Virgin Australia will launch its new Cairns-Tokyo route next month using Boeing 737-700 aircraft due to a delay in the delivery of its new Boeing 737-8 MAX jets.
Virgin announced last year that it will launch daily flights from Cairns to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on 28 June 2023. The airline had intended to commence these flights with the first of its Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft, which it was due to receive by June this year. But production issues at Boeing have delayed the delivery of these new jets. The delays have also affected other airlines.
The airline must launch flights to Haneda Airport soon or risk ceding the valuable airport slots it won just before the pandemic to Qantas.
Rather than lose its Haneda Airport slots, Virgin will use the only two planes in its existing fleet that are capable of operating the 7.5 hour flight.
This is only a temporary measure. Virgin’s schedules currently indicate that the Boeing 737-700 will be used on the Cairns-Tokyo route until 8 August 2023. But this is subject to change, pending the delivery of Virgin’s 737 MAX planes.
What to expect on Virgin Australia’s 737-700
Virgin Australia currently has around seven Boeing 737-700 aircraft in its fleet. Two of these were originally delivered to Virgin Blue in 2005. The others came from other airlines and only entered Virgin’s fleet recently.
Australian Frequent Flyer understands Virgin will only be able to use the two ex-Virgin Blue 737-700s on its Cairns-Haneda route. That’s because Virgin’s other 737-700s don’t have the necessary safety certifications for long over-water flights.
The two Boeing 737-700s that will be used (VH-VBY and VH-VBZ) are fitted with 8 Business Class seats and 120 Economy seats. That’s significantly fewer Economy seats than the Boeing 737-8 MAX.
Virgin does not currently offer lie-flat Business Class seating on any of its aircraft.
Virgin Australia has not yet revealed what seats will be installed on the Boeing 737-8 MAX. But it’s expected that they will be similar to those found on the airline’s existing Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Why the Boeing 737-700 is Virgin’s only realistic option to Japan
When it originally won the right to launch daily flights to Tokyo Haneda just before the pandemic, Virgin Australia had planned to operate daily Airbus A330 flights from Brisbane. But Virgin no longer has any wide-body aircraft in its fleet. It now exclusively flies Boeing 737s. (Its regional subsidiary also flies A320s and Fokker 100s, but these aren’t capable of flying non-stop from Australia to Japan.)
The Boeing 737-800 doesn’t have enough range to fly from Cairns to Tokyo with a full payload, but the Boeing 737-700 is just able to do it.
Australian Frequent Flyer understands that Virgin had already been preparing for the possibility that the Boeing 737 MAX deliveries would be delayed. The airline had also considered adding an intermediate stop between Cairns and Tokyo, but this would have added several hours to the flight in each direction.
