Bamboo Airways Dumps Boeing 787s To Australia And Cuts Network
Vietnamese carrier Bamboo Airways is abandoning long-haul services and is operating its last flights to Australia in coming days. Bamboo Airways is discontinuing all long-haul flights, with the Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh service set to close on Thursday and no flights available for booking on the airline's website. The airline is charting a new course and planning to enhance its competitiveness, capacity, and autonomy. It stated that it has improved commercial efficiency by reducing the frequency of inefficient routes with low passenger demand and increasing operation on routes recording high demand. However, the airline did not specify which routes would be affected. Currently, Bamboo has a fleet of around 29 aircraft, including two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners that have been operating the long haul routes. Bamboo also plans to increase flights between Australia and Vietnam to six per week, with three from Melbourne and two from Sydney.
gepubliceerd : 2 jaar geleden door Michael Doran in Travel
As this is being written on Monday in Australia, a Bamboo Airways 787 is about halfway between Hanoi and Melbourne and later tonight it will return to Hanoi and the route will close. It appears that the Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh service will next operate on Thursday and there are no flights available for booking on the airline's website after that.
Over the weekend the airline's former Australian sales manager posted on LinkedIn that all Australian staff had been made redundant. The troubles are not isolated to Australia as Bamboo Airways is cutting all its long-haul flights, which means the services between Vietnam and Frankfurt, London, Sydney and Melbourne will soon end and are showing as unavailable, with the London Gatwick flight ending on Wednesday.
The airline posted a lengthy statement on its website that was short of detail but did say that "affected passengers will be promptly notified and assisted in adherence to the airline's policies and applicable laws." In Australia, Bamboo Airways (Bamboo) was taking reservations for twice-weekly flights from Sydney and three times weekly flights from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City.
In the statement, Bamboo said it was charting a new course and pushing ahead with long-term restructuring that will enhance its competitiveness, capacity and autonomy. It said it has improved commercial efficiency by reducing the frequency of inefficient routes with low passenger demand while increasing operation on routes recording high demand.
The airline makes no specific mention of cutting the long-haul routes but the schedules are much clearer on that point. The statement said:
Currently Bamboo has a fleet of around 29 aircraft, which includes two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners that have been operating the long-haul routes. The balance of the fleet is a mix of Airbus A320 Family aircraft and Embraer E190s, which are well-suited to the type of services Bamboo intends to focus on.
Bamboo does have commitments in hand for new aircraft with Airbus and Boeing, and of particular interest are the ten 787-9 Dreamliners it has booked with Boeing. The airline recognized that in the statement and said it is working closely with Boeing and Airbus to implement previously agreed upon aircraft purchase agreements, adding that these efforts aim to prepare for the fleet increase from 2024 onwards proactively.
Are the low fare prices too low in Oz?
While this restructuring will cut all long-haul flights it is relevant that Bamboo aggressively entered the Australian market and up until this latest development it was planning to increase flights between Australia and Vietnam to six per week, with three from Melbourne and two from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City and the weekly Melbourne-Hanoi service.
Flights between Australia and Vietnam have boomed throughout 2023, with Bamboo Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Jetstar all offering nonstop flights from Melbourne. Vietjet is an ultra-low-cost carrier that has offered thousands of $0 fares (excluding charges) and made clear it intends to aggressively compete on price, no doubt making life more difficult for Bamboo.
With one competitor now gone it will be interesting to see what happens in this growing market as 2023 draws to a close.
Have you flown on a Bamboo Airways 787? Let us know in the comments.
Onderwerpen: Aviation, Airlines, Australia, Boeing