Following the ACCC’s giving interim approval of the tie-up between Virgin Australia and Qatar airways, Virgin Australia has now applied to the International Air Services Commission (IASC) for approval to operate flights between Australia and Doha.
This application is interesting in that it gives more concrete details about how they plan to operate the services. It also notes a change to the order that the cities will be added to the schedule.
Firstly, the proposal advised that they will be using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft configured with between 354 and 412 seats.
Initial flights will commence with Sydney, Brisbane and Perth getting the first flights, with Melbourne flights to follow. This is change that sees Virgin swapping the Perth and Melbourne flights around. The reason for this change comes down to the availability of airport slots. While Virgin has obtained slots in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth services, the Melbourne slot is available later in the year.
Proposed Flight Schedule
The proposed flight schedules, as outline in the application to the IASC are
- Sydney / Doha
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- VA1 departs Sydney 1450, arrives Doha 2250
- VA2 departs Doha at 0915, arrives Sydney 0615
- Brisbane / Doha
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- VA15 departs Brisbane 1510, arrives Doha 2300
- VA16 departs Doha at 0140, arrives Brisbane 2245
- Perth / Doha
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- VA21 departs Perth 1520, arrives Doha 2150
- VA22 departs Doha 1950, arrives Perth 1155
The application did not give an indication of the schedule for the Melbourne service, but noted that they should have a slot later in the year.
Product
While the application gives us some detail on the schedule, it doesn’t say a lot about what some aspects of the product will look like.
The notes about the number of seats on the aircraft suggest different versions of the Qatar product will be on offer. The mention of 354 seats is in line with the number of seats onboard aircraft fitted with the QSuite product. On the other hand, the mention of 412 seats points toward the older configuration.
It also says little about the onboard product. My guess is that, at least initially, the service will align with the service you get on Qatar Airways. Depending on what happens over the course of the first five years may determine how that product evolves, especially if they need to move away from the wet lease.
The there is the issue of lounge access. At present, Virgin Australia don’t offer international lounge access – although their partners may offer it. For now, we don’t know what the lounge situation with these flights will look like.
Final Words
The partnership between Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia is starting to take shape. If they want to get these flights on the market for mid-2025 then approvals will need to come soon. Then we could be in for some interesting times on the pricing and service front.
