Virgin Australia's Sydney, Melbourne lounges reopen Dec 15
It's "welcome back" to business travellers at the country's two busiest airports, with lounges unlocked for eligible travellers.
By Chris C., December 1 2020
Virgin Australia’s domestic lounges in Sydney and Melbourne will swing open their doors on December 15 as the country's two busiest airports experience a swell of holiday demand.
Following the re-opening of the airline’s Brisbane lounge in mid-November, it’s a welcome move for business travellers zipping between the east coast capitals, and beyond – particularly as Virgin Australia’s entire lounge network had previously sat closed since March.
"Historically the Golden Triangle has been one of the busiest flight corridors in the world," notes Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, who expects to see the airline running at 60% of pre-Covid domestic capacity by January 2021.
Virgin says its Gold Coast lounge will "soon follow" Sydney and Melbourne's mid-December return.
For the time being, a limited food and beverage offering in Sydney and Melbourne will mirror Brisbane.
This sees barista-made coffee served throughout the day, a selection of alcohol available from 12pm, and chilled sandwiches, snacks, fruit and other small bites available at the counter.
Hot food remains off the menu for now, with Virgin Australia’s Sydney Premium Entry and Melbourne Premium Exit facilities also staying closed until further notice.
Read: Visiting Virgin's newly-reopened Brisbane Airport lounge
Virgin Australia's Perth lounge also remains closed for the time being, with no confirmed reopening date.
Its Canberra lounge is also still “under review” with the possibility that it may not return.
As previously reported, the same can be said of The Club: the airline’s set of invitation-only lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra.
Adelaide’s lounge – an all-new facility, serving as the prototype of Virgin Australia’s fresh new lounge design – will welcome travellers from the first quarter of 2021.
Prior to COVID-19, Virgin Australia also operated own-brand lounges in Alice Springs, Cairns, Darwin, Mackay, Perth Terminal 2 and Wellington: all of which have now permanently closed.
Also read: Bain reveals plans for new 'mid-market' Virgin Australia 2.0
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
21 Jul 2020
Total posts 21
I still can’t get over the Darwin closure, it’s actually a waste of time flying Virgin from Darwin now. The Qantas flights are so close in price and leave an hour earlier. Ill still fly virgin out of BNE or OOL but I’m dissatisfied with Darwin.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Mar 2014
Total posts 204
The lounge in PER wont open until they relocate back to T1.......perhaps with the border opening next week?
T2 is already packed without adding further flights
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
02 Feb 2015
Total posts 39
The lounge in Perth is a great product. Worth opening up if MEL/SYD/BRS are all back in action. C'mon Virgin , dont let us be poached to QANTAS. We want to be loyal..
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