IN BRIEF | Virgin Australia begins 'double daily 'Brisbane-Gladstone flights today.

It's not just a new route for the challenger airline, it's also the debut of the ATR turbo‐prop (turbine-driven propeller) aircraft which will soon also join the Capital Connect shuttle service between Sydney and Canberra.

(Click here for an inside look at the fuel-efficient 68 seater, which Virgin Australia chief John Borghetti trumpets as "the best aircraft to operate on regional routes throughout Australia”.)

Virgin Australia exec Merren McArthur said the new twice-daily services will bring much-needed competition to the route, and connect business travellers "with the Virgin Australia domestic and international network and partner airline flights."

Virgin Australia will ramp up the service by adding a third weekday return service from Brisbane to Gladstone from 16 January.