Virgin Airlines Townsville and Mount Isa flights to Brisbane upgraded to Boeing 737
An airline is expanding another route to Townsville, adding thousands of seats to boost capacity of one of the region’s most important links with a capital city. DETAILS.
Townsville
Don't miss out on the headlines from Townsville. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Virgin Australia is expanding another route to Townsville, adding thousands of seats to boost capacity of one of the region’s most important links with a capital city and injecting millions into the local economy.
From November, the carrier will swap the aircraft used between Townsville and Brisbane to a Boeing 737, opening up more than 6000 additional seats.
In addition, Virgin will add a Boeing 737 to its Brisbane-Mount Isa route, a big upgrade from the popular work run, which currently uses an Alliance Airlines’ Fokker 100 through a partnership agreement.
Virgin Australia operates five return services a day between Brisbane and Townsville.
The latest announcement adds to one made by Jetstar, with the budget airline adding thousands of seats added to flights between Townsville and Melbourne.
Queensland Airports, which operates both Townsville and Mount Isa airports, has recorded significant growth in passenger numbers post-Covid-19.
In January, both Townsville and Mount Isa recorded their third busiest January on record.
Last year, Townsville airport had 1.6m people through the doors – it’s third busiest year on record.
Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said it was fantastic to see Virgin responding to the region’s needs.
“We’ve long advocated for increased capacity and upgraded aircraft on this critical route, and it’s great to see Virgin Australia stepping up to support the region’s needs,” she said.
“This upgrade will deliver a great boost to Townsville’s busiest air route, adding around 6,000 extra return seats per month, but it will also inject between $1.5m and $3m into the local economy each month.
“More seats mean more visitors, stronger tourism outcomes, improved connectivity for business travel, and greater liveability for locals who rely on this essential link.”
Queensland Airports Limited Chief Commercial Officer Adam Rowe said these were “top routes” for the passengers at both Townsville and Mount Isa, with flights often fully booked.
Virgin Australia Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Alistair Hartley said the routes were critical to regional Queenslanders who regularly commute for work.
“As a business we see the value in the enhanced product offering the bigger aircraft provides our customers,” he said.
“As we modernise our fleet with more next-generation Boeing aircraft, we are able to refine our network schedule and increasingly deploy our larger B737s on regional routes that have traditionally been serviced through a partner agreement.
“By operating our Boeing 737 aircraft on more flights, we can offer increased value and choice to our customers, more seats, and greater connectivity to Mount Isa and Townsville, further aligning our flying to our pre-COVID levels for these key regional hubs.”
Originally published as Virgin Airlines Townsville and Mount Isa flights to Brisbane upgraded to Boeing 737
‘Fun, non-competitive’: Maggie Island to explode with hikers
The sold-out Great Island Trek will kick off this Saturday, with 1000 hikers to hit the 5km, 12km, 18km and 25km adventure trails, live music on the beach, fruit at the ferry, and more.
‘Shattered’: Fears for events’ future after council funding slashed
Community groups are scrambling to work out how they will run events without charging the public after Townsville City Council cut major event grants funding by 50 per cent. Here’s what’s changing.