Virgin Australia takes off by resuming holiday air routes

With new, cashed-up owners, Virgin Australia is moving quickly to increase domestic flights to compete with Qantas.

Virgin Australia crew ready to welcome back travellers. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Virgin Australia has hit the ground running following its sale to US private equity firm Bain Capital, which provided an immediate financial boost to the airline to help it compete with Qantas.

Days after administrator Deloitte signed the deal with Bain to become the new owners of Virgin Australia, the carrier is adding another 17 routes to its domestic network with plans to have about 40 aircraft operating by early August.

The routes include Sydney-Ballina for $89 one way, Sydney-Hobart from $139 and Brisbane-Proserpine and Adelaide-Sydney from $135.

Virgin Australia Group chief commercial officer John MacLeod said travel was back on the agenda for many Australians and they were happy to be able to resume flights to a number of holiday destinations throughout the country.

“We’re pleased to have continued our collaborative effort with the federal government to reintroduce some services as we start to see confidence return, and as each state and territory comes closer to finalising their plans for the easing of restrictions and the reopening of borders,” Mr MacLeod said.

“Many of our aircraft have been parked and our teams are preparing them to return to the skies, and with the increase in flights we’re announcing today, we’re looking forward to serving our guests as they travel to visit family and friends, or take a well-deserved break.”

Additional safety and wellbeing measures had been introduced to minimise the risks associated with COVID-19 and increase guests’ confidence in flying, he said.

These included pre-departure health screening, contactless check-in, sequenced boarding and disembarkation and more frequent cleaning.

Although Bain will not formally be handed the keys to Virgin until after the August 22 creditors meeting, the firm has taken financial control of the airline.

Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration on April 21 with debts of $6.8bn, owed to more than 15,000 creditors.

As the carrier steps up services, Qantas is doing the same, with new Citi research showing domestic airline departures climbed 34 per cent during the last week, driven by more travel between Perth and Brisbane.

Across the country, the number of flights rose from 87 a day to 117 but overall airline travel remained subdued at 80 per cent below pre-COVID-19 levels, the research showed.