What passengers on new Qatar Airways-operated Virgin Australia flights will pay

Virgin Australia has revealed the price passengers will pay for the airline’s return to long-haul flying with Qatar Airways with ticket sales starting Thursday.

Virgin has launched sale fares up to 50 per cent cheaper than rival Qantas on new international flights. Picture: James D. Morgan

Virgin Australia has launched sale fares up to 50 per cent cheaper than rival Qantas on new international flights to be operated by partner Qatar Airways from mid-2025.

The hotly anticipated start to ticket sales on the services to Doha, was not without a hiccup when a technical glitch meant business class seats could not be booked straight away.

Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said the fares in business would be available in a few days, and would be “very competitive” with Perth-Paris from $7679 return, Sydney-London at $9351 and Brisbane-Rome to be sold at $9409.

“The sales fares are very good fares, I haven’t seen prices like that in years,” said Ms Hrdlicka. “I think it’s a great opportunity for travellers.”

Economy fares started at $1791 for Perth-Paris return, $1945 for Brisbane-Rome and $1982 for Sydney-London return, and were available on selected dates between July 6 and November 25.

In comparison, Qantas or Emirates fares on the same routes began at $2994 for Sydney-London return, $3320 return for Perth-Paris and $3312 for Brisbane-Rome.

Ms Hrdlicka said she was expecting strong demand for the new flights, which remained subject to regulatory approval.

“We’re seeing intention to travel numbers that are very strong, and we see a true desire for certain locations,” she said.

“We know that there are four big cities that are super important to Australia travelling to Europe — London, Rome, Paris and Athens are top of the list.”

Despite announcing in February she would leave Virgin, Ms Hrdlicka said she would “most certainly” be on the first of the new flights to Doha next year but would not say in what capacity.

“At some point we will transition to a new CEO, and we’ll do that from a position where the business is tracking very well, we’re in a really good position, we’re Australia’s most loved airline, Australia’s most trusted airline brand, and we employ 8000 people,” she said.

“We’ve got this huge opportunity, we’re working with Qatar Airways to really start to test our boundaries and explore things like well-run international.”

To be operated by Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777s, the flights will be crewed by Qatar pilots and flight attendants.

The planned “wet lease arrangement” as it is known would not be forever, Ms Hrdlicka revealed, suggesting that after three years they would start to transition to a position where Virgin could operate the flights in its own right.

“This is an absolutely invaluable opportunity for us to get back into the game, and to do that with a lower risk than we ultimately will be able to take,” she said.

“We will have the ability to put together a really strong business case, because our investors will expect that if we’re going back into long haul, we can do that in a way that generates a good return for that.”

In the meantime, Virgin Australia pilots and crew would be invited to apply for secondments to Qatar Airways in the New Year, to give them a taste of long haul flying.

“We are in the process of working through with the unions exactly how that will work,” said Ms Hrdlicka.

Qatar Airways group CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer noted the flights were subject to regulatory approval, and said if granted, they would support “a collective ambition to deliver the best service and value to Australian customers”.

Qatar Airways’ business class on some of the 777 aircraft planned to operate new routes for Virgin Australia.

“We are proud to support Virgin Australia with their ambition to return to long-haul international flying, a crucial next step in their successful transformation program,” said Mr Al-Meer.

The flights would see Qatar operate twice daily from Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

A third daily flight out of Melbourne was expected to start in November 2025, and go on sale in January.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission was examining the arrangement between Virgin and Qatar but issued an interim authorisation last month to allow the flights to go on sale.

However, the airlines’ leaders were required to sign a court-enforceable undertaking that in the event final approval was not granted, customers with bookings would be fully refunded or re-accommodated on other flights.

A draft determination was expected to be issued by the ACCC early next year, before a final decision in March or April.

Qatar Airways’ proposed 25 per cent stake in Virgin was also subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.