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Virgin has confirmed it will axe its direct flights between Darwin and Adelaide during the Top End’s tourism season this year.
The proposed three-times weekly service was set to return on 22 June but has now been suspended “indefinitely” due to low forecasted demand.
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“While we understand this will be disappointing for some guests, this enables us to reallocate capacity to markets where demand is higher,” the airline said.
In particular, the carrier said it would increase seat capacity through Darwin by approximately 9 per cent compared to the same period last year, including adding more peak season direct flights between Darwin and Brisbane and Darwin and Melbourne.
Currently, the route is also serviced by Qantas, which flies daily using its E190s, and Jetstar, which flies four times weekly using its A321neos.
The news comes after Australian Aviation reported how Virgin has launched a European price war with Qantas that will see it fly from Sydney to London for as little as $2,000 return.
It marks the airline’s first aggressive move to market to European destinations since it stopped flying to the hub airports of Hong Kong in 2020 and Abu Dhabi in 2017 before entering administration in 2020.
The low prices will also likely be seen as an attempt to convince the federal government to approve its deal with Qatar, enabling flights to Doha.
Qatar announced last year it would purchase a 25 per cent stake in the Australian airline and, as part of the agreement, would ‘wet lease’ aircraft and crew to Virgin so it could fly 28 services a week to the Middle Eastern country’s capital.
The “flash sale fares” are for travel between 17 June and 11 July 2025 on flights from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth to Doha (VA1/2, VA15/16 or VA21/22) and onward connections to Europe.
Economy class fares include Sydney to Paris from $1,927 return, Sydney to London from $2,035 return and Brisbane to Barcelona from $1,938 return.
However, while flights to Doha are due to begin in June, they still have to receive final sign-off from the federal government’s Foreign Investment Review Board.
