background
The fastest way to get to Kolkata from Cairns was on Singapore Airlines with only 1 stop in Singapore, but this was very expensive and after going through many itineraries the final choice was Virgin to Sydney and SQ to Kolkata from there. This flight was booked during Virgin's Happy Day sale for AU$135/US$88 in the Choice fare which includes a checked bag, this was quite reasonable considering that the non-sale fares start at AU$145/US$96, not including checked bags.
The other nonstop options on this route were Jetstar (AU$147/US$97 - not including checked bags) or Qantas (AU$254/US$168)… there's a reason that Virgin is the only airline I've flown domestically in Australia with in the last few years.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2SYD-SIN Singapore Airlines A380-800
- 3SIN-CCU Singapore Airlines A350-900
cairns airport
CNS is a fairly small airport. This is the domestic check-in area.
A look at the departures this evening. Every flight is delayed at least a few minutes.
There was a bit of a line for check-in but it didn't take too long.
Security was pretty fast and the flight was delayed anyway so there was plenty of time. I was really surprised at how many shops there were at Cairns Airport, I wouldn't have expected that at the domestic terminal of a relatively small airport.
The Australian aviation market is such a duopoly, of dozens of departure and arrival flights one is Rex and the rest are all Virgin or Qantas Group.
The departure time kept getting changed, originally it was 19:15, then it got moved to 19:41, then 19:34, then I think 19:36… in the end it actually took off at 19:50, the aircraft get delayed on the way from Sydney.
aircraft INFO & boarding
Finally the aircraft arrived and boarding commenced.
Cairns airport isn't the nicest… the arrivals were also like this.
VH-YIF, a 12.5 year old 737-800 which flew for Virgin its whole life will operate today's flight. I tried to get a good picture but it was impossible because of the reflection.
seat & departure
The seats are comfortable enough for a short flight, no device holders or charging ports but that's not a huge deal.
The seatback pocket isn't in great condition.
The seatback pocket has a sickness bag, safety card, and a menu.
My seat is right next to the engine, just a couple of rows ahead of the exit row.
Eventually we pushed back.
It was a bit hard to get pictures as we taxied by but I saw QantasLink, Rex, and Skytrans turboprops.
Plus some Alliance and Jetstar jets.
Finally we took off.
IFE & in-flight
I like the mood lighting.
Unlike on the last flight the IFE worked pretty well and they have a decent selection of movies, TV shows, music, and ebooks, although they still don't have everything that they claim to have on their website.
Even the map worked.
Virgin gives complimentary water, tea, and coffee on their flights with meals available for purchase.
The other side of the cup said, "If I'm a cup, and you're holding me, that makes you a cupholder."
The rest of the flight was uneventful, the IFE worked well and the FAs came by with water many times throughout the flight. As on the last flight, they were nice but not that friendly.
arrival & sydney-Kingsford Smith airport
First views of Sydney.
The reflection is pretty annoying, although it looks interesting when I tried to get the reflection in the picture.
Looks like Sydney's disappeared, did they miss it?
Sydney has been found again!
Welcome to New South Wales.
Now it was time to rush to the hotel before Singapore Airlines the next morning…
Thanks for this review which brings back good memories of flying from CNS a few months ago.
Yep, and it's back to being a true duopoly with Rex suspending 737 ops yesterday 😞
Sadly, and this is just my personal take, I don't think there was enough of a difference in the Rex and Virgin products, and Rex's 737s were literally ex-Virgin with the same exact cabins so they even looked alike. And in the end, with only a handful of 737s, Rex couldn't compete with Virgin's much larger network and frequent flyer programme.
Rex's small regional ops will continue, but it's a shame to see a competitor go as prices on domestic Australian flights have been really high, and will go even higher with one less competitor.
Nice to see that the IFE worked this time.
Thanks for sharing!
Definitely, that was terrible news. Although Cairns didn't see their 737s so at least they aren't affected!
Well, Rex did give free checked bags and snacks so their product was definitely better than Virgin's. And fares were lower too. While I can't say for sure I feel like the main reason Rex's 737s failed was because they just weren't very well known at all. I remember when they had a $99 Perth-Melbourne/Adelaide sale - just over a month ago actually - for their new flights, talking to someone who had just paid $400 or something for a Qantas flight and had no idea Rex even existed. I do think that there was a place for Rex in the market and they could easily have filled planes if people
a. knew they existed
b. knew they gave free checked bags and thus were better than Virgin/Jetstar
Anyway, let's see if they manage to do anything interesting with the E190s and if Skytrans finds a way to compete with their upcoming A319s, hopefully the duopoly doesn't last forever. But for now, yeah, fares will definitely shoot up.
Thanks for reading!