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Virgin Australia will convert 12 of its 737 MAX 10 orders to MAX 8s as Boeing delays continue to hold up its fleet renewal program.
The MAX 8 aircraft are expected to be delivered from the second half of 2025, with Boeing still having not received certification for the larger MAX 10. The change brings Virgin’s total MAX 8 order from 14 to 26, with eight having already arrived.
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“As we look towards the future, it is important we have certainty around our pipeline of new aircraft,” Virgin Australia’s chief strategy and transformation officer, Alistair Hartley, said.
“This decision will safeguard our schedule, allow us to continue to explore opportunities for growth across our domestic and short-haul international network and ensure we can continue to provide our guests with industry-leading reliability.
“The MAX 8 continues to perform very well in the Virgin Australia fleet. It is 15 per cent more fuel efficient and 40 per cent quieter than the 737-800NG and offers a more comfortable flying experience for our guests.”
The news comes more than a month after Virgin moved to take over the leases of three former Rex 737-800s following the smaller airline’s collapse into voluntary administration at the end of July, a sign of its appetite for more aircraft in a difficult market.
At the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Brisbane on Friday, outgoing Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said the carrier needed to shore up its supply of new planes.
“It’s really hard when you get a delay from your manufacturer, Boeing, then you hang onto aircraft longer than you planned, you suffer from the lack of growth or try to acquire new aircraft on the secondary market, which is really hard,” she said.
“We’ve got a shortage of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft globally which makes it really difficult.”
In March, Australian Aviation reported how Virgin was staring down potential late arrivals of 31 new 737 MAX aircraft, including all 25 of its MAX 10s, owing to increased production delays across all Boeing aircraft types. The MAX 10s are not expected to arrive until 2026 at the earliest.
Virgin currently operates a fleet mainly comprising older 737-800 aircraft, with some 737-700s, A320s and Fokker 100s handling flights for Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. Virgin last month announced it would move to replace its four remaining Fokker 100s with new Embraer E190-E2s.
Its first MAX 8 arrived last year after being delayed by problems at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, forcing the airline to initially use 737-700s on its Cairns–Tokyo (Haneda) route instead of MAX 8s as it had planned.
Despite the issues, the carrier increased its 737 MAX 8 order from eight to 14 in November. As the planes arrive, Virgin plans to deploy them on domestic routes servicing Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Cairns, as well as overseas destinations such as Fiji, Bali and Samoa.
