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Prior to the pandemic, Virgin Australia’s Boeing 777s were popular with frequent flyers heading across the Pacific to Los Angeles.
Sadly, Virgin Australia has since removed all wide-body aircraft from its fleet. But some of Virgin’s Boeing 777-300ER jets have now been given a new lease on life, being picked up by Qatar Airways. They’re even still fitted with their original Virgin Australia seats!
The first of two former Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ERs to be delivered to Qatar Airways (so far) was the old VH-VPF. This aircraft has now been re-registered as A7-BOF and entered service for Qatar Airways on 23 December 2022. Since then, it’s mainly been flying between Doha and Manchester as QR27/28, and Doha-Kuwait as QR1086/1087.
On board Qatar’s ex-Virgin Australia Boeing 777
This jet has been repainted in a white Qatar Airways livery. However, Qatar Airways has not (yet) made any changes to the cabin fit-out. The aircraft retains its original 3-class Virgin Australia configuration with Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy seating.
This is great news for passengers, because Virgin’s Boeing 777s were a comfortable way to fly in all cabins!
Qatar Airways doesn’t sell Premium Economy. Instead, the three rows of Premium Economy seats on the ex-Virgin Boeing 777 are being offered to Economy Class passengers as “Comfort+” seats for an additional surcharge.
These seats are wider and offer more legroom than Economy seats. So, they are arguably worth paying an extra GBP112.80 (~AU$200) for a flight from Manchester to Doha.
Even in Economy Class, passengers are being treated with wider seats as Virgin used a 3-3-3 Economy seating configuration on its Boeing 777s.
Qatar Airways’ standard Economy layout is 3-4-3, so the Virgin Australia product is a nice little upgrade!
An AFF member has reported that the extra legroom seats in Economy are even still branded as “Economy X” on the aircraft that are now in service for Qatar Airways.
The former Virgin Australia aircraft VH-VPE is also currently being delivered to Qatar Airways. It will soon enter service as A7-BOE.
While unrelated to this particular aircraft acquisition, Virgin Australia launched an extensive partnership with Qatar Airways last year.
Meanwhile, some Qatar Airways flights are being operated by Cathay Pacific and Oman Air wide-body jets under wet leasing arrangements. This is due to Qatar Airways’ current shortage of Airbus aircraft following a dispute with the French manufacturer.
What about the other ex-Virgin Australia long-haul aircraft?
Virgin Australia originally had five Boeing 777-300ER planes in its fleet.
In 2022, VH-VOZ was delivered to a Russian charter airline called Azur Air. It flew there for a short time before being delivered as TC-MGG to a Turkish charter airline called Mavi Gök Airlines. So far this month, that aircraft has flown several round trips between Antalya and the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Meanwhile, VH-VPD and VH-VPH are still in long-term storage at Wellcamp Airport in Queensland. They were both last flown on 23 December 2022, when they each did a circuit around Toowoomba before returning to Wellcamp Airport.
Before it entered voluntary administration in April 2020, Virgin Australia also leased six Airbus A330-200s. These have since been returned to their respective lessors.
Four of the ex-Virgin Australia Airbus A330s are now flying for other airlines, including two that are in service with the Brazilian airline Azul. One of the aircraft is now in storage in San Bernardino, while the sixth jet is still on the ground at Perth Airport and may eventually be scrapped.
Virgin Australia no longer has any wide-body aircraft in its fleet. However, it plans to launch Cairns-Tokyo flights in June using brand new Boeing 737-8 MAX jets.
