Seven months after its inaugural flight to Hong Kong from Melbourne, Virgin Australia is to launch a second route to the autonomous territory as it seeks to build on a strategy that has resulted in its best underlying first-half profit performance in a decade.
Routes Asia 2018, the only route development forum for the Asia-Pacific region, is taking place in Brisbane from 18-20 March 2018. Routesonline takes a look at some of the key statistics shaping the market.
The new Virgin Australia service between Perth and Abu Dhabi will also open additional connection options for passengers travelling to and from the capital of Western Australia, with direct connections to 23 European, 15 Middle East and 10 African destinations.
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Now a fully owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia, Tigerair Australia has recently undergone a major transformation – even ‘changing its stripes’ – in a bid to enhance its customer service and market fit.
The airline will introduce an additional two weekly flights, growing its offering to 21 return services per week. However, notably the two services will result in a Virgin Australia Embraer 190 night-stopping in Newcastle for two nights each week and the introduction of a later evening departure from Brisbane and new early morning flight from Newcastle.
Under the terms of the revised agreement, designated Australian and UAE airlines will be able to operate an extra 14 weekly frequencies between the two countries from October 2016, up from the seven offered as part of a previous deal. Alongside the fast-expanding UAE national entities, this will permit Qantas and Virgin Australia to also boost its flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, markets its currently serves in partnership with the two Gulf carriers.
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The new link is timed to connect West Australian travellers to the airline’s USA, Canada and Argentina flights when it begins operating on December 11, 2015.
The new route brings choice and competition to the town after Alice Springs was left without a second carrier when the low-cost airline, Tigerair pulled out in July last year. It also brings additional international connection options through Darwin and the operations of Virgin Australia’s partner carrier SilkAir via Singapore’s Changi International Airport.
Virgin Australia operates up to 22 flights per week between Nadi, Fiji and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. An estimated 780,000 passengers flew between Australia and Fiji in 2014, up 2.6 per cent on the previous year.
The airline will operate the route from March next year and has linked it with the announcement of the new Darwin – Alice Springs route which was announced last month.
The expanded Brisbane schedule will boost capacity on the route by 2,166 seats a week and will support the growing demand for connectivity to North America from Queensland. North America is actually Queensland’s third largest tourism market and the increase in services support the 4.2 per cent increase in passenger numbers experienced in 2013.
