According to a Sydney Morning Herald article earlier today, Virgin Australia are set to expand their already substantial movements as serious competition in the full service airline marketplace – an area that, up until now, had essentially been occupied solely by Qantas Airlines.
This comes after years of changes to the airline, moving away from the former Virgin Blue brand to match up with their International counterpart Virgin Australia (formerly V Australia), introducing business class and/or premium economy to all their flights and separating themselves from the “budget airline” tag they had been associated with from their inception… all the while keeping prices low and competitive.
The pay-for-everything model that is also occupied by Qantas’ budget partner Jetstar, has also been gradually stripped away, with free water, juices and tea or coffee available on all flights, meals supplied on their West to East Coast connections, and snacks offered between East Coast Capitals and some of their Canberra flights. Complimentary alcoholic beverages have been served between certain times, with additional items available for sale. A free wireless entertainment system had also been added to the network, to match Qantas’ offerings. But until now, checked bags have been an additional extra on most of their services, and the free food option had remained elusive on the majority of their ever growing network.
This is set to change from today, with checked baggage now being included on all tickets, as well as a meal or a snack (depending on the time of day) on all flights, to help bring them up to the standard set by Qantas. According to SMH, a Virgin spokesperson has said that no additional costs will be passed on to customers to make these changes possible. Though these services will be offered, some additional items will remain available for purchase.
Virgin will ensure they remain competitive in the budget market thanks to Tiger Airways, whose shares they now own entirely – though it should be noted that Tiger are not part of the Virgin / Velocity network.
You can read our most recent Virgin flight review, flying from Perth to Melbourne HERE. And for more details head to: http://www.virginaustralia.com/
