Virgin Australia headquarters shifted to South Bank
Australia’s second-largest airline has confirmed it will vacate its Bowen Hills village to take up space with another global tourism company.
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Virgin Australia will vacate its Bowen Hills office and move in with Flight Centre to create a tourism powerhouse at South Bank.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Virgin Australia staff were on Tuesday informed the airline will leave its Bowen Hills ‘Virgin Village’ in two months.
It will instead occupy five floors at South Bank’s Southpoint tower complex, which houses the global headquarters of Flight Centre and the Emporium Hotel.
It’s thought up to 1000 staff will be affected.
A spokesman for Virgin Australia confirmed the move Tuesday afternoon.
“The Virgin Australia Group has been looking to relocate its Queensland-based headquarters to a more fit-for-purpose facility for some time,” he said.
“We will end our Bowen Hills lease in September and relocate all Brisbane-based team members to the Southpoint building at South Bank where the group will occupy five floors of the building.”
This month The Courier-Mail first reported the airline was in talks with Flight Centre to take up vacant space at its 15-level headquarters at 275 Grey St, South Bank.
The relocation, which was made in consultation with new owners Bain Capital, was led by the Virgin executive management team.
The fate of the airline’s headquarters has been the subject of an interstate battle since administrators Deloitte put the carrier up for sale in April.
Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has lodged an equity stake to keep the airline based in Brisbane following a significant effort by the New South Wales government to lure it to Sydney.
Flight Centre Managing Director Graham Turner and Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah are well-known to each other.
Mr Turner admitted last month it would “make catching up a lot easier” to have Mr Scurrah in the building.
Originally published as Virgin Australia headquarters shifted to South Bank
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