Where is Virgin Australia placing their 5th A330?

8 replies

aero-seat

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 23 May 2012

Total posts 178

Where is Virgin Australia placing their 5th A330?

Virgin Australia's fifth A330 is arriving later this year, but where are they going to put the big bird? Some rumours have suggested Brisbane to Perth, others have said the Golden Triangle (Sydney - Brisbane - Perth). What do the experts at AusBT think (or know)?

David

Member since 24 Oct 2010

Total posts 1,016

If we knew anything solid about Virgin's plans for their fifth A330 it would be 'off the record' so we'd not reveal it. However, I'm not going to posit speculative 'what if' routes for it - we're not into number-crunching aviation analysis or the 'armchair airline CEO' game. We'll know the routes when we know them.

AlG

Member since 04 Nov 2010

Total posts 155

I can appeciate where David is coming from, but I'll put forward my suggestions and thoughts on this.

1. Taking Melbourne-Perth to double daily status on the A330 'Coast to Coast' service, as this is just one flight per day right now.

2. Adding a second A330 on Melbourne-Sydney as part of that.

3. As you suggest, introducing a new Brisbane-Perth A330 service so they have Coast to Coast from each of the three big east coast cities

4. Adding a new Brisbane-Sydney A330 as part of that like they did with the MEL-PER A330

aero-seat

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 23 May 2012

Total posts 178

Thanks Al, but there is already two flights on the Melbourne - Perth A330 Coast-to-Coast service. I was also told that  Brisbane to Perth isn't a strong market for Virgin and that they weren't aiming too much for that. I really think that Virgin will be aiming for medium-haul flights or Golden Triangle flights.

jonom

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 06 May 2011

Total posts 26

Airbus A330-200 VH-XFE entered service 30 June operating DJ691 Melbourne - Perth.

David

Member since 24 Oct 2010

Total posts 1,016

Just an update: see our article posted today, http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-and-virgin-australia-roll-out-a330s-in-battle-of-the-big-birds – the fifth A330 (which arrived without fanfare in late June) is standing in for the first, which has gone in for scheduled heavy maintenance, so Virgin can keep their current schedule. When the first A330 comes back, #2 goes in for its own checkup.

When #2 comes back, then Virgin will have a 'spare' A330 so that's when we can expect to see a new route or service appear.

aero-seat

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 23 May 2012

Total posts 178

Thanks David! One quick question ... will Virgin Australia place the lie-flat business class seats on its pre-loved A330s?

David

Member since 24 Oct 2010

Total posts 1,016

Nope - as detailed in the article linked above, the first two A330s which came second-hand from Etihad will not be getting the same seats as in the factory-fresh ones.

David

Member since 24 Oct 2010

Total posts 1,016

An update on this: Virgin is now looking to make its Sydney-Perth and Melbourne-Perth flights into A330-only services, dropping the Boeing 737s from those routes, and expects to have one of those two Coast to Coast services become an all-A330 run by year's end... Virgin Australia wants Airbus A330-only 'Coast to Coast' flights

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