Virgin Embraer 170 First revenue flight trip report

[Mal]

Today marked the introduction of the new Virgin Blue E170's into commercial flights.

The first flights for the E170's today were BNE-CNS,CNS-BNE, with a later trip BNE-CBR-BNE planned I believe.

There were three AFF/FT'ers (including me) on the BNE-CNS-BNE flights who I know, but I'll leave their names out and let them identify themselves if they wish.

I booked this trip about six weeks ago when I heard that the first commercial flight was intended to be BNE-CNS, then CNS-BNE on the 23rd October. I was looking forward to flying this new plane type in the Australian flying market.

An 04:30am alarm wakeup eventually got me into a taxi to the airport in time to board DJ771 (departing 06:45am). I met up with the other 2 AFF'ers and chatted about various flying topics. Was great to meet them.

Boarding was done through the front door of the plane only, and a short walk was required from the gate. I believe the EMB's have the ability to be boarded through aerobridges, so other flights may be boarded by that method.

As this is a new Virgin Blue equipment flight, they were in festive mood (Brazillian festive of course). There were DJ staff onhand to welcome us onboard the plane wearing "Carnivale E-Jet Launch flight" t-shirts and appropriate Brazillian headwear.

The plane was VH-ZHA "Belissimo Blue" - DJ's first EMB that arrived around 3 weeks ago and has been on proving flights since. Sitting alongside was VH-ZHB "Brazilliant Blue" which is due to be introduced into service shortly.

Onboard were a host of Virgin Executive and marketing staff, three FAs, a pretty full contingent of passengers and a AFF'er or three

The plane has 20 rows of 2x2 seating, with 1A and 1C missing (The plane is marked ACxDF (I believe, can't fully recall).

I was seated in a D seat.

Upon entering, I had a fairly good impression of the plane. The new "leather" smell, a very clean plane and it actually feels quite roomy inside.

One thing to watch is to not stand up suddenly when seated, as the ceilings above your seat aren't as high as 737's in my opinion (but not unexpected of course for a smaller jet). The aisles are fine height wise.

The seats are leather, with a good width and have a good pitch. I would rate them better than a Q400 seat, and also better than a 737 widthwise (although I didn't have my tape measure with me to double check). There are a few good features about the seats - middle seat arm is liftable, the front brace for luggage is actually quite far in front and there is no middle brace under your feet between the seats. This should mean that baggage storage is good. The seats have a slightly limited recline I believe, so don't impinge too much on the passenger behind while still allowing a good recline. Laptop use should be ok when seats are forward, but like other planes may be problematic if you have a recliner infront.
The window shade is also present, which I believe is missing on Dash planes.

The window vs seat layout feels a bit weird. It appears the windows aren't always in identical spots on each side of the plane. So you should have a window on your side, but you may need to stretch your neck a bit to look out the other window in certain rows. I noticed this more towards the front/middle of the plane rather than the back of the plane.

The plane wasn't particularly noisy. I wouldn't rate it worse than a normal 737, and probably about the same as a Q4. There is no IFE at all, so bring your IPOD or similar.

Overhead lockers are fine, although I didn't test them for luggage capacity.

The staff were in party mood, and the flight was lively! The staff were happy to be there, and kept their DJ professionalism throught the flight. A round of sparkling wine (Dune - normally $7 on DJ menu) was complimentary to passengers, and there was a couple of competitions on each flight to give away a complimentary flight on the DJ network within Australia.

We were all given a red "Carnivale E-Jet Launch flight" tshirt to commemorate the event and encouraged to wear it when disembarking.

The standard DJ food service went through the cabin. The trolleys appear quite a bit smaller than 737's, so they may run out of your choice early if it's very popular.

In Cairns, we landed on time, then entered arrivals, where some media was present to document the event. Hopefully I avoided the media. Not a media fan at all

Turnaround was pretty quick, so only around 20 minutes until we were boarding again for the next flight and DJ772 left ontime at 09:50.

CNS-BNE was a very similar flight to the BNE-CNS flight. Same competitions, and same chatter about the new flight. Would have been nice to have been hinted where DJ were due to fly the E170's to as new routes, but it was kept a secret for the time being.

There is no overwing exits on these planes - just front and rear, so extended legroom seats would probably only be 2C and possibly 1D and 1F. Two toilets are onboard front and rear.

We arrived back in Brisbane ontime.

