332 Services to Fiji?

[serfty]

I have been tracking some aircraft slated for some flights I am on today and have noted one them is a 332 Currently operating NAN-BNE.

Do any know if this Is this a regular thing or a one off due to loadings etc.? If the former, how long has it been going on?

Virgin Australia (VA) #176 ✈ 03-Sep-2017 ✈ NAN / NFFN - BNE / YBBN ✈ FlightAware

 

[henrus]

Someone asked this question on AUSBT and my answer is below. VA A330's have gone to Fiji for a while now but less and less are being used on the route.



"They are currently running A330's from Sydney/Melbourne to Nadi and back on a Saturday and Brisbane on a Sunday.


The plan is for the A330's from Sydney to continue every Saturday until 7 October after which it will only be 737's. The A330's will make a one off return on the Sydney - Nadi - Sydney route around Christmas time with A330 flights on the on the 9th, 16th and30th of December 2017 plus the 6th, 13th and 20th of January 2018.


The A330's will continue to operate from Brisbane on Sundays until the 1st of October. The Brisbane to Nadi service will again be upgraded to the A330 over December/January with Sunday flights on the 10th, 17th, 31st of December and 7th, 14th and 21st of January also A330 flights.


Finally, from Melbourne, the A330's are scheduled to operate every Saturday from 19th of August till the 14th of October (with no A330 flights over Christmas)"

 

[Must...Fly!]

I spotted XFD overflying the Melbourne CBD last night and was a little surprised to see it having come from Fiji, but then I recalled it had happened previously. Good way to up the utilisation. At least they're not sitting on the tarmac doing nothing for 36+ hours over a weekend.

 

[Pleb Status]

The 332 which operates VA470 BNE-PER on Sundays used to sit around all day in BNE.

It has been recently doing the BNE-NAN-BNE run on Sunday mornings (VH-XFG today) and this is why there has been a schedule change from 17:30 to 17:45 for VA470 on the days the NAN service operates.

As an aside, I note that VA337 MEL-BNE (and returning as VA352) is being operated today by VH-XFJ. A nice surprise for those in J...

 

[deva22]

I remember reading somewhere that it's a seasonal service over December/Jan when there is demand for more capacity...