Virgin Australia A330 operates charter to Townsville

Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFG arrives at Townsville. (Dave Parer)

While Townsville Airport is no stranger to widebody aircraft, it is rare to see one in Virgin Australia colours on the airfield.

However, Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFG made a quick visit to Townsville on Sunday, operating as VA9001.

The charter flight, which landed a little after 0900, was carrying equipment and artists for the Townsville leg of the Groovin The Moo music festival, which was held later on Sunday night.

It was understood this was the third year Virgin Australia has operated a charter flight for the Groovin the Moo music festival’s Townsville event.

The aircraft was on the ground for about two hours before taking off as VA9900 back to Melbourne.

Virgin Australia flies its A330-200s to Perth from Australia’s east coast capitals, as well as between Melbourne and Hong Kong. The airline also occasionally operates the type to Nadi in Fiji.
From July 2, the airline will deploy the Airbus widebody – which is configured with 20 business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle access for every passenger and 255 economy seats at eight abreast – on the Sydney-Hong Kong route.

The 2018 edition of Groovin The Moo concludes at Bunbury in Western Australia’s south west on Saturday May 12. Previous legs of this year’s event were held at Wayville (South Australia), Maitland (NSW), Canberra (ACT), Bendigo (Victoria) and, most recently, Townsville in Queensland.