VIRGIN BLUE INCREASES REGIONAL SERVICES MORE FLIGHTS TO TOUCH DOWN IN TOWNSVILLE

Virgin Blue will increase the number of flights in and out of Townsville, following overwhelming support from the North Queensland travelling public as well as those wanting to venture to the warmth and sunshine of Townsville.

Queensland based carrier Virgin Blue chose Townsville as its first regional destination and began flying one return flight a day between the city and Brisbane four months ago to test the level of interest in the previously underserved route.

Both leisure and business guests have embraced Virgin Blue, inspiring the airline to boost its frequency from 7 to 9 weekly return flights, an increase of more than 25%.

From August 1 through until October, Virgin Blue will offer an extra 737 service on both Saturday and Sunday, using the brand new Next Generation aircraft.

The extra Saturday flight departs Townsville at 7.40pm, the additional Sunday flight will take off at 9.20am, while the 7 day a week flight departs Townsville at 5.15pm.

To complement the existing 2.45pm daily departure out of Brisbane, Virgin Blue will offer a 5.10pm departure to Townsville on Saturday, as well as a 6.50am departure on Sunday. After October, Virgin Blue will review the service based on demand.

Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “We are thrilled with the support we’ve received on this regional route and are thankful our guests recognise that Virgin Blue is committed to providing long term sustainable low fares to the region.”

He continued, “Gone are the days where people had to pay $900 return for the privilege of flying between Brisbane and Townsville. At the end of the day, people recognise which airline has made travel suddenly cheaper on this route and as long as people support us, low fares are here to stay”.

“The increased service will now provide the opportunity for more people to experience Virgin Blue’s great service and on-time performance which is second to none.” Brett Godfrey finished.

Virgin Blue operates the most modern, technologically advanced aircraft in Australia today, with an average age of less than 5 years, compared with Ansett’s average fleet age of 11.7 years and Qantas with an average fleet age of 10.8 years. (Salomon Smith Barney 2001 Fleet handbook and amendments).