[PK773ER]

i think LHE will be the first destination and later on KHI. i think except PIA there are no direct flights between UK and KHI/LHE m i right??

[HokutoNoKen]

inshAllah! i hope this happens

[Aftab PK786]

Usalamulkium,

That’s excellent news after when I emailed them and they said they have no plans. Inshallah this will go ahead with God grace!

[AP-BGL]

Usalamulkium,

That’s excellent news after when I emailed them and they said they have no plans. Inshallah this will go ahead with God grace!

Same thing I was wondering, that according to reply to the email you sent they had no plans in the near future but now suddenly the market becomes very profitable and growing for them.

Anyways, thats very good to see more and more foreign airlines looking for Pakistan. What aircraft do you people think they will operate with if they start their services?

[PK773ER]

i think they will start with A340-300 and will switch to A340-600 or B747 if there is a high demand "IF" they start operating flights to Pakistan

[malpensa26]

realistic scenerio is Man-Isb 3-4 times on one of their 747-200 classics. Khi is a long shot and maybe LHE via dubai or something.

[smarties]

i think they might extend the DXB flight on to KHI. The VS400 (LHR-DXB)flight arrives in DXB at 0710 in the morning and leaves for LONDON (VS401, DXB-LHR) at 1435. In that time they can easily extend the serve to KHI with the same plane. Like below:

VS401
LHR- DXB- KHI
2100 0710/0815 1115


VS401
KHI- DXB- LHR
1230 1330/1435 1910

[ord]

i think they might extend the DXB flight on to KHI. The VS400 (LHR-DXB)flight arrives in DXB at 0710 in the morning and leaves for LONDON (VS401, DXB-LHR) at 1435. In that time they can easily extend the serve to KHI with the same plane. Like below:

VS401
LHR- DXB- KHI
2100 0710/0815 1115


VS401
KHI- DXB- LHR
1230 1330/1435 1910

An 1.25 hour turnaround time is not feasible on an a/c the size of the A340-300 let alone the much larger A340-600.

If they fly to Pakistan soon, I think it will be to LHE as the yields on ISB sector will be low due to the presence of BA and PIA on the LHR-ISB sector.

[smarties]

EKs 777-300 (which have over 400 pax) are turned around in 1.5 hours at a busy airport like Heathrow.

If they have rights on the DXB-KHI-DXB sector they would do well on that as well, as there is a growing demand on that route/sector. Recently RJ, LX, KQ, and MS have stopped coming to KHI from DXB so they could take all that traffic. With VS's cheap fares, the whole route could to well.

[AP-BGL]

ord, even there are two carriers operating ISB-LHR sector but still people dont gets seats easily, they have to book them atleast one month earlier. One can now easily see how much the load is to and from U.K to Pakistan specially Islamabad.

[behramjee]

My analysis for VS :

Virgin Atlantic is represented by Gerrys Travel in Pakistan and according to MIDT data, in 2003 they had a market share of 11% on the LHE-USA market and 6% of the KHI-USA market. Now if I was VS, I would fly to LHE and not KHI nor ISB.

For LHE, VS should have 4 weekly A 343 services initially to start of with. Now why I say LHE and not ISB nor KHI is because of :

1. In KHI, EK is the king with 4 daily flights and you cant compete with them out of KHI. They will undercut every one to get the pax and in KHI you have too much competition with QR-GF-EK-SV-TK-EY offering multiple daily/weekly flights via their hubs to UK and USA.

2. In ISB, VS would have to compete against PIA, BA, KU, QR, EK and EY with PK and BA having nonstop flights to LHR from ISB 3 times a week each with B 747s.

3. In LHE, the main threat to VS would be PIAs 3 weekly nonstop B 743 flights and secondary threats would be EK, KU and QR. However, there is no BA in LHE and this market segment is where a vast majority of the Pakistani expats/immigrants residing in Europe, UK and USA-CANADA hail from. VS has the most to gain in LHE than in anyother Pakistani market. Plus its A 343 inflight product in J and Y class is much better than PIAs B 743 inflight product in both cabins!!!

4. Plus LHE is in the industrial heartland of Pakistan with the industrial towns of Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad being 60-100 miles away therefore cargo loads on this flight will BOOM and MINT $$$ for VS.

5. At LHE, there is a lot of O&D demand between LHR and LHE + equally high demand of 6th freedom traffic from USA and Canada who can connect onto VS's flights via LHR to LHE. VS must ensure that its LHE bound flights connect within 3-4 hours max both ways to JFK, EWR, IAD, LAX, SFO and in the future YYZ and ORD. To LHE, VS can also get useful 6th freedom traffic from Western Europe via BMI feeder/interline flights.

[malpensa26]

Their are 100,000 pakistani from Isb to kashmir area in UK. so Virgin should fly on the 4 days that BA does not to ISB. there u have it plain and simple. but thts my 2 cents anyways.

[sadiqhassan]

i think they might extend the DXB flight on to KHI. The VS400 (LHR-DXB)flight arrives in DXB at 0710 in the morning and leaves for LONDON (VS401, DXB-LHR) at 1435. In that time they can easily extend the serve to KHI with the same plane. Like below:

VS401
LHR- DXB- KHI
2100 0710/0815 1115


VS401
KHI- DXB- LHR
1230 1330/1435 1910

Agree with what has been said below

1. In KHI, EK is the king with 4 daily flights and you cant compete with them out of KHI. They will undercut every one to get the pax and in KHI you have too much competition with QR-GF-EK-SV-TK-EY offering multiple daily/weekly flights via their hubs to UK and USA.

Even though the VS flight would be "direct" the time you save when travelling is negligable vs travelling with any other airlines.

Cheers