Virgin Atlantic scraps its flights to Australia
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Flying to Australia is a painfully difficult way to make money. It was therefore not much of a surprise when Virgin Atlantic announced this week that it was scrapping its Hong Kong to Sydney flight. The company will now just fly to Hong Kong from the UK instead of carrying on to Oz.
It takes 10 seconds to understand the economics of the game.
The cheapest economy flight from London to New York (1-10 March) is £438. The flight time is 8 hours outbound.
The cheapest comparable flight to Sydney is £812. The flight time is 26-30 hours, requiring numerous changes of crew.
There have been rumours over the years that British Airways was also planning to drop Sydney. The breaking of the joint venture with Qantas has actually improved the economics, however. The remaining service now runs with a new Boeing 777 widebody jet which brings substantial fuel economies, and the recent British Airways presentation to institutional investors said that the route economics have improved substantially. Virgin has been stuck with an old Airbus A346.
The real surprise is the short notice, with services to end on 5th May. My gut feeling is that this is Delta Air Lines, Virgin’s new 49% shareholder, flexing its muscles. They do not seem prepared to support an uneconomic route even if it does not go down well.
The real winners here are people who have tickets booked on Virgin Flying Club miles. Passengers are being rebooked onto Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Sydney – but only if cheap tickets are available. For Upper Class redemptions, this means that you will be booked into Cathay Pacific business class in the ‘I’ sub class. This earns 1.25 Avios per mile flown and British Airways tier points, which is a result!
However, if ‘I’ class is not available, which is possible at peak periods, Virgin will not rebook you. You will either have to stopover in Hong Kong for a few days until an ‘I’ class is available or accept a refund. It is therefore imperative that anyone holding a Virgin ticket from Hong Kong to Sydney gets on the telephone to Virgin as soon as possible.
Looking forward, Virgin Atlantic is due a delivery of 15 Boeing 787 aircraft – with a further 28 options – which will bring massively improved fuel economy and a new generation of seating. These should bring a major financial benefit to the business, although it is now unlikely that Perth – originally a target destination for the new plane – will materialise.
How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 Read our full review
You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.
(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)
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