Virgin Australia have now launched sales of flights from Australia to Doha on their website. While these flights will use Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777 aircraft, they will carry a VA flight number.
Flights on Virgin Australia from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth to Doha are now available to book with travel dates from June 2025 onwards.
Melbourne flights are not yet on sale as Virgin Australia are still finalising some details of these flights. That said, flights from Melbourne-Doha are set to go on sale from early January 2025, for travel later in 2025.
According to Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, this new partnership is a game changer:
This is a huge win for Australian travellers which brings more value and choice for passengers wanting to fly internationally. Through this partnership Virgin Australia becomes stronger, improving our ability to compete domestically – which is great news for Virgin Australia, our people and consumers
For Virgin Australia this gives us the ability to start long haul flying, which we have not been able to do over the past four and a half years. Our 28 new weekly services to Doha will open up a world of opportunity for those wanting to travel overseas, with more passengers able to connect to over 100 destinations around the world on Qatar’s network.
Launch Sale
As is often the case with a new route, Virgin Australia are offering special launch prices. Examples of fares to Europe include
- Perth to Paris Economy Choice return from $1,791
- Sydney to London Economy Choice return from $1,982
- Brisbane to Rome Economy Choice return from $1,945
Velocity Frequent Flyers
Earn Rates
As these flights will carry a VA flight number, Velocity Frequent Flyers will be able to earn Points and Status Credits. The points earn rates are
| Fare Type | Points Earn Rate per Mile |
|---|---|
| Business | 2 |
| Flex | 1 |
| Choice & Groups | 0.5 |
Status Credits will vary depending on the route and booking dates, as follows.
Bookings flown prior to October 1 2025:
| One-way Miles (zone) | Choice/Groups | Flex | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,001 – 8,000 (5)
BNE/SYD/MEL/PER – DOHA |
45 | 80 | 160 |
Bookings flown on or after October 1 2025:
| One-way Miles (zone) | Choice/Groups | Flex | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4,501 – 6,000 (6)
PER – DOHA |
30 | 55 | 110 |
| 6,001 – 7,500 (7)
MEL- DOHA |
35 | 65 | 130 |
| 7,501 – 8,500 (8)
BNE/SYD – DOHA |
37 | 70 | 140 |
It is interesting that the Status Credit earning will not be moving to the new revenue-based system. Instead, they will continue to use the system based on fare and distance travelled.
Launch Offer
As a launch special, Velocity is offering bonus points on bookings made by 20 January 2025 for travel between 21 June and 30 September 2025. Under this promotional offer you can earn up to
- 20,000 bonus Velocity points on business return flights and
- 10,000 bonus Velocity points points on economy return flights.
Rewards seats…
It is expected that Virgin Australia will be making Velocity Reward seats available on these flights. They have published new Rewards Tables for these flights which suggests they are going to be available from 25 January.
If you are flying to Doha, the tables provide the following number of Reward points
- Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to Doha are available for 119,500 Velocity Points in Business or 56,000 Velocity Points in Economy
- Perth to Doha – these will be available for 89,500 Velocity Points in Business or 42,000 Velocity Points in Economy
For travel onwards from Doha, for example to Europe or Africa, it gets more complicated, however, it is still basically distance based – the further you need to travel, the more points you will require.
… but no Platinum Guaranteed Rewards Seats
However, if you are thinking of trying to use the Platinum Guaranteed Rewards seats you are out of luck. Velocity have updated the terms of the offer to exclude these flights:
Please note that Platinum members cannot utilise their Guaranteed Economy Reward Seat benefit on Virgin Australia marketed and operated flights between Australia and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Hayman Island and Doha (operated by Qatar Airways for Virgin Australia);
It’s not the only benefit that is not available. Velocity Frequent Flyers will not be able to use points to upgrade from Economy to Business. In addition, Platinum members will not be able to use their UpgradeMe platinum offer certificates.
