Virgin Australia announced today that it is suspending all domestic services, except for a sole SYD-MEL return flight Sunday to Friday. The change starts from Friday 10 April.
In a statement Virgin said it was still operating repatriation flights from Hong Kong and LAX, and that “demand for charter services in the resources sector remains strong and we continue to support our customers with services. We also remain open to charter opportunities or any flying the Australian Government needs support with.” The airline will also continue with freight services.
Virgin’s repatriation flights are:
- BNE-HKG Mondays and Fridays until 1 May and cost $625
- HKG-BNE Tuesdays and Saturdays until 2 May and cost $2983
- BNE-LAX Wednesday until 29 April and cost $855
- LAX-BNE Thursday until 2 May and cost $475
Virgin has requested a $1.4 billion loan from the Australian government to help tide it over if the groundings continued for more than 6 months.