The AN-225 travelled to Australia for the first time in May 2016, when it touched down in Perth, carrying a 135-tonne generator for a resources company.
According to Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, the airline is currently on the hunt for cabin crew, ground services workers, engineers, pilots, and corporate staff.
A QantasLink Dash 8-400 was struck by lightning shortly after taking off from Brisbane Airport on Sunday, before landing safely back in Brisbane.
From Sunday night, the flag carrier's 787-9s will now fly through the middle east and southern Europe, rather than through Russia.
The airline suggested in its half-year financial report, released on Friday, that it's still working with litigation firm Clayton Utz, which it first appointed in August last year.
It comes as a series of tit-for-tat airspace bans has seen Russia block carriers based in the UK, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic flying over its skies.