Virgin Blue has announced it will increase its frequency later this year on its Brisbane-Melbourne route from three to five return flights a day, following growing demand from business traffic and requests for an early morning flight originating out of Melbourne.

The Brisbane-Sydney route will also be increased from seven to eight return flights a day with a new afternoon peak hour flight from Sydney in response to growing demand.

For business travellers departing from Melbourne, an additional morning flight will operate from the Victorian capital, allowing them to be in the Brisbane CBD before 9:00 am for a full business day.

There will also be more options when it comes to travelling from Brisbane to Melbourne on Virgin Blue with an extra evening return flight as well a second morning flight for the southbound businessperson.

Chief Executive Officer, Brett Godfrey, said, “We are reacting to an obvious need to increase capacity on both routes. At the moment, the temporary terminal facility at Melbourne airport is restrictive, but with Melbourne Airport indicating the new Express Terminal will soon be ready. In light of the encouraging support we`ve had from the business market, we are eager to commit more resources to the Brisbane-Melbourne route.”

Brisbane travellers will be able to take advantage of another early morning departure to Melbourne and an additional evening return to Brisbane.

Brett Godfrey said, ” We will focus on increasing frequencies on our existing routes to allow for more flexibility and choice, which is what business people need and we will also steadily expand our route network as more Virgin Blue aircraft are introduced into service.”

He continued, “It`s an exciting growth period for Virgin Blue and we are keen to respond to the clear demand we`ve had for expanded routes and frequencies”.

Virgin Blue`s fleet has an average age of less than six years, younger than either of the major airlines, and Virgin Blue will soon operate the youngest fleet in the world when it takes delivery from Boeing of 10 brand new Next Generation 737`s from April next year.

During the first quarter of 2001, Virgin Blue will review whether to introduce the first of these modern aircraft onto the popular Sydney-Melbourne route.

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