gumshoe wrote:bassaidai2222 wrote:dont start moaning about paying thousands of pounds a time for an economy seat , because thats what will happen if it goes under
No it won’t, because no-one will be willing to pay that.
Sure, BA would no doubt try to hike fares but they can only charge what the market will bear.
And in due course, once demand picks up again, there’d be competition again - even if no-one knows who from yet.
I expect prices in the aftermath of a VS collapse would be reflective of the demand for travel. If it is weak, I expect fares to be low across the board. I do expect fares on some routes to hike when demand picks up and there will be certain routes VS operate alongside BA where BA will have a monopoly.
I also agree competition will eventually emerge, but I can't see it happening straight away and the barriers to entry for a new entrant are huge, so until then...
v1rotatev2 wrote:Article in Forbes examines Virgin Atlantic's tax position with more focus - basically saying yes they do pay tax to UK, but yes they also receive rebates from UK and avoid tax by siphoning profits to British Virgin Islands as a branding fee under marketing expenses, and asking if their tax situation is a red herring anyway. It goes on to say that if they do go under it will provide an opportunity for other airlines to get a foothold in LHR and offer competition to BA (eg JetBlue).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton ... the-point/
JetBlue have made noises about entering the UK market for a while now, however they currently do not have aircraft in the fleet to fly London-New York. The A321LR/XLR's that are on order will be able to comfortably do that flight, but they're still a few years away from being delivered and JetBlue may yet choose to defer deliveries depending on demand.
Also, if I was JetBlue I would consider entering the London market using another London airport initially to get a foothold in the market. LHR slots are lucrative and not cheap.
The article also mentions Norwegian. Frankly, I would be surprised if Norwegian's long-haul network let alone Norwegian themselves are around for much longer - and I don't take much pleasure in saying that. There's a crunch bond meeting coming up within the next week where a vote to convert debt to equity in order to access tranches of cash from the Norwegian government takes place. The outcome of that will no doubt shape the future of Norwegian.