Virgin Australia drops Hong Kong and adds Tokyo

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3ZG VH-VPE (CN 37939)     

Virgin Australia will drop its daily Sydney-Hong Kong flights from the 2nd March 2020, exiting not only Hong Kong but the 'greater China' play initiated and championed by former CEO John Borghetti. The airline has also confirmed that its Melbourne-Hong Kong service, is due to be 'suspended' from February 11th, will not return, as the airline "withdraws (its) services between Australia and Hong Kong". Virgin Australia CCO John MacLeod said "This decision comes off the back of a comprehensive review of the route. We've observed a continuing decline in demand, following the recent civil unrest and growing concerns over the coronavirus outbreak in the greater region." "These recent factors demonstrate that Hong Kong is no longer a commercially viable route for us to continue operating." "This is a tough commercial decision, however we have some exciting new opportunities to look forward to, such as our inaugural flights to Tokyo taking off next month," MacLeod added. Virgin Australia has confirmed the airline will shutter the Sydney-Hong Kong flights, and says passengers booked to fly between Sydney and Hong Kong will be contacted by the airline or their travel agent "to provide alternative arrangements." On the up side Virgin Australia is gearing up to begin daily flights between Brisbane and Tokyo from the 29th  March 2020. It's a pleasing alternative to the current Brisbane-Japan monopoly enjoyed by Qantas, with the added advantage that Virgin's flights will use Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which is considerably closer to the city than Tokyo's Narita Airport used by most other airlines.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA A330-243 VH-XFC (CN 1293)

Virgin's Brisbane-Haneda route will use an Airbus A330 fitted with 20 business class suites and 255 economy seats (including eight Economy X seats).
VA77 departs Brisbane at 11:40am and touches down in Tokyo Haneda at 8pm
VA76 departs Tokyo Haneda at 9:45pm, and arrives in Brisbane at 7:45am the next morning.
Tokyo Haneda will become Virgin Australia’s 13th international destination from Brisbane, which is the most international departures out of Brisbane of any airline.