TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI Airways Acquires First Jet

Caribbean Journal

not going to happen, so if their one plane has any problems, have a nice time in Miami

I think it is plain as the nose on your face that no one in the BVI government has ever been routed through Miami on a commercial flight.
Clowns.

Interesting facts about the Avro RJ100.
The plane will cost about 30M, so they did not buy the with cash.
Air miles is 1127 MIA to EIS
Range is 1490 miles vs 3300 for a A320
Cruise speed is 305 knots vs 444 knots for a A320
Take off length is 4000 ft vs 4500 for a A320
Here is the zinger: baggage capacity is 183 cuft vs 1322 for a A320

Hope they are successful in their mission and hope ticket prices are not off the wall. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Just a point on range specs. They are almost useless in airline operations. Real usable range is generally far less then quoted ranges from the manufacturer.
G

So plane will barely make EIS?

Thorny, this is the BVI we are talking about. They'll go to SJU for fuel both inbound and outbound,just wait <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

The RJs were intended for city to city short hops to urban airports around Europe. The primary advantage was quiet short field operation to meet noise requirements of urban airports, not long range routes.

They will be able to go MIA to EIS without issues. EIS to MIA may be another story. I wrote a post a few years ago about what goes into determining max takeoff weight. There are a lot of factors and I don't think the can get out of EIS at max structural weight. They will be performance limited. There will be other issues such as dry or wet runway, winds enroute, weight of overwater gear, and the weather in MIA. They could block seats or hop to SJU for fuel. I also don't know what type of fuel reserves will be required into EIS since the airport not have any instrument approaches.
I will be very surprised if the FAA grants them a operating certificate by Jan. There is a lot of work that goes into that and they can't copy other airlines since the route is unique. If they start to show decent revenue however there is a new airframe that could fly the route. The CS100 would make a great aircraft on that route. They don't come cheap however!
G

Delta Air Lines has placed a firm order for 75 Bombardier CS100s! With an option for 50 more CS100 or 300's. The first deliveries are not until Spring 2018. Will the CS100 make the EIS trip from Boston and JFK? That is where the BVI primary visitor market is based. Air Canada is also a large customer for the CS100. Does AA have an announced strategy for a CS100 equivalent aircraft?

It might be able to make the trip from Boston or JFK. Again however there are a lot of issues. I don't think the route would be considered if they could not make it departing from a wet runway. I am also not sure the ticket yield required could be met. I had some CS100 numbers and will look for them.
On the cost if AirBVI were to purchase a few Delta is rumored to have paid 22 to 24 million each. The AVRO used value is probably not more then 5 million and probably close to 3. Big difference.

The massive investment in new aircraft must be fully utilized to compete in the industry. That means each hull must have and early morning departure and keep running routes until late in the night. I do not see how a BVI airways startup could pull that off anytime soon. Even if you had the money for some CS100's the line is long. Of course you could always try to spend even more money and buy someone's place in line. That happens with the private jets all the time.

What could work with any airline with aircraft capable of flying an EIS route is Saturday, Sunday, Mid Week segments to fill the soft spots in the business travelers spend.

There are many who argue there are no jets in use with major airlines today that can fly a EIS route with passengers and cargo. It would be great if there is a platform in the pipeline that could economically service routes to EIS. Keep in mind the largest share of the market is the East Coast.

I really do hope this works out. If nothing else, it might help to bring down competing airline's ticket prices. I'm looking at flights for the SJU-EIS legs, and right now Cape Air wants $725. For two 47 minute flights, that's simply asinine.

Dirichlet - Take a look at the coupon book. In fact, I have some extra coupons as I just bought a book and already had 3 left over from past trip. I only need 7, so I should have at least 3 left over. Happy to sell at face value.

At those prices competition will come into the market. It might take time however.
G

weird question perhaps, but....I may be purchasing a commuter book and was pondering which credit card I want to use. Is it a foreign transaction or is it a US based charge as that's where the company is? I don't really want to use the no transaction fee card for this one unless there's a fee.

I'm pretty sure all our charges have been US based. Their main office is in Hyannis MA and that is where the coupon books ship from.