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Virgin Australia’s first Embraer E190-E2 has officially entered revenue service after arriving in Perth last month.
VH-E2A Coral Bay, the first of eight E190-E2s for Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA), operated its first commercial flight, VA9217, on Monday, taking off from Perth at 7:15am and arriving in Boolgeeda at 9:05am.
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According to VARA executive general manager Nathan Miller, the new aircraft – which will primarily operate charter and FIFO services in WA, but can also be used for regular passenger transport with its dual-class configuration – marks “a major milestone not just for VARA but for regional aviation in Western Australia”.
“The E190-E2 is currently the world’s quietest and most fuel-efficient single-aisle jet in its class, with the design and range to meet the challenges of the mining regions we operate to across the state,” he said.
“This aircraft sets a new benchmark for comfort, efficiency, and sustainability and ensures we are well-positioned to deliver a premium experience for our customers and the communities we serve today and into the future.”
VARA has seven more E190-E2s on order, which will arrive over the next two years to 2027. The first three will be retrofitted with in-flight Wi-Fi and entertainment early next year, and VARA has previously hinted they could be used for interstate passenger services.
Speaking to Australian Aviation on the ferry flight from Canberra in September, Miller also noted that the E2 could “theoretically” be deployed on short-haul international routes, but only in “a very unique circumstance”.
“I’ve had a few people ask me, you know, would we operate this to Bali, for example? The reality is that in that market, this is probably not the right aircraft to service that – I think that there are better aircraft, like our 737-800s and MAX 8s, that would better suit that market,” he said.
“If you look at it more along the lines of what Scoot are doing, if there’s a niche opportunity where a long, thin route only would service 100 people, that might very well be the sort of thing that we look at.
“I’d emphasise, however, that at this point in time, we’ve got a lot of stuff to do before we can start thinking about that.”
VARA will use the E2s to completely replace its Fokker 100 fleet, which averages around 30 years of age. The last Fokker is slated to leave service by early next year.
