Virgin Blue launches 'Happy Hour'

Virgin Blue has launched an innovative and ongoing sale called ‘Happy Hour’.

The concept will involve offering deeply discounted fares across various domestic routes for sale via the internet for one hour every day of the year on a permanent basis. For example, today’s fares between Melbourne and Adelaide will start from A$1 (plus taxes, fees & surcharges of A$30) for one-way flights, for travel within 30 days of booking.

‘Happy Hour’ will be from 1-2pm (EDST) and will offer the best deals of the day via the Virgin Blue website. Different routes will be on sale each day.

Virgin Blue Chief Commercial Officer, Stefan Pichler, said, “This is a fantastic and very exciting initiative in that it has never been done before and represents a great opportunity for travellers to snap up a bargain any day of the year, not just at off peak times when it suits the airline. The ‘Happy Hour’ concept clearly reflects Virgin Blue’s determination to cement its position as Australia’s true low fare, high service leader.”

He continued, “When Virgin Blue launched four and a half years ago, people got excited about one-way fares under $100 and this innovation goes even further. Virgin Blue has been the market leader in terms of affordability and we are happy other carriers have come to realise the low cost model is the way of the future.”

The Virgin Blue website will go live with ‘Happy Hour’ today and will feature a countdown from 9am until the sale time at 1pm. Travellers eager to snag a deal can log on, browse through the various routes and travel dates and snap up the deals that take their fancy. Virgin Blue is to put thousands of seats on sale each ‘Happy Hour’.

The key objective for the airline is to go beyond the ad-hoc sales it does on a regular basis and offer a permanent sale product which will offer bargain flights on routes that have a handful of spare seats that would otherwise fly empty.

Stefan Pichler continued, “It’s a win for everyone in that the consumers get bargain basement fares using spare seats on our aircraft. We will continue to innovate with our airline, our fares and our people and are confident that ‘Happy Hour’ will be a popular choice for people wanting to go on a spontaneous romantic weekend, a surprise trip to visit family interstate or to visit a business client in person.”

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