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A low airfare war begins"LOW AIRFARE" Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
12-28-2001 Fed: A low airfare war begins as industry prepares for revamped Ansett BRISBANE, Dec 28 - Virgin Blue and Qantas have launched rival cheap airfare deals as the industry prepared for a revamped Ansett. Virgin's 10,000 $5 seats are expected to sell out today, less than 48 hours after the super cheap special was launched on the airline's website. The special low airfare applied to mid-week flights out of Melbourne for travel between January 9 and March 27. Virgin Blue spokesman David Huttner said the rush on the internet-only airfares froze the airline's website several times yesterday. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
In retaliation to Virgin's $5 fares, Qantas released 2.5 million summer seats priced from as low as $66 one way for post-Christmas travel. The seats would be available for travel from January 9 until March 27. The low airfare war was seen as a pre-emptive strike against the revamped Ansett, which will be taken over by Fox-Lew syndicate Tesna Pty Ltd on February 2. Successful applicants for the 4,000 positions at the revamped Ansett were notified by mail yesterday, while another 400 joined the queue of thousands of redundant employees looking for millions of dollars in payouts. About 1,200 applicants will remain in limbo, pinning their hopes on a second round offer in mid-January. Virgin Blue, however, denied their $5 low airfares were a shot across the bows of Ansett. "It's aimed at clearly establishing that we are the low airfare operator in Australia," Mr Huttner said. Mr Huttner dismissed suggestions that Ansett was hurting Virgin Blue's business, saying the impact had been "extremely minimal". Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
"If Ansett put us out of business, well, good luck to them," he said. "We are saying thank you to people and we don't want those planes to fly empty when there's a few extra seats available." Virgin Blue chief executive officer Brett Godfrey, meanwhile, hinted at more cheaper than cheap low airfare specials in coming months..... Compare a low airfare here /cheap airfares home |