Virgin Australia
Airline from Australia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an airline based in Australia. It is one of two active airlines (the other being Virgin Atlantic) to use the Virgin brand, as well as the larger by fleet size. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as Virgin Blue, with two aircraft on a single route.[3] It suddenly found itself as a major airline in Australia's domestic market after the collapse of Ansett Australia in September 2001. The airline has since grown to directly serve 32 cities in Australia, from hubs in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.[4]
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Founded | 29 August 2000; 23 years ago (2000-08-29) (as Virgin Blue) | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 4 May 2011; 12 years ago (2011-05-04) (as Virgin Australia) | ||||||
Hubs |
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Secondary hubs | |||||||
Focus cities | |||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Velocity | ||||||
Alliance | None | ||||||
Subsidiaries | Virgin Australia Regional Airlines | ||||||
Fleet size | 87 | ||||||
Destinations | 44 | ||||||
Parent company | Virgin Australia Holdings | ||||||
Headquarters | South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | ||||||
Key people |
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Revenue | A$5.4 billion (2018) [2] | ||||||
Operating income | A$109.6 million (2018) [2] | ||||||
Total assets | A$6.2 billion (2018) [2] | ||||||
Total equity | A$1.1 billion (2018) [2] | ||||||
Website | virginaustralia |
The airline's headquarters is based in South Bank, Queensland. It was co-founded by British businessman Richard Branson (the founder of Virgin Group), and former CEO Brett Godfrey.
In 2011, the airline went through a period of transformation, changing its brand to Virgin Australia.[5] This included the introduction of a new aircraft livery, new uniforms, and new onboard menu options as well as a business class product which Virgin Blue did not have. New wide-body aircraft were acquired to compete with Qantas, and business class was rolled-out across all the Virgin Australia network.[3] In 2019, it was recognised as one of Australia's top 10 tax-dodgers earning $18 billion while paying zero tax.[6]
On 21 April 2020, Virgin Australia Holdings went into voluntary administration, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and financial troubles in the years leading up to the pandemic.[7] On 26 June 2020, it was announced that Bain Capital had entered into a sale and implementation deed with administrator Deloitte to acquire Virgin Australia.[8] Creditors agreed to this proposal on 4 September 2020, with the reorganisation and change of ownership completed on 17 November. The airline announced that as part of its relaunch would focus on being a mid-market "hybrid" carrier.[9]