Virgin Blue fled Kalgoorlie three days before its inaugural flight and is having to be coaxed back to the city.
Virgin Blue fled Kalgoorlie three days before its inaugural flight and is having to be coaxed back to the city.
Behind this remarkable and unprecedented backslide is a bad habit Kalgoorlie consumers have acquired of failing to put their money where their mouths are.
This habit, which leaves no room for economic loyalty and suffocates foresight, has caused an airline and, historically, entertainment promoters, to turn their backs on the Goldfields city.
As a result, Kalgoorlie is missing out on desperately-needed com-petition in air fares and just plain good fun.
Not that Virgin has ruled out coming back to Kalgoorlie – or at least the airline and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder are at pains to insist discussions are ongoing to re-initiate flights to the Goldfields.
Virgin equipment, ready to operate, remains at the Kalgoorlie airport. But the 180-seat capacity planes – bigger than those flown in and out by Qantas – are missing and Virgin has had to fully refund bookings.
Virgin suggested initially that unfinished business with the city council about airport facilities had played a part in the surprise postponement.
However, when told last week about the confusion in Kalgoorlie that accompanied the decision, an airline spokeswoman said “it was just not viable, it is as simple as that”.
Did Chris Corrigan’s recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Virgin have anything to do with the reversal in plans? “No”, said the spokeswoman.
Mr Corrigan has stated he sees no point in Virgin continuing to expand its capacity, which has been interpreted as a strategy to pull out of some routes.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is also tightlipped about its talks with Virgin and the reasons behind the postponement.
It played a part in enticing Virgin to Kalgoorlie in the first place, with promises of high demand for flights. It is understood councillors are now repeating the exercise.
Meanwhile, the silence is confusing Virgin’s prospective customers and has stirred up cynicism about what motivates airlines.
Some locals are suggesting that Kalgoorlie is no place for virgins of any description.
Profits motivate airlines, but apparently the bookings for Virgin flights were so poor that the loss would have been unsustainable, even for an airline that probably accepted it would fly Kalgoorlie routes at a loss for several years until it had offset start-up costs.
Why were bookings so poor? Well, Qantas started offering an $88 flight one-way between Kalgoorlie and Perth about the same time Virgin announced in January its new flight between the Goldfields and the Western Australian capital.
Kalgoorlie residents have been starved of fairly priced airfares for so long it is reasonable to suggest they took advantage of the Qantas offer immediately without keeping in mind the start-up $39 Virgin offer that would have begun in early April.
But that sort of attitude will prove to be very costly if Virgin decides to stay away from the Goldfields for good
Unfortunately, there is a precedent.
Kalgoorlie residents have, over the years, screamed out for good entertainment to come to the city. Reassured, promoters set up bookings only to cancel shows a few days before opening because ticket sales were poor.
American rock band The Violent Femmes went the way of Virgin this year, but they won’t be coming back.
And the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra came to Kalgoorlie only by taking a punt on last-minute ticket sales.
Local restaurateur Simon Morseto has put more than $50,000 of his own money into staging Kalgoorlie’s first dance party for the city’s younger people.
But Kalgoorlie also kept him waiting and last Friday he cancelled the show.
• Based in the Goldfields, Sharon Kemp is a former reporter, most recently with The Age.
