Brisbane, 20 May 2021: Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka was today joined by the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Michael McCormack MP to outline Virgin Australia’s exciting next phase of growth, which will include 250 new jobs, five new routes, and increased frequencies, adding more than 700 extra weekly flights across the airline’s domestic network by October.

Northern Australia's economy will benefit most from five new direct services between Sydney-Darwin, Sydney-Townsville, Adelaide-Cairns, Melbourne-Townsville and Perth-Cairns, as well as extra flights on existing routes for travellers.

On top of the 370 cabin crew roles announced last month, Virgin Australia will grow its team and recruit for at least 250 new team members over the coming months across its operational and corporate workforce.

Virgin Australia will also boost flight frequencies to key Queensland destinations by 40 per cent, including Brisbane, the Whitsunday Coast, Hamilton Island, Cairns, Townsville, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Travellers to and from Tasmania will benefit from an additional 50 weekly flights to Launceston and Hobart by October, an increase of 38 per cent on our current schedule.

Services on the “triangle” (Sydney-Brisbane-Melbourne) will be ramped up to support corporate and small to medium sized business travel with an average of 100 flights every day by October, an increase of 30 per cent on today.

Commentary

Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said serving our customers and connecting Australians is part of Virgin Australia’s DNA and I’m proud to say that the entire team is rolling up their sleeves to do exactly that.

“Growing confidence in the community, thanks to the vaccination rollout and domestic borders staying largely open, means the time is right for us to bring back jobs and put more aircraft in the skies.

“We are so pleased to have turned a corner from the worst of the pandemic and to soon welcome 250 new and highly skilled individuals into the Virgin Australia team.

“Importantly, Virgin Australia is supporting over 6,000 jobs, which is something we flagged in August last year as the baseline number of jobs we hoped to support as the domestic market recovered.

“And for our valued business customers, we are pleased to be offering more frequent services on our triangle routes between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and to key centres across Australia. Like them, we know that nothing beats in-person engagement with customers, suppliers and team members.”

Commitment to Jobs

Last month Virgin Australia announced more than 220 cabin crew would return to the skies from the airline’s discontinued long-haul international, ATR regional and Tigerair Australia operations, as well as a major recruitment drive to fill an additional 150 new cabin crew roles. The majority of those 370 new roles are completing their training with many now flying across our domestic network.

Today, Virgin Australia announced it will commence another major recruitment drive for approximately 250 new jobs over the coming months, which will include pilots, baggage handlers as well as specialist IT and technical services positions.

The new roles help to kickstart a significant pipeline of investment in new aircraft, new crew and technology to deliver an enhanced experience for customers. Initial applications for these roles will be taken from current and former Virgin Australia employee groups, ahead of external expressions of interest made via the airline’s careers website.

Network changes

New routes:

• Sydney-Darwin – daily services (seasonal) from 14 July
• Adelaide-Cairns – up to 4 flights per week from 10 August
• Sydney-Townsville – 3 flights per week from 27 July
• Melbourne-Townsville – 3 flights per week from 17 August
• Cairns-Perth – up to 4 flights per week from 26 July

Expanded domestic frequencies on the “triangle” (Sydney-Brisbane-Melbourne):

• Sydney-Melbourne (from 130 up to 163 return flights per week by October)
• Sydney-Brisbane (from 76 up to 104 return flights per week by October)
• Melbourne-Brisbane (from 61 up to 84 return flights per week by October)  

Expanded domestic and leisure frequencies include:

• Melbourne-Gold Coast (from 40 up to 57 return flights per week by October)
• Sydney-Gold Coast (from 49 up to 72 return flights per week by October)
• Adelaide-Gold Coast (from 7 up to 9 return flights per week across school holiday travel dates)
• Melbourne-Sunshine Coast (from 13 up to 28 return flights per week by October)  
• Sydney-Sunshine Coast (from 11 up to 26 return flights per week by October)  
• Brisbane-Cairns (from 29 up to 31 return flights per week by October)  
• Melbourne-Cairns (from 8 up to 23 return flights per week by October) 
• Sydney-Cairns (from 10 up to 21 return flights per week by October)  
• Brisbane-Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast (from 7 up to 10 return flights per week by October)
• Melbourne-Hamilton Island (up to 4 return flights per week by October)
• Melbourne-Hobart (from 18 up to 31 return flights per week by October
• Sydney-Hobart (from 10 up to 20 return flights per week by October)  
• Melbourne-Launceston (from 16 up to 21 return flights per week by October)
• Brisbane-Mackay (from 20 up to 30 return flights per week by October)
• Brisbane-Townsville (from 20 up to 31 return flights per week by October)
• Brisbane-Perth (from 17 up to 24 return flights per week by October)
• Brisbane-Canberra (from 18 up to 24 return flights per week by October)

Additional information:

Fares on the new routes announced today include baggage, seat selection, Velocity Points and status benefits. To book, visit virginaustralia.com

• Darwin-Sydney – from $229 one way*
• Adelaide-Cairns – from $199 one way*
• Sydney-Townsville – from $149 one way*
• Melbourne-Townsville – from $159 one way*
• Cairns-Perth – from $189 one way*

*terms and conditions apply. visit virginaustralia.com for more information