Components supply for startup airline Virgin Blue Four-year contract covering growing fleet of Boeing 737s
The young startup airline Virgin Blue is the first customer on the Australian continent to contract with Lufthansa Technik AG (LHT). Owned by Virgin Holding, the new airline began operating at the end of August.
LHT will be supplying components for its fleet, which consists at the moment of three Boeing 737-400s, a number expected to grow to five before the year is out. The contract will run for four years.
Lufthansa Technik will be stocking a basic supply of the most important components in Brisbane, where Virgin Blue has its home base. The Australian airline will also have access to LHT`s worldwide components pool. The intention is gradually to convert an initially limited line of components into a full line, which will be available under LHT`s Total Components Support (TCS) program. In addition, LHT is negotiating with the Australian low-price carrier about supplying components for the already ordered ten Boeing 737-700s, the first of which will join the Virgin Blue fleet in April 2001.

“Virgin Blue is very happy to be associated with Lufthansa Technik as it has a worldwide reputation for providing a high standard of service and reliability which we see as vital”, says Rob Sherrard, Virgin Blue`s Chief Operating Officer.

For the past two months Virgin Blue has been running flights between Brisbane and Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne. It has announced that it will be increasing the frequency of those flights later this year, and that it is planning to offer flights between Brisbane and Adelaide starting in mid-December.
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