Seven regional routes dropped as Virgin embarks on restructure

Virgin
Australia will stop flying to seven regional destinations as it emerges from
administration under the new ownership of private equity firm Bain Capital.

Services to and from Yulara, Albury, Tamworth, Hervey Bay, Port Macquarie, Mildura, and Cloncurry would be withdrawn “for the foreseeable future”, an airline spokesman said last week.

Nine routes
in all are disappearing, including Sydney-Albury, Sydney-Yulara, Sydney-Hervey
Bay, Sydney-Port Macquarie, Sydney-Tamworth, Melbourne-Mildura, Brisbane-Cloncurry,
and Mount Isa-Cloncurry.

The
spokesman said Virgin will continue to review its network as travel
restrictions ease and demand returns.

“We remain
committed to regional Australia and plan to continue flying to 20 regional
destinations across Australia,” he added.

Virgin
Australia entered voluntary administration in April after failing to secure a
bailout from the government to help it manage the impact of the Covid-19
crisis.