Virgin Australia will finally return to the Sydney-Canberra route from 30 January 2022, after an absence of almost two years. But it won’t be flying its own planes on the hour-long hop between Australia’s largest city and the national capital.

Instead, the flights will be operated by Link Airways, which rebranded last year from its previous name of Fly Corporate.

Link Airways also operates its own network of regional flights throughout Queensland, NSW, ACT and Tasmania, including scheduled flights from Canberra to Newcastle and Hobart using Saab 340 and Metroliner planes. The carrier will use its Saab 340B Plus aircraft on the Sydney-Canberra route, featuring 34 Economy class seats in a 1-2 layout.

Prior to COVID-19, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines operated regular ATR72 flights between Canberra and Sydney. But since Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration, it no longer operates any of its own regional turboprop aircraft.

Virgin had previously scheduled double-daily Boeing 737 flights on the Sydney-Canberra route, which was due to relaunch in early 2021. But these flights were progressively cancelled before eventually being removed entirely from Virgin’s schedule.

Rather than operating double-daily flights on large jet aircraft, Virgin will be able to offer up to nine daily frequencies on Link Airways’ 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft. While much smaller and lacking a Business class cabin, these planes are a more suitable size for the Sydney-Canberra route.

The Link Airways-operated flights will have a Virgin Australia (VA) flight number and customers will earn Velocity points & status credits. Passengers will receive complimentary tea, coffee or water on board.

While these services will provide an alternative QantasLink and Rex on the Canberra-Sydney route, they also open up more onward connections for Canberrans travelling to other Virgin Australia destinations via Sydney. Currently, for example, Virgin is not offering flights from Canberra to Coffs Harbour due to the lack of a Canberra-Sydney connecting flight.

Virgin has hinted that its new agreement with Link Airways could extend to other routes that Virgin’s own Boeing 737-800s cannot serve effectively.

“Link Airways are excited to work with Virgin Australia on the resumption of their services connecting Canberra and Sydney,” Link Airways CEO Andrew Major said.

“The frequency of the services offered is a strong indication of the value Virgin Australia places in facilitating connections between Canberra and interstate destinations. As a Canberra headquartered airline, we particularly look forward to the commencement of the services in January.”

Virgin currently has a similar agreement with Alliance Airlines, which operates a small number of routes on behalf of Virgin Australia within Queensland such as Brisbane-Emerald.

The ACCC has been investigating Qantas’ purchase of a 19.9% stake of Alliance Airlines in 2019.

Currently, Qantas fares on the Sydney-Canberra route start from $198 one-way in Economy while Rex tickets are available from $99 one-way. Virgin Australia is currently offering fares on its new services operated by Link Airways from $119 one-way.

Virgin Australia also reopened its lounge at Canberra Airport yesterday.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: CBR-SYD restarting

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.