A leak that says Virgin Blue is asking for slots at Hong Kong airport for its V Australia subsidiary isn’t surprising, except for taking so long.

The two factors in this move are the caustic losses being made by all carriers on the crowded trans Pacific non-stops to the US, and the synergy of a Brisbane or perhaps even Melbourne service to Hong Kong that connected reasonably well with the established daily flights between Sydney and London via Hong Kong flown by Virgin Atlantic.

Toward the end of this year V Australia will have enough 777-300ER availability to maintain a daily frequency to Los Angeles from Sydney, with maybe a few Brisbane flights, and a daily schedule for Hong Kong.

Virgin Blue has already signalled its interest in routes to Japan and South Africa for V Australia. It can’t do all of these things with a small fleet, but it adds to the evidence that it is scoping routes where Qantas is vulnerable, or has in the case of Japan, shunted its customers off onto Jetstar, which can mean loosing them for good as they react to this by choosing from non Qantas group alternatives.

It is also yet another reminder of the self inflicted wound by Qantas in not acquiring Boeing 777s. Qantas will never get back the billions of dollars wasted in excess fuel burn by hanging on to tired old 767s and earlier model 747s rather than acquiring advanced model 777s mid decade. Especially as competitors like Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines demonstrate the flexibility and efficiency of what sadly may be the last great Boeing airliner ever built given the problems of the 787 project.