Book Cheap Flights with Virgin Blue

One of the few airlines to be both profitable and fun since startup, Virgin Blue took its maiden flight 31 August 2000. With only two aircraft, seven flights per day between Brisbane and Sydney, and 200 employees, it was obvious to everyone Virgin Blue’s early days would be challenging.

Now, controlling a generous 32% chunk of the domestic market, maintaining 55 modern jets, and with 4200 employees manning more than 2200 flights per week to 22 airports throughout the nation, Virgin Blue is Australia’s second biggest airline, behind only You-Know-Who.

Part of this success, it must be admitted, was due to founder Sir Richard Branson’s brilliant timing. The expansion of Virgin Blue almost coincided with Ansett’s collapse in September 2001. Virgin Blue filled that vacuum (and terminal space) and Australia’s airports haven’t been the same since. The pin-up “virgin” girls on Virgin Blue’s Boeing 737s are more entertaining than Ansett’s StarMark, in any case.

Stopping just short of removing the fun from flying, Virgin Blue has tried every possible means of reducing airfare costs, from utilizing telephone and Internet booking, to making luxuries (including in-flight meals) available on a strictly pay-per-use basis.

Don’t worry, all the amenities are there; they’re just not all included in Virgin Blue’s prices, so those on a budget can spend as much or as little as they can afford. The amenities that are available include in-flight cable courtesy of Foxtel and Austar; in-flight meals purchased off a menu entitled A La Cart; and a business lounge, called, appropriately enough, The Lounge, operating in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra.

In The Lounge, Virgin Blue’s staff are serious about meeting the needs of business travelers, with buffet meals and refreshments, newspapers, Internet access, and computers for those who packed light. Membership in The Lounge is either annual or, again, pay-as-you-go.

Another Virgin Blue pay-for-use amenity for all passengers is the opportunity to purchase a carbon emissions offset for one’s flight. Virgin Blue liked that environmental option so much, the company has committed to offsetting the emissions from all of their employees’ flights for business or duty, at an estimated cost of $500,000 per year over the next five years.

Virgin Blue’s frequent flyer programme, however, is free. It’s called Velocity, and allows loyal clients to earn points toward free travel. Those points will be worth collecting even more in the future, as Virgin Blue is working toward expanding their routes to include Japan and the United States, pending regulatory approval.