Review: Canberra-Sydney with Link Airways (Virgin Australia)

Since March 2022, Link Airways has been operating the Canberra-Sydney route on behalf of Virgin Australia using Saab 340 turboprop aircraft. These flights are marketed by Virgin Australia and carry “VA” flight numbers.

The usual Velocity Frequent Flyer benefits apply in the same way that they would for a Virgin Australia flight, meaning you can earn and redeem Velocity points, earn status credits, and access Velocity status benefits on these flights. But the flights are on Link Airways aircraft with Link Airways crew.

A few days before my flight, I received the following email from Virgin Australia with some information about the wet lease arrangement:

So, what’s it like travelling on a Virgin Australia flight from Canberra to Sydney operated by Link Airways? Here’s a review of my recent experience…

Flight Details

Flight number	VA651
Route	Canberra (CBR) to Sydney (SYD)
Aircraft type	Saab 340
Class of travel	Economy
Seat number	6A
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

This flight cost $179.07 and was paid for by Australian Frequent Flyer.

Airport Experience

Up until boarding, the airport experience was exactly how it would be for any other Virgin Australia flight.

The check-in experience at Canberra Airport is usually fairly smooth and quick. Unfortunately, on this occasion I ended up waiting over 10 minutes as the only passenger in the priority check-in queue (which I could access with my Velocity Gold status) because there were only two staff members checking in passengers and one of them had to leave to assist a passenger. This is not normal – I think I must have caught them at a bad time.

I was able to use the Virgin Australia Lounge before departure, which was very quiet and pleasant. The usual buffet food and drink options were available, including tasty salads, wraps, soup, beer and wine.

Lounge access is not a standard inclusion when flying on a Virgin Australia Economy ticket, but you can get access with a Velocity Gold, Platinum or Virgin Australia Lounge membership. Some credit cards also come with lounge passes.

Separately, Link Airways does offer Virgin Australia Lounge access if travelling on a Freedom or Flexible ticket sold by Link Airways – regardless of your Velocity status. But this is not relevant here as the Canberra-Sydney flights are marketed by Virgin Australia.

At the boarding gate, larger carry-on bags were tagged as “ATR” (Virgin must have had leftover stock from when its ATR-72s flew the Canberra-Sydney route up to 2020) and placed in the hold. This worked the same way as “Premium Hand Luggage” on QantasLink. Those bags could be collected from outside the aircraft after landing.

The Hard Product

The 34-seat Saab 340 cabin is not particularly spacious, but the plane seemed clean and the interior appears to have been refurbished at some point. The seats are in a 1-2 layout.

I was able to pre-select an exit row seat, 6A, at no extra cost on the Virgin Australia website. While the seats are nothing fancy, they are comfortable for the short flights that these aircraft operate. They have a leather covering and come in a pre-reclined position.

The legroom in the exit row was quite reasonable.

I also tried out a different seat and found the legroom there to be fine as well.

I was happy with 6A as a seat, and particularly liked the option to choose a solo window seat with direct aisle access.

In terms of the best seats, 1B & 1C looked quite good but 1A did not seem like a good choice as it has no window and limited legroom – you’ll also be sitting directly opposite the flight attendant during take-off and landing. Interestingly, row 11 has four seats instead of three as it’s the back of the plane and there is a seat where the aisle would be (with unlimited legroom as you can simply stretch your legs into the aisle!).

Overhead locker space was quite limited, with only the lockers on the right side of the plane being usable.

There is a small toilet at the front of the cabin, but there’s no running water for the sink.

There was no wifi or in-flight entertainment of any sort, other than the Your Link magazine in each seat pocket. You may wish to bring noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs as the cabin was quite noisy (particularly towards the back of the plane).

The Soft Product

The PA system wasn’t working on this aircraft, so the excellent Link Airways flight attendant Grace used a megaphone for the safety briefing. It was a bit unconventional but did the job!

After take-off, a complimentary muesli bar and cup of water were served. No other food or drinks were available, including for sale.

As a matter of interest, I happened to recently fly on another Link Airways flight which was sold as a Link Airways (not Virgin Australia) service. On that flight, we were served pretzels, chips and a choice of complimentary juice, soft drinks, beer and wine. Those extras are not offered on flights operated on behalf of Virgin Australia.

After landing in Sydney, we took a short bus ride into Terminal 2.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.