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Virgin Australia has completed the rollout of its wet-leased Doha services with the launch of flights from Melbourne.
The inaugural flight VA7 took off aboard Qatar Airways’ leased 777-300ER A7-BEK at around 5:35pm on Monday. Melbourne is the final major Australian gateway to receive Virgin’s Doha services, following Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth in June.
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“Our new Melbourne-Doha service is a major milestone for Virgin Australia and for the millions of Australians who want more choice and value when travelling internationally,” Dave Emerson, chief executive of Virgin Australia, said.
“Together with Qatar Airways, we’re able to offer competitive airfares between Australia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, while creating new economic opportunities that will benefit tourism, trade and Australian jobs.
“Virgin Australia continues to go from strength to strength and with the expansion of our international network to include four daily services between Australia and Doha, we are set to have one of our busiest summers on record.”
Emerson said the new route would deliver “great value, great choice and amazing service” for Melbourne, with connections to Qatar’s 170 destinations from Doha including Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“There’s going to be $190 million of annual economic benefit from this launch, and that’s part of the $3 billion total economic benefit for Australia that we estimate over the next five years for our re-entry into long haul,” he said.
“These flights create more competition and more choice for Australian consumers, and we think that’s good for everyone.”
According to Qatar Airways Group CEO Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, the benefits of the Melbourne–Doha service extend “well beyond passenger travel”.
“With Virgin Australia using Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777s on the route, we can now offer additional cargo capacity between Melbourne and Doha,” he said.
“This represents a significant boost for Australian exporters, strengthening the nation’s ability to reach global markets quickly and reliably. We’re proud to support local businesses and play a role in driving Australia’s economic growth.”
The federal government in February gave Qatar Airways the green light to buy 25 per cent of Virgin Australia, while the ACCC also signed off on the deal.
In a significant concession, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Virgin had agreed to explore dry lease options that could potentially see its own crew operate the flights within three years.
That came after Transport Minister Catherine King controversially rejected a separate attempt for Qatar to launch more international flights directly in 2023.
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says:I have nothing but positive comment about this wet lease operation, it is good for VGN and Oz; – I wouldn’t be surprised though to see Qatar’s ” Max’s” be transferred to the VGN fleet; let’s face it Qatar doesn’t want them; it was a knee jerk reaction in the first place.