Virgin Australia will schedule additional domestic flights and is also looking to tap partners Air New Zealand, Etihad and Singapore Airlines in an effort to help passengers stranded by yesterday's dramatic Qantas shutdown.
The airline says it will run additional flights today, Sunday October 30, to boost capacity by over 3,000 extra seats between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Karratha and Perth.
Virgin Australia says it is also "in discussions with alliance partners Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Delta Air Lines in regards to adding extra capacity."
Foremost are plans for Etihad Airways to run a 'shuttle service' between Sydney and Melbourne on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, using Etihad aircraft, which would add a further 600 seats per day onto the route.
Some of the other options being explored include:
- operating Singapore Airlines aircraft "on key domestic routes"
- using additional Air New Zealand aircraft instead of Virgin Australia aircraft on the trans-Tasman route, which will free up Virgin Australia Boeing 737s to provide extra domestic flights.
As previously reported, Virgin Australia is also offering special discounted “Stranded Passenger" fares – click here for details.
About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
1 on 30/10/11 by tronixstuff