Virgin Blue will today mark another milestone by checking in its 5-millionth Guest, just 12 months after celebrating the carriage of its millionth Guest.

The airline expects he or she to check in this morning at Adelaide airport for the 9.45am flight to Melbourne where they will be given a champagne shower by the Virgin Blue ground crew and a bag of goodies to mark the occasion.

Brett Godfrey, Virgin Blue Chief Executive said, “It took us 12 months to reach our millionth passenger and in the second year, we’ve quadrupled it, highlighting our commitment to expansion and our determination to ensure real aviation competition in our country is honoured.

We are thrilled by our continued growth, the continued support from the Australian public and our future plans which include low fares to new destinations, new terminal facilities at a number of key ports and innovative new concepts to enhance the Virgin Blue travel experience for our business Guests.

Additional news for key Virgin Blue cities:

The airline has also announced a number of significant schedule improvements and increased frequencies following overwhelming demand on a number of key routes, especially the recently introduced Perth-Sydney service. The extra flights will begin from late August when new aircraft arrive from the Boeing factory in Seattle. It means for people living in…

- Adelaide: A new convenient morning departure to Melbourne at 8.30am taking the number of flights to Melbourne to 6 a day. Flights from Adelaide to Hobart will also be available from August 31 via Melbourne, with a brief connection time of 30 minutes or for another Tassie option, a new Adelaide-Launceston connection via Melbourne. This is also on top of the recent daily direct Adelaide-Gold Coast route.
- Brisbane: An extra flight to Sydney leaving at 7.55am and arriving in Sydney at 9.30am to cater for those business Guests who need a little bit of extra sleep and keep missing the peak early morning flights. A connecting flight to Hobart will be available from August 31 via Melbourne with a smooth connection. An additional afternoon connecting flight to Perth will also provide Guests with an added option to W.A.
- Cairns: Brand new connecting flight via Sydney to Perth. Swap the mangoes for Margaret River.
- Canberra: A new connecting flight to Hobart from August 31 via Melbourne providing affordable access between the Aussie and Tassie capitals.
- Gold Coast: Convenient new connections between the Gold Coast and Perth as well as a connection to Melbourne via Sydney to complement the direct Gold Coast-Melbourne service. Head south for shopping or west for a winery weekend.  - Hobart: The introduction of the brand new direct Hobart-Melbourne service scheduled for August 31 along with easy connections to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney. - Launceston: A new and easy 55 minute connecting flight to Sydney via Melbourne leaving at 1.05pm and arriving in Sydney at 4.25pm.
- Melbourne: 5 new daily flights out of Melbourne including 3 additional services a day to Sydney taking it to 17 Melbourne-Sydney flights a day to cater for Virgin Blue’s ever growing business travellers who demand more choice and flexibility on this key corporate route. A new early morning departure to Adelaide as well as the brand new non-stop flight to Hobart. An additional new slick connection from the Gold Coast will also be on offer.
- Sydney: Sydney-siders are in for a flight option bonanza with an extra 4 direct services a day including 3 to Melbourne, one in the morning, one mid-afternoon and one in the evening to cater for increasing demand on Australia’s busiest route. An additional flight to Perth will also depart early evening following the huge popularity of the recently introduced Sydney-Perth service. New connections available from Sydney to Hobart via Melbourne with a brief stopover. Sydney Guests can also split to the Big Banana soon with flights to Coffs Harbour from July 31.
- Perth: An additional daily Sydney return departing Perth in the evening and arriving in Sydney early morning to complement the daily flight introduced two weeks ago. The doubling in frequency so early reflects the extraordinary response Virgin Blue has had to the Perth-Sydney launch service with average load factors exceeding 80%. New connecting services via Sydney to Brisbane, Melbourne, Gold Coast and tropical Cairns.

Virgin Blue will operate brand new Boeing 737 aircraft on the routes, with leather seats throughout and an enhanced food and beverage menu, particularly for longer haul flights. We greatly appreciate the enthusiastic support we’ve had from the travelling public and can assure our loyal Guests that we will continue to respond to their travel needs, whether it be for business or pleasure or both. As more terminal space becomes available, Virgin Blue intends to add more flights around the country and eventually overseas and will be looking to the destinations where there is the most demand”, finished Brett Godfrey. Virgin Blue is Australia’s multi-award winning low fare airline servicing every state and territory in the country with its fleet of brand new Next Generation 737 aircraft.

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