Virgin Australia continues to muscle in on Qantas' regional turf, with return flights from Perth to Paraburdoo set to commence next month.
From November 21, the airline will service the route using Fokker 100 aircraft on Thursdays and Fridays in an all-economy service – increasing Virgin Australia’s Pilbara region flight tally to around one hundred per week.
Offering a total of 400 seats per week, this will increase total capacity on the route by over 1,700 seats per month, and nearly 21,000 seats per year.
QantasLink is currently the only airline operating on the route, with between one and six flights per day on a mixture of the Boeing 717 and the Dash 8 Q400 Series.
For travellers heading to Paraburdoo, VA1017 will depart at 3:40pm on Thursdays and 2pm on Fridays, arriving into Paraburdoo at 5:20pm and 3:40pm respectively.
Perth-bound travellers can leave Paraburdoo at 6pm on Thursdays and 4:15pm on Fridays, with VA1016 reaching the capital at 7:40pm and 5:55pm respectively.
Tickets can be purchased either through travel agents or the airline’s Guest Contact Centre (13 67 89) from today, though online sales won’t be made available until November 1.
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
11 Mar 2012
Total posts 316
Having flown this route approx 50 times in the last two years, here's hoping competition helps reduce the prices.
12 Jun 2013
Total posts 735
I've never heard of Paraburdoo before this article but I checked prices and a return ticket MEL-PBO on Qantas is approximately the same price as a return ticket MEL-LHR on Royal Brunei. Yeesh!
11 Mar 2012
Total posts 316
Yep, approx 1.5hr flight each way and can set you back approx $1450 for a return trip. QF have been killing it.
Rio Tinto are moving their business to Virgin so it will be interesting to see what happens with this route.
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