Virgin Australia today announced a number of enhancements to the airline’s short haul international network, including the addition of over 75,000 seats on Trans-Tasman routes in 2016 and the introduction of its Airbus A330-200 aircraft in peak travel periods on services from Fiji to Brisbane and Melbourne.

Virgin Australia Chief Commercial Officer, Judith Crompton said new Trans-Tasman services will see the airline operate ten return services between Auckland and Sydney and nine return services between Auckland and Melbourne each week from 30 June 2016.

“Our new Trans-Tasman services have been timed to suit corporate travellers as well as customers connecting to regional New Zealand services,” Ms Crompton said.

“The five new return services to Auckland add an extra 1,760 seats each week on our Boeing 737 aircraft, which feature our award-winning Business Class.”

In conjunction with alliance partner Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia will add the following Trans-Tasman services, effective 30 June 2016:
 Three additional return services per week between Auckland and Sydney
 Two additional return services per week between Auckland and Melbourne
 Up to four additional return services per week between Brisbane and Queenstown during the ski season (from 25 June to 02 October 2016)

Up to three additional return services per week between Christchurch and Sydney that were introduced on 25 October 2015 will be maintained, with a schedule change implemented by Air New Zealand to provide a choice of morning and evening departures on most weekdays. Services between Brisbane and Dunedin will also be retimed to provide increased connectivity from Dunedin to Adelaide, Canberra and Queensland ports, as well as same day connectivity to North America.

Following the successful international deployment of the Airbus A330-200 aircraft between Sydney and Fiji earlier this year, Virgin Australia will also introduce the A330 on services from Fiji to Brisbane and Melbourne in peak travel periods.

“Since the introduction of our wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft between Sydney and Fiji earlier this year, feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive,” Ms Crompton said.

“We are pleased to introduce our internationally-configured A330 aircraft on services from Fiji to Brisbane and Melbourne for the first time in peak travel periods from late June 2016.

“Virgin Australia will now offer the best premium product from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Fiji as the A330 features our new Business Class suites, with the world’s longest and widest fully lie-flat bed in domestic business class and a world-first collaboration with Nespresso that delivers great coffee in the sky.

“This is great news for Velocity Frequent Flyers, with more chances available to redeem Velocity Points for upgrades and reward seats.”

Virgin Australia’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft will be deployed on the Fiji route from:
 Sydney each Saturday over the Easter period between 26 March to 23 April 2016 and from 25 June to 08 October 2016;
 Melbourne each Saturday from 25 June to 08 October 2016; and
 Brisbane each Sunday from 26 June to 02 October 2016

Customers are able to see the type of aircraft scheduled to operate a flight during the booking process. As always, operating aircraft may change without notice.