Virgin Australia Won’t Return to NZ Until November 2022
New Zealand will reopen its border to Australian tourists next month, with quarantine-free travel from Australia resuming from 13 April 2022.
Following this announcement, Qantas quickly announced an increase to services from Sydney to Auckland from the date of the border reopening. It will also resume daily Brisbane-Auckland, Melbourne-Auckland and Sydney-Christchurch flights from 13 April, while Jetstar will resume 3x weekly Gold Coast-Auckland flights from the same date.
But Virgin Australia is taking a more conservative approach to resuming trans-Tasman services. Virgin has no current plans to return to New Zealand before November 2022, when it will restart flights to Queenstown. Virgin has also completely stopped selling flights to other New Zealand destinations including Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin – all destinations it served prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virgin Australia also chose not to operate flights to New Zealand last year when the “trans-Tasman bubble” launched. This was probably a wise financial decision in hindsight, given the low trans-Tasman passenger numbers and high risk of border closures at the time.
Virgin isn’t rushing to resume international flights
Virgin Australia is currently only operating one international service between Sydney and Nadi, Fiji. Additional flights from Melbourne to Nadi are scheduled to resume from April.
Virgin’s next international destination to return will be Denpasar (Bali) in Indonesia. Flights from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to Bali are currently scheduled to resume from 15 June 2022.
The only other international destination that Virgin is currently selling tickets to is Queenstown, New Zealand. But Virgin flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Queenstown won’t come back until November 2022.
Queenstown flights are not being brought forward
Following this week’s announcement that Australians will be welcomed back to New Zealand sooner than anticipated, Australian Frequent Flyer asked Virgin Australia if the resumption of trans-Tasman flights might be brought forward.
“Virgin Australia is grateful for the New Zealand Government’s relaxation of international travel restrictions and we are gearing up to recommence our Queenstown services in November in advance of the summer holidays,” a Virgin Australia Group spokesperson told us.
“Uncertainty around international travel has had a significant impact on travel demand and the recovery of the aviation industry, and we continue to review our forward schedule and will provide services in line with demand.
“Virgin Australia is also welcoming of our international partners United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Air Canada and Etihad Airways bringing back exciting destinations around the world for our Virgin Australia and Velocity Frequent Flyer guests.”
One of Virgin Australia’s partner airlines, Air Canada, has just announced that it will resume Brisbane-Vancouver services from July and Auckland-Vancouver from November.
Which airlines are now flying across the Tasman?
Air New Zealand is currently operating the vast majority of trans-Tasman flights, supplemented by just two weekly Qantas flights between Sydney and Auckland. As previously mentioned, Qantas and Jetstar will resume more flights from 13 April 2022.
LATAM Airlines is also returning to the Sydney-Auckland route from the end of this month, with the resumption of its Sydney-Auckland-Santiago flights three times per week.
From 12 April 2022, Qatar Airways will also begin selling seats on its fifth-freedom route between Adelaide and Auckland. Qatar Airways already flies from Doha to Auckland via Adelaide, but does not yet sell seats individually on the Adelaide-Auckland portion of this flight.
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