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The battle for WA has intensified further as Virgin Australia moves to operate all its weekday services between Sydney and Perth with A330s and will increase frequency between Perth and Karratha.
The introduction of a seventh A330 to the airline’s fleet later this year will see these aircraft operate all Perth-Sydney and Perth-Melbourne weekday services and two out of three Perth-Brisbane weekday services from October.
The A330 features Virgin Australia’s business and economy class product.
Announcing the enhanced product, Virgin Australia’s chief commercial officer Judith Crompton said: “Over the past couple of years, we have completely transformed our offering in Western Australia, including expanding our network and frequencies, and enhancing our in-flight service, lounge and terminal facilities.”
Simultaneously, the airline has announced it will increase direct services between Perth and Karratha as a result of strong demand from the mining and resources industry.
From July 1, three weekly return services will be added between Perth and Karratha. These additional weekday services will be operated by Virgin Australia’s 98-seat Embraer 190 as part of its regional growth strategy, building on the recent acquisition of Skywest Airlines.
Virgin Australia Regional Airlines Group Executive, Merren McArthur said: “Following the recent integration of Skywest Airlines into the Virgin Australia Group, we now have a strong West Australian base and focus which enables us to quickly identify and respond to growth opportunities in the region, particularly in the high-growth fly-in-fly-out markets. We will continue to review market demand and look forward to growing our regional services right across Australia.”
Virgin Australia’s enhanced regional operation currently has 32 aircraft operating over 800 services per week to 41 different destinations.
