Virgin Australia culls capacity on Brisbane-Cairns route

Brisbane, Australia - September 25, 2014: looking through window at Brisbane airport, Virgin Airlines plane taking off and flying in the air. Tarmac B4 in view with tree line in background and a couple of cranes, nice sunny day.

Virgin Australia says it remains committed to the Brisbane-Cairns route despite opting to run smaller planes on it from this week.

As first reported in The Australian, Virgin is replacing Boeing 737-800s with smaller aircraft operated by Alliance Airlines on the route in response to weak demand, cutting the airline’s capacity by more than 300 seats per week between Brisbane and Cairns.

In a statement to Travel Weekly, a Virgin Australia spokesperson said: “This week, Alliance Airlines will start operating two return services per week, on behalf of Virgin Australia, between Brisbane [and] Cairns.

“We remain committed to this area of our network and we will continue to provide a strong schedule proposition on this route.”

The capacity cut comes not long after Virgin issued a significant downgrade of its earnings guidance for the 2019 financial year, and dismissed reports that the company is and its co-investor in Velocity Frequent Flyer, Affinity Equity Partners, are looking for potential buyers for the rewards program.

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