Virgin flies into turbulence as Christmas chaos looms

Christmas travellers are bracing for more turbulence as one of the nation’s leading carriers was forced to apologise to customers amid escalating delays and cancellations.

Christmas travellers are bracing for more turbulence as one of the nation’s leading carriers was forced to apologise to customers amid escalating delays and cancellations.

This masthead can reveal Virgin Airlines is headed for a disappointing report card when the federal government releases its monthly airline performance data on Thursday.

It is believed last month Virgin had its largest number of cancelled flights in 2023, surpassing the July mark of 5.6 per cent.

The concerning findings have prompted the airline to apologise to customers and admit their “performance was below our standards and did not meet some customers’ expectations in November”.

“A combination of factors, including aircraft maintenance, crew resourcing, weather and air traffic controller shortages impacted our performance last month,” a spokesman said.

Virgin had a horror November.

It is also understood the airline’s arrival and departure times have significantly increased.

Although performances were disappointing across the board, Qantas and Jetstar had a lower cancellation rate and a higher rate of arriving on time.

Airlineratings.com expert Geoffrey Thomas said tourists should prepare for the chaos to continue into the Christmas and New Year period.

A spokesman for Transport Minister Catherine King said “we expect airlines to be doing better because too many flights have been delayed or cancelled”.

Mr Thomas said airline spare parts were still in short supply and an escalation in Covid cases in November had wiped out cabin crew and staff.

“There are several dynamics. The weather was a major factor in October, only six days out of the whole month were weather impact-free. I know that Sydney airport was down to one runway several times (in November) due to cross winds,” he said.

“But the other issue is the industry is still under strain. We have had a big wave of Covid through November, it’s starting to recede now. A lot of Covid illness – you only need one crew member to be knocked out with Covid and the flight can fall over.

Transport Minister Catherine King. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The other dynamic is the industry is still short of spare parts and Boeing and Airbus say the supply line of building aeroplanes is still a year away from being restored back to normal.”

Mr Thomas said Virgin had particularly struggled with a lack of flexibility and its cheaper fares had meant planes were booked out.

“I don’t think Virgin has the flexibility that Qantas has. Virgin is offering cheaper fares than Qantas so people are naturally gravitating to Virgin,” he said. “One of the problems then is that if a flight is cancelled, putting people on other flights is impossible because all the other flights are full.”

Mr Thomas said those going on a holiday “need to cross your fingers”.

Tourism & Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said this summer marked “the busiest summer travel season since the pandemic”.

“While we hope everyone jetting off this summer gets to their destination with ease, patience will be critical during this period, just like it always has been during the peak summer season pre-Covid,” she said.