VA MAX8 Arrivals

[James Smith]

Thanks for the information, Stirling. Hopefully, 8IC to follow after 8IA has returned from the installation of its inflight connectivity in MLB.

[Michael Mak]

8IA is now enroute MLB-ONT on her way back to Australia as VA9947

[James Smith]

8IA is just about to arrive in KOA and after overnighting will depart for an arrival into BNE scheduled for 13:55 tomorrow, Sunday.

[James Smith]

8IA is now due into BNA at 12:23 today.

[Lauren J]

Originally Posted by James Smith

8IA is now due into BNA at 12:23 today.

Just confirming it’s Brisbane not Nashville?

[James Smith]

Yes BNE, Lauren. I blame fat finger syndrome! BTW, 8IA is straight back to work currently operating VA334 BNE-MEL.

[lloyd fox]

Source:Virgin

Departing Virgin Australia CEO Jane Hrdlicka has announced that the airline will refit several of its existing MAX Dash 8 aircraft and will acquire some REX aircraft as delays continue with the delivery of its Boeing 737 MAX order.

Hrdlicka also rejected rumours of floating of Virgin Australia on the market and any talk of Qatar investing in the airline.

“Today I’m making a small announcement I know people were expecting a big one, but we have an order book that with Boeing that includes Max Dash 8 and Dash 10s,” she told audience on Day 2 of the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2024 being held in Brisbane.

“We’ve converted 12 Dash 10s to Dash 8s to ensure that we’ve got a steady pipeline of aircraft coming into our business.

“We have 8 Dash 8’s today they’re performing so well for us there’s so fuel efficient, quiet and just very good performance for our pilots and our cabin crew love the aircraft and customers love the aircraft.’

“We’ve got another six coming in the next 12 months so and then got another 12 that we’ve just converted and so then we’ve got options for more 10s down the track.

“We’re picking up a handful of the Rex aircraft that haven’t yet left the country to help give us more degrees of flexibility as we adjust with Boeing’s needs to manage the challenges that both Boeing and Airbus are facing with respect to getting their supply chains back in balance.”

The airline received its fourth MAX 8 in March and was expecting a further 31 new 737 MAX aircraft, including six MAX 8s and 25 MAX 10s.

Virgin, now owned by private equity company Bain Capital, expects to only receive four more MAX 8s in 2024 from an original order of 14. The remaining six are expected to arrive in 2025.

The MAX 10s are not expected to arrive until 2026 at the earliest.

As for an initial public offering (IPO) of Virgin Australia on the market, Hrdlicka said the runours were untrue.

“I hate to be the bearer of same old same old, but first that a matter for our shareholders,” she said.

As for the Qatar stake, “we don’t play with rumour and innuendo and there has been a lot of creative fiction written”, she said.

Hrdlicka, the Tennis Australia chair, says she will now spend more time on addressing issues within the game. Following the loss of her husband to cancer, and the recent death of her father, Hrdlicka said she will also be spending more time with her two boys, aged 17 and 19.

Hrdlicka was appointed Virgin Australia CEO in November 2020 after it was sold to Bain Capital and has decided to leave the role after four years of “heavy lifting”.

Virgin Australia was placed into voluntary administration in April 2020 with debts of $6.8 billion, after the federal government and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group declined to provide additional funding to save the airline.

CAPA also announced that the Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2025 will be held in Cairns 31 July – 1 August.