In the past week, Virgin Blue Australia have commenced operations into three new ports to their network, all in E-Jets.
On
Monday 13th October 2008, daily flights commenced between Melbourne (YMML:MEL) and Mildura (YMIA:MQL) in the E170. The first flights were conducted in the newest E170 to the fleet, VH-ZHE.
Mildura is the first regional port in Victoria to receive Virgin Blue's jet service and only the second Victorian port on the network, behind Melbourne. It is the busiest regional airport in Victoria and has twice been named Australia's Rural Airport of the Year. The flight leaves Melbourne each day at 10:40, and takes one hour block to block. The return flight to Melbourne leaves Mildura at 12:10. The inaugural flight spend an extra 15 minutes on the turn in Mildura so that the people of Mildura to welcome the new Jet service to the Sunraysia Mallee region.
As is the tradition at Virgin Blue, the flight was marked with Limited Edition T-Shirts for all the passengers and an on board auction to raise money for a local charity. The in flight auction was caught on
YouTube.
Details at:
VIRGIN BLUE WEBSITEOn
Tuesday 21st October 2008, Virgin Blue commenced regional operations in the state of Western Australia adding the new ports of Newman (YNWN:ZNE) and Karratha (YPKA:KTA) to the network. The inaugural flights were flown by the E190, VH-ZPG.
Virgin Blue will fly daily flights to Newman and twice daily flights to Karratha in the E190. Both ports join Perth and Broome, bringing the total number of ports in WA to four.
Virgin Blue is now also servicing the Perth - Broome route in the E190 with increased frequency.
Details at:
VIRGIN BLUE WEBSITE
