At the turn of the millennium, the Australian commercial aviation industry was dominated by Qantas which held the lion’s share of both the domestic and international markets. On August 31, 2000, British business magnate, Sir Richard Branson together with Australian businessman, Brett Godley set out to target the low-cost market when they launched Virgin Blue.
The new airline commenced operations with a pair of Boeing 737-400s, VH-VGA (c/n 28489) and VH-VOZ (c/n 26302) – the former leased from sister airline Virgin Express. At its launch, Virgin Blue operated a single route between Brisbane and Sydney offering seven return flights a week.
Within a year of entering the market it coincided with the collapse of Ansett Australia – one of its major competitors – leaving behind a vacuum that Virgin Blue was able to fill. This set of events contributed to the rise from a fledgling start-up into the country’s second largest domestic carrier.
Throughout the 2000s, routes were expanded, and the fleet was upgraded in order to compete with the flag carrier and its regional subsidiary QantasLink. The 737-400s were replaced with Next Generation (NG) t…
