Virgin Australia reveals new international 777 flights
The airline outlines its schedule for new long-range flights...
By David Flynn, December 3 2024
Just over five years since Virgin Australia scrapped its Boeing 777 flights to Los Angeles, the airline is ready to return to long-range flying in mid-2025 – and tickets could go on sale within weeks.
But this time those jets will be headed west to the Qatari capital of Doha rather than east to LAX, with aircraft and crew supplied by Qatar Airways, which also intends to take a 25% stake in Virgin.
It’s part of an ‘integrated alliance’ between the two carriers, which has received a tentative go-ahead from the Australian government’s competition watchdog.
Under the partnership, Virgin Australia will run daily flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to the Doha hub of Qatar Airways.
From there, passengers can transfer to Qatar’s network of more than 100 destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Virgin Australia will fly to Doha using Qatar Airways jets and crew.
Virgin’s Australia-Doha flights
Virgin’s Sydney-Doha, Brisbane-Doha and Perth-Doha flights are slated to take off in June 2025, with Melbourne-Doha following in December 2025.
These Virgin flights will be in addition to Qatar Airways’ own flights and they’ll carry a native VA flight code, allowing Velocity members to earn a full-sized serving of points and status credits.
In its application lodged with Australia’s International Air Services Commission, Virgin Australia says these flights will take place on Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER jets.
These international Virgin Australia flights will still offer Qatar Airways' renowned service.
Taken together with the existing Qatar Airways services, Sydney-Doha, Brisbane-Doha and Perth-Doha will each see two daily flights, up from the current one flight per day.
Melbourne-Doha will have three daily flights, up from the current two (one of which also flies to Adelaide).
For ease of comparison we’ve listed all of the Doha flights below, with the new VA flights alongside those of Qatar Airways.
Sydney to Doha
- VA1 will depart Sydney at 2.50pm, arriving into Doha at 10.50pm (Boeing 777)
- QR909 (VA6131) departs Sydney at 8.45pm, arriving into Doha at 4.55am (Airbus A380)
Doha to Sydney
- VA2 will depart Doha at 9.15am, arriving into Sydney at 6.15am (Boeing 777)
- QR908 (VA6130) departs Doha at 10.05pm, arriving into Sydney at 5.10pm (Airbus A380)
Brisbane to Doha
- VA15 will depart Brisbane at 3.10pm, arriving into Doha at 11pm (Boeing 777)
- QR899 (VA6133) departs Brisbane at 10.15pm, arriving into Doha at 6am (Boeing 777 with Qsuites)
Doha to Brisbane
- VA16 will depart Doha at 1.40am, arriving into Brisbane at 10.45pm (Boeing 777)
- QR898 (VA6132) departs Doha at 8.25pm, arriving into Brisbane at 5.30pm (Boeing 777 with Qsuites)
Perth to Doha
- VA21 will depart Perth at 3.20pm, arriving into Doha at 9.50pm (Boeing 777)
- QR901 (VA6129) departs Perth at 10.45pm, arriving into Doha at 5.20am (Airbus A380)
Doha to Perth
- VA22 will depart Doha at 7.50pm, arriving into Perth at 11.55am (Boeing 777)
- QR900 (VA6128) departs Doha at 2.45am, arriving into Perth at 6.45pm (Airbus A380)
Virgin has yet to file its proposed flight timings for the Melbourne-Doha route.
Tickets on sale soon
The airline notes that “to successfully commence services in June 2025” it needs to “commence marketing and selling tickets in December 2024.”
The launch timeframe ties neatly into the 2025 British and Irish Lions rugby tour – for which Qatar Airways is the official airline partner – which is expected to see over 40,000 spectators visiting Australia for nine games spread across late June to early August 2025.
Based on Virgin’s Reward Seat chart, a one-way business class seat from Sydney, Melbourne ot Brisbane to Doha (or back) will cost 95,500 Velocity Points; on the shorter Perth-Doha route, a one-way business class ticket comes in at 71,500 Velocity Points.
However, it seems not all of these 777s will be fitted with Qatar Airways’ highly-regarded business class Qsuites.
Virgin Australia stated it “plans to operate the proposed services on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft configured with between 354 and 412 seats.”
While allowing in a footnote that “the aircraft type and seat configuration may be changed for operational or commercial reasons”:
- a 354-seat count is in line with the private Qsuite-equipped 777s
- a 412-seat count accords with the non-upgraded 777s which have 24 older business class seats
Some of the VA 777 flights might feature Qatar's pre-Qsuite business class.
While still being lie-flat, these are angled beds – also known as ‘sloping sleepers’ – arranged in a 2-2-2 layout, lacking both privacy and at-seat storage.
Some of the Australia-bound 777s may also sport free and very fast WiFi through the Starlink micro-satellite network.
The ACCC filing also appears to rule out some of Virgin’s own 777s, which Qatar Airways also counts among its fleet, from returning to Australia.
Qatar Airways flies three former VA 777s on a regular basis to destinations in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, along with hops around the Gulf, the Maldives and Africa.
Shaking up the skies...
The new Virgin flights may also provide an opportunity for Qatar Airways to revise its own aircraft roster, with the high-capacity A380 superjumbo proving less crucial to Sydney and Perth once a second daily 777 service is added.
Those additional Virgin flights will mean more competition between airlines, which should in turn translate into cheaper tickets overall – especially if Virgin kicks things off with a sharply-priced sale – or at the very least keep a lid on airfares.
