Virgin Express stops Toulon flights

[sn26567]

https://www.aviation24.be/article11441.html

Virgin Express will give up its Brussels-Toulon route by the end of the month.

Is that due to the lack or aircraft (the SN A319 has recently been replaced by a VEX B733) or the competition of JetairFly?

[jsd95]

I think that it is because VEX will land in Marseille instead.

[OO-VEX]

Probably it wasn't worth for Virgin to keep flying the Toulon route only 3 times a week. Especially when you keep in mind that partner SN Brussels has 3 daily flights to Marseille. I would consider this as a cost saving measure by concentrating flights to MRS. This will enable Virgin Express to redeploy the B737 on other routes where the capacity or range is needed. When extra capacity is needed during the summer season to this French region, SNBA can always add frequencies or flying a bigger aircraft, as the loads are lower on business routes during summer.

I think that it is because VEX will land in Marseille instead.

Maybe VEX will fly the MRS route in the future, but so far all flights are operated by SN Brussels. Virgin is only selling seats as a codeshare partner. My opinion is that MRS should be operated by Avros. The Airbus or Boeing fleet should be used on medium-haul routes and therefore MRS is not far enough from BRU. During the summer they can always fly bigger airplanes when extra capacity is needed. Another advantage of flying Avros is that SNBA can offer more frequencies regarding the number of passengers. They will be able to attract more passengers, also business pax, which is quite important. The VEX flights to TLN are only interesting for low yield holiday pax. As they stop their service to TLN, they will try to fill up the empty seats to MRS with these holiday pax.

This can lead to:
- increased loads and revenue on the MRS flights
- reducing costs as they don't longer have to operate to TLN flights.
- an opportunity to use the B737 on other routes.

OO-VEX

[beaucaire]

Some new traffic will also be taken by the new Ryanir flight from Charleroi to Nîmes...( only 45 minutes from MRS )