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Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti has said that he expects conditions across the carrier’s domestic and international markets to improve next year, while he will also reveal more of the carrier’s plans for the Asian market over the next year.
“I think that next year should be a reasonably, you know, I’m not saying a stellar year, but I suppose what I’m saying is that we’ve seen the bottom of the market and it’s really a question now of, you know, how will it pick up,” Borghetti said in an interview with the Business Spectator website.
“We’re starting to see some signs of recovery. The domestic market is holding a little bit better. The international market, certainly the dollar helps,” he added.
In addition, Borghetti also admitted that “there’s a lot of work being done” on expanding the airline’s presence in Asia, although he would not say if VB was looking at working with a partner in the region or simply adding more of its own services. Pacific Blue currently flies to Denpasar and Phuket as its sole Asian destinations, and Borgetti made it clear that the opportunities for the carrier were elsewhere in the region.
“We need the Hong Kongs, the Singapores, the Chinas, the Indias, and for that matter, the Orient – Japan and Korea and so on. And all I can really say is it is a very important market. We’re certainly [not] turning our back on it. We are going to be active in that market, but it will take us a little while to put that plan into effect,” he said.