The Virgin-Qatar alliance will notably challenge Qantas and Emirates, which between them carry almost a quarter of Australia’s international passengers, according to government statistics.
And before you ask: being on the QR codeshare of these Virgin Australia flights won’t provide entry into any Qantas lounge.
Oneworld lounge access is available only “when departing on any flight marketed and operated by any Oneworld member airline”, and these additional flights will officially be operated by Virgin Australia.
To that end, Virgin Australia will need to arrange its own lounge access at the international terminals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth for its business class passengers and loungeworthy Velocity frequent flyers – something the airline says it is currently working through.
However, a side effect of the VA/QR tie-up will see Etihad Airways end its long-standing partnership with Virgin Australia from June 1, 2025.
The proposal for Qatar Airways to take a 25% stake in Virgin Australia has yet to receive approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Delta Air Lines - SkyMiles
16 Oct 2017
Total posts 159
Am I right, this will be QR metal with a QR flight crew? So the only real dfifference might be VA cabin crew? Or is that crew QR too so the only difference is a VA flight number? If you want to earn/burn Velocity points fair enough, if you're QF FF there's no advantage and you'll be better off booking the QR flights.
31 Mar 2014
Total posts 398
It will be fully crewed by QR. No Virgin cabin or flight crew. It is a full wet lease arrangement, similar to Qantas wet lease with Finnair
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1215
I believe at this stage all the cabin crew will be QR though this may change over time.
Earn rates for QFFs on QR are very low for both points or status credits and QR does not make many reward seats available to QF. It is more likely a committed QFF would be on EK.
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 1013
So David the big question will be, is there any lounge access on these new flights?
What is the price point for Business Class?
What is the points required for a Business Class ticket including taxes?
30 May 2014
Total posts 18
Over 16hrs the 777 will be sitting on the ground in Brisbane.
That is unlike ME carriers. Appreciate they want to align connection opportunities but this seems unusual.
Sydney not as much at 8hrs and no doubt to align for connections.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
07 Dec 2015
Total posts 56
EK sit one or there daily 2 x A380’s on the ground in BNE for 14 hours every day so not unusual at all
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 468
Maybe a BNE-AKL-BNE rotation could fill in some time? After all, these aircraft are officially VA, which has unlimited rights Trans-Tasman........ or how about BNE-PER-BNE?
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
06 Oct 2016
Total posts 6
The problem there would be they need more QR flight crew and cabin crew for the BNE-AKL-BNE rotation. VA crew wont be any good as they aren't type rated, different airline, procedures, protocols etc etc and not sure QR is all that concerned about investing a largish crew component to be semi-permanently based out of Australia.
Singapore Airlines - The PPS Club
30 Nov 2015
Total posts 10
Or just fly QR and have a proper Qatar experience.
03 Nov 2022
Total posts 2
"The Applicants intend to commence these additional services from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in June 2025, with Perth services to follow in November 2025." The article lists Perth as June and Melbourne as November. Is this an error?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Aug 2014
Total posts 170
@james09 I noticed that too. Seems the flight that won't be Introduced till end of 2025 is now the Melbourne flight not the Perth flight. Makes sense seeing Melbourne is already double daily.
03 Nov 2022
Total posts 2
Yeah I just found VA's IASC application and looks like they've changed their plans and brought Perth forward and Melbourne will be the last to enter operation.
03 May 2013
Total posts 683
Sorry Qatar and Virgin, no way I'm paying to sit on an inferior 777 for 14 hours when the A380, A350 and 787 are much better options.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 766
Hmmmm, if these 777-300ERs have the same type of J-class seats as those used by VA on the LAX sector pre-Covid, with a bar, I'll live with it. But those seats would have needed reupholstering at the very least.
19 Sep 2017
Total posts 12
Feels like with the extra flights with VA number, no way to redeem AU-US with 139K points as one itinerary.
30 Jan 2015
Total posts 26
According to AeroLOPA there is also a dense QSuites config 24J/388Y so maybe that's the 412 possibility?
I would want them to go on the record with a commitment to QSuites (or at least one of the reverse-herringbone configs inherited from CX/VA) before I was comfortable booking on the new VA-prime flights.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
07 Dec 2015
Total posts 56
Given the article says 'a 412-seat count accords with the non-upgraded 777s which have 24 older business class seats' and 'arranged in a 2-2-2 layout' I think it is safe to assume the VA flights are going to be operated by what QR term "MiniPods" on the AeroLOPA website - an inferior 777 product compared to QSuites or the ex VA Collins Super Diamond interiors
13 Sep 2022
Total posts 11
Sydney and Perth will both have the same capacity? I would have thought Sydney would naturally require more capacity than Perth. Maybe Qatar will drop the A380 from Perth. And it's a shame they aren't using A350-1000s, they are far superior to the 777 for such long flights. Also, what's the update with Qatar's own second request for additional flights? Is that still pending, or are they dropping that in favour of this VA alliance?
03 May 2021
Total posts 55
Possibly Melbourne will see the a380 instead of Perth. Although I will note having flown the Perth to Doha a380 flight multiple times it has always been completely full.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 116
Will QFF members earn the usual SCs/points from QR, on the VA flights if you book using the QR codeshare number?
30 Aug 2019
Total posts 30
Qatar does operate 777's with 412 seats that have 24 Q-Suites in addition to the 2-2-2 config.
Respectfully, the reporting on the Virgin / Qatar situation has been very poor from ET. I also note my comments are often removed when pointing out errors.
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