Virgin Australia has revealed a series of major enhancements to its facilities at Sydney Airport’s Domestic terminal (T2) and Melbourne Airport’s Domestic Terminal 2.
An artist’s impression of Virgin Australia’s new
Terminal 2 at Sydney Airport
The enhancements at Sydney Airport include a new state-of-the-art lounge and a significant upgrade to its dedicated pier within the terminal.
The new architecturally designed lounge will stretch over two levels, doubling the existing size of the Sydney lounge and providing views of Botany Bay and beyond. At the same time, Virgin Australia’s Pier A at Terminal 2 will be refurbished internally and expanded to accommodate larger aircraft.
Virgin Australia Chief Executive Officer John Borghetti said that Sydney Airport was Virgin Australia’s largest hub and an important focus for the airline.
“With 8 million Virgin Australia guests travelling through every year, providing a seamless first-rate experience at Sydney Airport is critical to Virgin Australia,” he said.
“The enhancements announced today will enable us to do just that, establishing Sydney as our flagship domestic lounge and offering guests more spacious and comfortable terminal facilities.
“The pier expansion will also allow us to provide additional flight frequencies for our guests, with more positions for narrow and widebody aircraft”.
Borghetti said Virgin Australia would also continue to improve the Virgin Australia travel experience at Melbourne Domestic Airport, building on recent enhancements including a new lounge, valet parking and priority security screening.
“In May 2012, we will commence a major refurbishment of the interiors of our Melbourne domestic terminal,” he said.
“The refresh will include new flooring, seating and washroom facilities and is designed to create more space and bring the Melbourne terminal in line with Virgin Australia’s contemporary look and feel.”
The enhancements at Sydney and Melbourne domestic airports are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Virgin’s new economy cabin on the A330-200s
In related news, Virgin Australia has received its first two new-build A330-220 aircraft from Airbus that will be flown on trans-Australia flights to Perth and on the Sydney-Melbourne route during peak times.
The A330s have joined two already operating in the fleet (that are ex-Emirates) and the new aircraft offer more spacious cabins, comfortable seats and world-class inflight entertainment through the RED system that’s available on Virgin’s Boeing 777 flights to Los Angeles from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
“These new Airbus A330 aircraft will be the flagship of our domestic fleet, providing business and leisure travellers with the kind of experience that is valued on longer flights,” Borghetti said.
“We are focused on becoming Australia’s airline of choice and key to that is creating a consistent experience of relaxation and comfort across all of our aircraft, complemented by the best of service.
“Earlier this year we commenced our Business Class offering across most of our domestic routes and the feedback has been outstanding, reinforcing our strategy of bringing competition to all sectors of the Australian market,” Borghetti said.
Business Class on the new A330s features lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration alongside LED mood lighting in the cabin.
Virgin Australia is set to receive a third brand new A330 later in the year, creating a fleet of five by the end of 2012.
