Virgin ends Darwin-Bali flights, Tigerair scraps Darwin-Brisbane service

VIRGIN has ended its Darwin to Bali flight services. The news comes hot on the heels of its budget airline Tiger scrapping its Darwin to Brisbane flight service

Budgetr airline Tigerair will scrap its cheap Darwin to Brisbane flights. The service will end early next year. Picture: Supplied

• THE holiday’s over with NT flights axed
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• VIRGIN opens new flight route from Darwin to Bali
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UPDATED: Virgin Australia has confirmed it has ended its Darwin to Bali flight services which only began in April earlier this year.

Virgin Australia’s budget airline Tigerair also announced on Wednesday it would scrap its Darwin to Brisbane flights. The popular service will end early next year.

Virgin went go head-to-head with Jetstar when it launched its three-times-a-week Darwin to Bali return service on April 10.

At the time Virgin described the service as a seasonal route until late October but the airline has reportedly confirmed it will now not offer the service for a second year.

Meanwhile, the new boss of Tigerair’s parent company, Virgin Australia, announced a raft of reductions in domestic routes on Wednesday, including the scrapping of the Darwin to Brisbane service.

Virgin Australia has confirmed it has ended its Darwin to Bali flight services which only began in April earlier this year. Picture: Dan Peled

“Flying to the right destinations, with the right customer demand, and the right-sized fleet will improve our financial performance,” Virgin Australia chief executive and managing director Paul Scurrah told shareholders at Virgin’s annual general meeting.

The company is looking to refocus Tigerair flights on key holiday destinations, he said.

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Tourism Minister Lauren Moss said she and the Chief Minister had a phone meeting with the CEO of Virgin last week ahead of the decision and put the case for maintaining a presence in the Northern Territory.

“We want Territorians to have choice and we want to make sure there are lots of ways for visitors to fly here,” she said.

“While the Territory will see some impact from Virgin’s nationwide route changes, we have worked with them to minimise that impact.”

Virgin Australia says it will retire five ageing aircraft and reduce domestic capacity by 2 per cent in the first half of next year as it focuses on more profitable routes.

EARLIER: Budget airline Tigerair will cut its Darwin to Brisbane flights among a raft of reductions in domestic routes.

The Darwin to Brisbane route are expected to end early next year.

Virgin Australia says it will retire five ageing aircraft and reduce domestic capacity by two per cent in the first half of next year as it focuses on more profitable routes.

Virgin also said it would suspend its Melbourne to Hong Kong flight from February 11, which has underperformed with recent protests in the former British colony, and redirect the A330-200 aircraft on a new route between Brisbane to Tokyo.

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