Branson gives L.A.-to-Sydney fliers a fare deal
One of the more popular but most expensive routes in the world is getting some competition, and that means cheaper air fares for Southern California travelers.
V Australia, a new airline started by British billionaire Richard Branson, said Monday that it would begin nonstop service between Sydney and Los Angeles International Airport in December with round-trip fares averaging about $250 less than the competition.
The Australia route “is in dire need of competition and a good shake-up, and that’s a challenge we are always keen to take on,” said Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin Group, which through Australia’s Virgin Blue will operate the new international carrier.
Flights to Australia are highly popular among U.S. travelers but have been offered by only two airlines because of nationalistic restrictions placed on the route by the two countries.
Australia’s Qantas Airways currently dominates the route with three daily nonstop flights while Chicago-based United Airlines offers one flight a day from LAX to Sydney. LAX is the nation’s busiest hub for flights to and from Australia. Qantas alone flew 1.2 million passengers between LAX and Australia last year.
Because of the demand and limited number of flights, air fares to Australia have been some of the highest, with the cheapest round-trip coach tickets even during off-peak times hovering at more than $1,500.
Some corporate travelers have been paying as much as $18,000 for a round-trip business class ticket to Sydney.
But on Monday, U.S. negotiators signed off on an “open skies agreement” allowing any U.S. or Australian airline to fly between the two countries, clearing the way for the start of the new service by Branson’s V Australia.
The agreement “makes a real difference for thousands of travelers,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said just before signing the pact. The new service “will give travelers more options and lower fares.”
The latest new airline for Branson comes just six months after he shook up the U.S. domestic market by launching Virgin America, which has driven down fares between LAX and such cities as San Francisco and New York. The airline offered fares as low as $44 for flights from LAX to San Francisco and $139 for a one-way LAX-New York ticket.
To jump-start the new international service, V Australia at midmorning Monday began offering on its website a promotional round-trip fare of $777 for the first 1,000 U.S. passengers to book a flight with the carrier. The fare is about half the prevailing rate and plays off the type of plane that will be flown on the route -- a Boeing 777-300ER.
Within an hour the promotional fare was sold out, and several hours later many flights during the winter holiday period were sold out as well.
In addition to low fares, the airline is touting more comfortable seats, a better in-flight entertainment system and a new type of meal service that has become popular for travelers on Virgin America. Rather than being served all at once to passengers, meals can be individually ordered at any time during the flight using a personal video screen.
The airline said every seat would have a personal video screen with a choice of dozens of movies and hundreds of music CDs. Moreover, the airline said seats would be wider and have more legroom than those offered by Qantas and United. A sit-down bar also is planned for passengers in business class, similar to what travelers find on Branson’s transatlantic carrier Virgin Atlantic.
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