Jamie Freed
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Virgin Australia has been unable to provide enough domestic capacity to meet demand, which is higher than 2019 levels due to high employee prevalence, its chief executive said Wednesday.
“It’s a human capability, not an aircraft capability,” Virgin CEO Jayne Hedrica said of the issues at the CAPA Aviation Center conference. “Hopefully by Christmas it will be back to normal.”
She said capacity constraints made it “inevitable” that fares would remain higher than normal for some time.
Total domestic capacity in Australia is approximately % 2019 levels, according to CAPA and OAG data, in recent months Qantas and Virgin Atlantic cut capacity to help deal with higher fuel prices and improve reliability.
The moves have pushed up ticket prices, Australia’s competition watchdog said in a report last week. The survey found that between April and August, the average discounted economy class fare across the market rose 56 percent to the highest level since late 56 highest point.
Like Qantas, Virgin Atlantic faces flight delays and cancellations due to high rates of crew sickness and airport staff shortages, although it has not received the same public attention as the national airline Critical review.
“What none of us fully think about is the stress on the business when you’re dormant for a long time and you go into high mode and it’s a sustainable high level,” Hrdlicka Say.
Virgin Atlantic reduces the number of flights so more crew can fill vacancies when absenteeism is higher than planned, reducing cancellation rates from July 7.8% of Virgin Atlantic has increased to around 2% now, she
Despite inflation and rising interest rates raising the cost of living for consumers, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Strategy and Transformation Office in December and January Bookings remain strong r Alistair Hartley said.
