Virgin Australia reopens final domestic airport lounge

Virgin Australia has reopened its seventh and final domestic lounge in Canberra today.

The lounge reopening comes as customer demand continues to strengthen, with the airline expecting to be at 80 per cent of pre-COVID-19 capacity by July 2021.

Since November, Virgin has continued to reopen its lounge network in major airports around Australia.

From today, this now includes Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.

The airline is continuing to roll out its new and fresh lounge menu nationally, with the Canberra lounge to offer a selection of sandwiches, salads, wraps and healthy snacks prepared onsite and served from a hosted bar.

“We’re pleased to confirm that from today all Virgin Australia domestic lounges will be open nationally, including in Canberra,” a spokesperson for the airline said.

“As travel demand continues to strengthen, and state borders remain open, we’re excited to offer a fantastic network of domestic lounges for our frequent flyers to access at major airports around Australia.”

In other Virgin news, the airline has expanded its partnership with Ansett Aviation Training (AAT) by signing a co-branding agreement for a training centre at Brisbane Airport.

AAT will also assume the maintenance of two Virgin Boeing 737 full-flight simulators (FFS) alongside additional FFS bays. The centre was previously operated by Boeing Training & Professional Services in partnership with Virgin.

Virgin has also announced that it will continue to be the official airline partner of the AFL and AFLW until 2025.

The new five-year deal will see Virgin continue to fly the league’s 32 teams including players, coaches and support staff to interstate matches, making it one of the largest airline sponsorships of any team sport in the country.