Issue 1 • January 2013

IN THIS ISSUEE-Jets are Charting

a New Coursewith Virgin Australia

Phot

o: S

eth

Jaw

orsk

i

CHARTING A NEW COURSE

New Man with a Mission

C&D Zodiac modified the first E190 at its facility in southern California. Twelve economy class seats in the first rows were removed and replaced with six Business Class seats in a 2 x 1 arrangement. The total aircraft capacity was reduced from 104 to 98 seats. Ceiling and floor panels were replaced and overhead bins were changed to accommodate the transition between the two cabins which are separated by a fixed divider. An additional seat track was installed to support the single seat on the left side.

The modifications also require relocation of some emergency equipment and changes to the forward galley. The transition from single to dual class E190 takes between six and eight days. By the end of February, all of the E190s will have the new configuration.

January 20132 3

Virgin Australia’s E190s will be reconfi gured from single to dual class seating by the end of February 2012.

The Business Class cabin will have six seats in a 2 x 1 arrangement.

E-Jets with Class

Sydney-based First Offi cer Joseph Hallam fl ies the E190 on a network that spans the continent and even crosses an ocean.

In 2013, domestic premium-fare passengers fl ying on any Virgin Australia jet will have a consistent on-board experience, especially when transferring between B737s and E190s. The airline can deploy both aircraft types on a given route to satisfy variations in demand by time-of-day or time-of- year with Business Class cabins on every fl ight.

The E190s have been supplementing the airline’s high-frequency B737 schedule on the busy Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle for years. The two-cabin layout on the E190s now gives Virgin Australia even more fl exibility to swap aircraft types for operational or marketing reasons and maintain premium product integrity on every flight.

Photo: Seth Jaworski

The turbulent times following domestic airline deregulation in the USA saw the introduction of innovations in pricing, yield management, ticketing, in-fl ight service, and scheduling. Airlines came and went. Some merged. And now only a handful remains.

Australia’s experience with domestic deregulation is no less storied. Ansett, Trans Australia, Kendell, Compass, OzJet - famous companies that also were innovators in their time but who did not survive the brutal competitive forces that defi ne the industry. But

one airline is adept at reading the market, seizing new opportunities, and rewriting the rules. Virgin Australia is, once again, charting a course through virgin territory.

When the then CEO acquired Virgin Blue’s fi rst E-Jet in 2007, he defi ed traditional thinking by introducing a second aircraft type to complement the airline’s fl eet of B737s. Much smaller regional jets had failed in Australia in

the past but he believed there was an untapped opportunity to deploy E-Jets on QantasLink turboprop routes and even to go head-to-head with domestic rivals in key markets.

The airline was a low cost carrier. Virgin’s personality, true to the identity of the Virgin brand, was one that refl ected a youthful, low-fare, value-priced, quality product without class of service differentiation. It was an innovative strategy that was welcomed by passengers eager for an alternative to Qantas.

John Borghetti took the helm of Virgin Blue in May 2010, and saw an opportunity to take the airline in a new direction. He set out to carve a bigger slice of the lucrative

corporate and g o v e r n m e n t travel pie with the objective of doubling the 10 per cent revenue contribution in three years. That goal required a change to the product philosophy and the very identity of the airline itself. One of the first actions was a change to the carrier’s name. Virgin Australia was adopted to replace the international V Australia

and domestic Virgin Blue names.The move to capture more high-fare business travelers also meant a review of the overall consumer product, including the airline’s fleet of B737s and E190s. The single-class concept used at Virgin Blue has given way to a dual class configuration on the B737s. The addition of a dedicated business class cabin is now underway on the company’s fleet of 18 E190s.

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Over Land and SeaTrue to the innovative spirit of the Virgin brand, the addition of a smaller aircraft allowed the airline to enter new markets, including a pioneering deployment of the E190. On April 6, 2010, flight DJ2903 took off from Perth and headed northwest on a historic flight marking yet another milestone in the E-Jets program. The E190 flew 1,410 nm (2,611 km) nonstop to Christmas Island, more than four hours, completing the longest commercial E-Jet flight over water.

The E190 flights comply with CASA Australian aviation authority regulations that allow for longer over water routes with certain technical modifications and procedural rules. After outfitting the airplane with additional equipment and performing a series

Virgin Australia operates the longest over water flight with the E190. The 1,1410 nm sector is more than four hours.

Virgin Australia has 18 E190s.

Equipping the E190s

E190 Fleet Versatility

of training flights, Virgin launched its first revenue service.

Virgin operates four weekly flights between Perth and Christmas Island, three of which continue on to the Cocos Islands, Australian territories that lie to the south and west of Jakarta.

Virgin now has five E190s that are permanently fitted with life rafts and emergency locator transmitters that are mandatory for over water operations. The aircraft are rotated through Perth to facilitate flights to Christmas and Cocos Islands and serve other cities in Western Australia when they are not deployed on the over water routes.

Virgin crews the aircraft with a standard complement of two pilots and three cabin crew and carries a

licensed aircraft mechanical engineer on board. Due to the extended duty period, there is a crew change with each Cocos arrival to fly the southbound service.

The project planning team worked diligently to draft procedures that would ensure reliable operations and maximize payload range. Every kilo of fuel and water is precious. To minimize weight, lavatories are serviced at each stop whenever possible and onboard water consumption is regulated for maximum efficiency.

Each flight to Cocos passes via Christmas Island on both the outbound and inbound journey. On these sectors, the E190’s APU runs for the duration of the flight resulting in an effective operational ceiling of FL370. As both Cocos and Christmas are considered remote island aerodromes, Virgin is required to carry fuel for a designated alternate, which can be Jakarta or an Australian mainland aerodrome.

As the airline explores new route opportunities and adjusts its business strategy to capture a richer share of the Australian domestic market, the E190 fleet is adapting to its new role. The versatility of the E-Jets design shows that, in Australia, when your business changes, you don’t always need to change your aircraft.