My general opinions of the plane are the following:

Compared to a Q4, I like the E170 more. The Jets give it a better feel, the seats and legroom are great, and there are little features that make it better than the Q4's I've been on. Not having to wait for the props to stop, then board the bus back to the terminal is great. I think Virgin have made a good choice in this aircraft, and can't wait till the E190's come onboard. The lack of IFE is a bit annoying, but I expect this from the smaller jets/props. I don't believe DJ is installing Live2Air into these planes.

Happy to answer questions, so if you have any --- let me know. Overall it was a good morning trip away.

[Wunala Dreaming]

It was indeed a very nice flight Mal. It was great to catch up with both you and the other AFF member (who will probably also post some comments).

Firstly, just one small thing, the E70 we were on is registered VH-ZHA and the E70 located next to us was VH-ZHB.

Mal sums up the aircraft very nicely. It's a pleasure to fly on and is very comfortable. The staff as usual were very cheery and friendly and you could see they were as excited as we were.

Scored 2 inaugural E70 flight T-shirts which was a bonus... they're rather nice

There was also dancing (a competition) in the aisle with the FAs and DJ executives/management and winners were given complimentary tickets for flights to any of DJ's Australian domestic ports (nice prize eh?). While I was pushed by the FAs, luckily I didn't get up and salsa because it would have been such a terrible sight and it would have probably made the plane crash .

A great flight and I want to thank all the staff involved in making it so wonderful and memorable. You can see alot of hard work has gone into getting the E70 into service. Thanks to everyone involved.

Thanks to both Mal (aka "Mr Suspect" LOL) and the other AFF member (who will probably name themselves when they get a chance). Was a great day out.

E70 all the way....

Cheers

[JohnK]

Nice trip report guys. It sounds like the flights were a success.

I wonder how Peter enjoyed the flights? Is there a prize for guessing the other AFF member?

[littl_flier]

Thaks for the detailed Trip Report Mal. Would have made for a great morning out for the guys!

It's also great to see that DJ looked after their innaugral customers.

I'm looking forward to flying the E70- hopefully we might get it on the HBA flights for OzFest next year. I have no real desire to fly DJ before that, but at half the price of QF, it's hard to justify otherwise.

[Bundy Bear]

Thanks for the trip report Mal.

I had also considered joining you all on the first ERJ-170 flight but as the flight was scheduled for the 23rd I couldn't make it. Ironically I was in Cairns for the weekend and had been praying that the first flight would come forward just a day or 2.

My chance to experience the ERJ-170 wasn't completely lost as I had flown from Broome to Darwin on the ERJ-170 operated by Air North just a week earlier.

[Yada Yada]

Nice trip report guys. It sounds like the flights were a success.

I wonder how Peter enjoyed the flights? Is there a prize for guessing the other AFF member?

Wise guy! Yes, I was the third amigo.

Mal and Wunula Dreaming did a very good job of describing our flights up and down the Queensland coast in Virgin Blue's latest addition to the fleet. It was a great day. The guys have covered all of the details so I don't have much to add.

My journey started the night before... being a resident of SYD I flew up on DJ273 arriving in BNE at 10:00pm, and stayed overnight near the airport in Hamilton.

The Embraer is a beautiful jet. Most of us have seen the exterior photos so it was fun to see what it looks like inside. The cabin is bright, roomy and very comfortable, with wide seats and a 2+2 config that really adds to the comfort level. As Mal mentioned, the under-seat space is huge due to the lack of centre seat bracing and the overhead lockers provide ample room for carry-on luggage.

Friendly crews are one of the main reasons I choose to fly Virgin Blue and today they really excelled themselves. Everyone went out of their way to make it a very memorable day. It was great to see the delightful and charming Amanda Bolger again who led the team in all of the on-board festivities and inspired the passengers to get involved. The samba competition was very funny, especially the passenger who won the contest on the return flight with a rather unconventional move that caught the eye of almost everyone!

It was also great to meet Andrew and the other VB execs who were on board today. They are a very friendly, professional and committed team and I enjoyed talking with them about the Embraer program.

As Wunala Dreaming mentioned, it would have been a big effort to get this new jet lauched into service and they've done it in style. Congratulations to all involved at Virgin Blue and thanks for continuing to introduce competition in the Australian market.

Finally, many thanks to crazydave98 for helping me get onto the launch flight. It was very much appreciated.