Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
australian aviation logo

Virgin Australia lifts Hong Kong schedule to daily

written by australianaviation.com.au | September 7, 2017

Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFD operating the inaugural VA87 from Melbourne to Hong Kong on July 5 2017. (Virgin Australia)
Virgin Australia A330-200 VH-XFD operating the inaugural VA87 from Melbourne to Hong Kong on July 5. (Virgin Australia)

Virgin Australia will have a daily flight on its new Melbourne-Hong Kong service after securing additional landing and takeoff slots at the busy Chep Lap Kok Airport.

The current five times a week schedule will move to daily from November 12, Virgin said in on Thursday.

Virgin initially offered five flights a week when it launched the new service in July using Airbus A330-200s with a split schedule featuring either morning or midnight departures from Melbourne, depending on the day of the week. All flights from Hong Kong take off in the evening and land in Melbourne in the morning.

In August, the airline announced it would introduce a consistent flight schedule from October, with all flights departing Melbourne in the late morning/midday and returning from Hong Kong overnight.

This latest tweak announced on Thursday is a further improvement, with a daily service most favoured by business travellers and the corporate market.

==
==

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer travellers a daily schedule of flights to Hong Kong,” acting Virgin Australia Airlines group executive Rob Sharp said in a statement.

“We’ve already had great feedback from guests on our first-ever services to Hong Kong and we believe this will help us create an even more rewarding experience for travellers.”

However, there are still a number of different departure times, with takeoff from Melbourne either at 1100, 1130 or 1240 depending on the day of the week. Similarly, the scheduled Hong Kong departure is either 1950, 1955 or 2045.

Virgin operates the route as part of an alliance with HNA Group carrier Hong Kong Airlines, which offers connections beyond the Special Administrative Region to mainland China.

Hong Kong Airlines has its own services from Hong Kong to Cairns and the Gold Coast.

Cathay Pacific and Qantas are the other two operators on Melbourne-Hong Kong.

(An in-depth feature on Virgin Australia’s expansion into the Hong Kong and greater China markets appears in the August issue of Australian Aviation.)

Flight Number/Routing
Days of operation
Time of departure
Time of arrival

VA87 MEL-HKG

 

 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday

Sunday

Friday

11:00

11:30

12:40

17:35

18:05

19:15

VA86 HKG-MEL

 

 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday

Sunday

Friday

19:50

19:55

20:45

08:15(+1)

08:02(+1)

You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member today!

Comments (4)

  • James

    says:

    Finally something positive for VA, How ever i’m sure a more consistent schedule through out the week can only make this more attractive for the passengers. These A332’s are finally being used more appropriately.

  • B777

    says:

    Why don’t VA buy more 332 or 77W for long haul?

  • Walter Tinyow

    says:

    When will Virgin start Sydney Hong Kong ? I just Traveled to Hong Kong via Melbourne and Hong Kong to
    Sydney via Melbourne the service from Sydney all the way to Hong Kong and back to Sydney was great

  • Tikriut Bvel

    says:

    Hopefully Brisbane next!

Comments are closed.

You don't have credit card details available. You will be redirected to update payment method page. Click OK to continue.