Virgin Australia adds more overseas destinations

Virgin Australia is adding three more pins to its international route map with flights to Bali resuming this week and the return of services to Vanuatu and Samoa next year. All up, the airline will have five overseas destinations in its fledgling international network by March 2023.

To celebrate, Point Hacks was on the first Sydney-Denpasar (Bali) service on Wednesday 15 June. Flights to Bali from Melbourne and Brisbane will also soar again from Friday 17 June 2022. But regulars at Surfers Paradise can rejoice as well, with new non-stop flights from Gold Coast to Bali set to start on 29 March 2023.

We are currently seeing continued growth in travel demand for Gold Coast services and are operating up to 180 domestic flights outbound each week. With the addition of the Gold Coast Airport terminal expansion and demand for Bali rising, the time is right to connect these two famous holiday destinations.

– Jayne Hrdlicka, Virgin Australia CEO, 14 June 2022

Bringing your board? Surfers travelling on Virgin Australia flights are able to check in a surfboard as part of their regular baggage allowance. But those will have to be under 23 kg, shorter than three metres and packed in a hard bag with fins removed. If you’re flying in Business, you’ll get 32 kg to play with instead.

Velocity Gold and Platinum members – as well as Business Class passengers – also get an extra luggage allowance included so they can check in an additional bag. Don’t smuggle all your budgie smugglers in your carry-on!

South Pacific gets a boost with Vanuatu, Samoa

Alongside the launch of Gold Coast-Bali, Virgin Australia is also bringing back more flights to the South Pacific in the new year:

• Brisbane-Port Vila (Vanuatu): Five times weekly from 10 March 2023.
• Sydney-Apia (Samoa): Three times weekly from 21 March 2023.
• Brisbane-Apia (Samoa): Two times weekly from 23 March 2023.

Virgin Australia is already flying between Sydney and Nadi (Fiji). Plus, flights to Queenstown in New Zealand are set to start in December 2022. That’s a total of five international destinations by March 2023.

Velocity reward seats are available

Happily, all of these flights will be bookable at low rates with Velocity Points if reward seats are available. Both Economy and Business Class rewards are up for grabs, so here are the points you’ll need for Virgin Australia’s international network:

Skip the lines and jet off to Bali in style with Velocity Points. You only need 49,500 Velocity Points + AU$126 to fly in Business Class one-way from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Gold Coast!

Summing up

Virgin Australia is slowly but surely plotting a return to international services. Flights to Bali will undoubtedly be popular, with four different routes operating by March 2023. Vanuatu and Samoa might not be on everyone’s bucket list, but they’re both worth exploring if you’re after a getaway in the Pacific.

Right now, Virgin’s main limitation is its fleet. The airline’s Boeing 737s are stretched thin on domestic routes already, so there’s not much capacity to expand internationally. And we’ll have to wait until 2023 for the longer-range Boeing 737 MAX family to arrive in Virgin colours, which might just be the ticket to open up even more destinations abroad.

Point Hacks Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Sciberras, travelled to Denpasar as a guest of Virgin Australia.