Good Riddance: Virgin Australia Retires A320s

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines has finally phased out its unpopular all-Economy Airbus A320s. The last remaining A320s in the airline’s fleet completed their final flights into Perth on 12 June, before being removed from commercial service.

On intra-WA routes, Virgin is replacing its A320s with brand new, much more comfortable Embraer E190s – the first of which arrived last year.

Virgin Australia also previously used its A320s on several routes outside of WA, including Perth-Adelaide, Perth-Darwin and Perth-Hobart. Virgin now uses comfortable Boeing 737s on these routes, which offer Wi-Fi, Business Class, and better legroom in Economy.

These A320s originally came from Tigerair

The Virgin Australia Regional Airlines A320s had been part of Tigerair’s fleet, until the low-cost carrier went out of business at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the Airbus A320 itself is a perfectly capable aircraft, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines did not change the cabin interiors after taking these particular A320s over from Tigerair. As a low-cost carrier, Tigerair offered poor legroom, no Business Class and no extra features on board such as Wi-Fi or charging outlets – and this carried through to the new operator.

While that’s fine for a budget airline, the A320 was not a hit with Virgin Australia passengers. Some AFF members have “affectionately” labelled these particular A320s as “hellships” as they are not particularly comfortable.

One AFF member commented “knees rejoice!” after the last of the Virgin A320s were finally taken out of service.

QantasLink now serves the Indian Ocean Territories

Unfortunately for Virgin Australia, the Airbus A320 was the only aircraft in its fleet capable of operating flights to Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Flights from Perth to both Australian Indian Ocean Territories are operated under an Australian government contract.

In November 2025, QantasLink took over the contract to service Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands from Perth instead. It operates twice weekly services as QF371/372 and QF373/374 on Mondays and Fridays.

According to AeroRoutes, the last time Qantas had served the Cocos Islands was in 1966 – as a refuelling stop on its weekly Lockheed Electra service to Johannesburg.

Unlike Virgin Australia, Qantas is offering reward seats on its flights to the Indian Ocean Territories. For example, you could book a one-way Economy Classic Reward from Perth to Christmas Island for 20,700 Qantas Points + taxes & charges.