How to Fly on an ex-Virgin Australia Airbus A330

If you fly Virgin Australia Business Class today, you’ll get a wide leather seat with a bit of recline on a Boeing 737. But until 2020, Virgin Australia also offered a hugely popular lie-flat Business Class product on its Airbus A330s.

Until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration and removed all wide-body aircraft from its fleet, the airline had six Airbus A330-200s. These jets primarily served routes from the Australian east coast to Perth and Hong Kong.

Those A330s had 20 fully flat Business Class seats spread across five rows, which Virgin Australia marketed as “the business”. It was a sensational Business Class product by any measure, let alone for domestic flights. In fact, it was so good that it practically forced Qantas to upgrade its own domestic A330 fleet, just to be competitive.

Virgin Australia’s Economy Class on the A330 was also quite pleasant, with a 2-4-2 seating layout and seat-back entertainment screens.

While many Virgin frequent flyers miss “the business”, the good news is that there is a way to relive the experience. Well, sort of…

After Virgin returned its A330s to the lessor, other airlines have now picked them up second-hand. Some of those airlines have even retained the Virgin Australia interiors, including the seats, and they’re still as comfortable as ever.

Virgin Australia’s A330s now fly for other airlines

Three of the six Airbus A330-200s that Virgin Australia flew until 2020 are now in operation with Boliviana de Aviación, a South American airline. The other three have found new homes with Spanish operators.

Here’s where those planes are now:

The aircraft bound for Iberia had been parked at Perth Airport for well over three years following Virgin Australia’s administration. It is not yet in service with Iberia, but we understand that Iberia will probably refurbish the jet with its own seats.

How to relive “the business” on an ex-Virgin A330

If you want to relive “the business” on a former Virgin Australia A330, your best bet would be to book a ticket on Boliviana de Aviación. They have only three A330s in their fleet, which are all ex-Virgin, and they fly a consistent set of routes. So, you’d be pretty much guaranteed to get an ex-Virgin aircraft if you booked on the A330.

By all accounts, the Business Class airfares are also quite reasonable on Boliviana de Aviación, the national carrier of Bolivia. But we’ll be the first to admit that, for most Australians, this is a very niche airline…

Where the Boliviana de Aviación A330s are flying

The Bolivian A330s are based at Viru Viru International Airport (VVI) in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the largest city in Bolivia. They mainly fly on the following routes:

• Santa Cruz (VVI) – Miami (MIA)
• Santa Cruz (VVI) – Madrid (MAD)
• Madrid (MAD) – Cochabamba (CBB)

Even if you don’t specifically want to visit Bolivia, the airline also sells connecting itineraries (for example) from Miami to Brazil and Argentina via Santa Cruz.

Unfortunately, there are no practical ways to redeem points for this airline. But the premium cabin airfares aren’t too expensive as Boliviana de Aviación’s business model seems to be to undercut competitors on price.

According to recent reviews, this airline’s on-board service in Business is not as polished as on Virgin Australia. But the seat and bedding are still extremely good.

What about the LEVEL and Privilege Style A330s?

LEVEL and Privilege Style have also retained the Virgin Australia seats, but booking a seat on one of those planes is a bit more tricky.

LEVEL currently has six Airbus A330-200s in its fleet, but only one is an ex-Virgin Australia jet. On this aircraft, LEVEL sells the Business Class section as “Premium Economy”.

You could work out which plane you’re booking based on the seat map, but LEVEL uses this plane on three different routes alongside other jets, and could switch out the aircraft at the last minute. You’ll primarily find the LEVEL A330 on the following trans-Atlantic routes, operating under Iberia flight numbers:

• Barcelona (BCN) – Boston (BOS)
• Barcelona (BCN) – Los Angeles (LAX)
• Barcelona (BCN) – Miami (MIA)

Privilege Style is a charter airline which operates flights under wet lease arrangements for other airlines that temporarily need an extra plane or two.

I actually spotted this Privilege Style aircraft in Paramaribo back in April, when it was operating the Amsterdam-Paramaribo route on behalf of Surinam Airways. (Unfortunately I didn’t get to fly it, as I was booked on KLM.) But in recent months it’s flown for airlines including Iberia, Transavia and Air Europa, among various ad-hoc charters. So, booking a ticket on this exact aircraft could be challenging.

Some of Virgin Australia’s 777s now fly for Qatar Airways

If the stars don’t quite align for you to fly on a former Virgin Australia A330, it’s also possible to fly on an ex-Virgin Boeing 777 sporting the original Virgin Australia interiors with Qatar Airways.

In fact, on these planes, Qatar Airways is even selling the old Virgin Premium Economy seats as “Comfort+” seats for just a small surcharge over Economy.

It’s not yet clear whether Virgin Australia will use those same Boeing 777s on its wet-leased flights to Doha operated by Qatar Airways, which will commence next year. But it would be pretty cool if they did!

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.