15/12/2020 The news comes after the government announced moves towards a trans-Tasman bubble. Photo credit: Newshub
Virgin Australia will return to New Zealand skies, so long as the trans-Tasman bubble goes ahead as expected.
In a statement, the airline confirmed it has airfares on sale for flights beginning March 28 2021.
Virgin Australia plans at least 70 services to New Zealand per week:
Auckland-Brisbane (14 services per week)
Auckland-Melbourne (7 services per week)
Auckland-Coolangatta Gold Coast (7 services per week)
Auckland-Sydney (7 services per week)
Christchurch-Brisbane (7 services per week)
Christchurch-Melbourne (5 services per week)
Wellington-Brisbane (7 service per week)
Queenstown-Brisbane (up to 9 services per week)
Queenstown-Melbourne (4 services per week)
Queenstown-Sydney (up to 7 services per week)
“Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Virgin Australia seem to have thrown a dart at Sunday, 28 March.” Jetstar had pencilled in the first Queenstown touchdown with an 11:25am arrival scheduled from Melbourne, followed closely by another Melbourne arrival just after lunch flown by Virgin Australia.
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Independent economist Benje Patterson says pre-Covid, about 40,000 New Zealanders were in Australia on holiday at any one time. Then there are two Air New Zealand services in quick succession (from Melbourne and Sydney), a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney, and later that evening another Jetstar service from Sydney. Fares that day start from around $300. They will be the first scheduled international arrivals into Queenstown in more than 12 months.