VA rejigs Qld operations

VIRGIN Australia and Alliance Airlines today announced a new agreement which will see Alliance take over a number of regional Queensland routes from VA.

Effective 17 Jul, Virgin will cease operating ATR turboprop flights from Brisbane, with services to Bundaberg, Gladstone, Port Macquarie and Moranbah to be operated by Alliance Aviation.

The services will be sold as Virgin Australia codeshares with full network connectivity and Velocity frequent flyer benefits.

Alliance plans to use jet aircraft for the flights which will “substantially reduce travel times,” the carriers said.

Flights on the routes will still be available via GDS and any pax with existing bookings will be reaccommodated onto the Alliance services.

VA said the move reflected its previously announced plans to reduce its turboprop fleet.

Today’s announcement continues the cooperation between Virgin Australia and Alliance, which since 2016 has been operating all flights on VA’s Brisbane-Emerald route.

Alliance said it would also operate flights for Virgin Australia from Brisbane to Cloncurry, Mt Isa and Rockhampton on a wet lease basis for 12 months.

Alliance is acquiring three extra aircraft from Austrian Airlines.