Virgin Australia: regional routes dropped, and 56 Boeing 737s retained

Well there is bad news for some regional destinations, and expected news here about Virgin Australia’s fleet composition and size.

Dropping regional routes

Virgin Australia which will come out of administration into the hands of Bain Capital as a smaller airline is dropping services from the following domestic destinations:

• Ayers Rock (Uluru)
• Albury
• Cloncurry
• Hervey Bay
• Mildura
• Port Macquarie
• Tamworth

And these changes although not definitely permanent, do come into effect immediately. So if you currently fly into or out of these destinations using Virgin Australia, expect a call or email from them. If you booked through an agent you might want to check in with them. You will also need to look at alternative arrangements.

Virgin is also no longer servicing Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

56 planes – all B737s

It’s been know for a while that Virgin Australia intended to hold onto only its B737 fleet when taken over by Bain Capital. That has been confirmed via Fleet and Network Update email sent to airline staff as reported by ET.

Those 56 aircraft represent close to 75% of the airlines pre COVID-19 737 fleet of 75. Most are the 800 standard, but 2 are the 700 variant. There is about a 48 passenger difference in capacity. The 737-700 seats 128 passengers, and the 737-800 seats 176.

Rumour is that some of those excess 737’s are heading over to REX along with some surplus-to-requirement flight and engineering staff to help them launch their new inter-capital city routes.