V Australia will add a third weekly Melbourne-Johannesburg service to its schedule from December, the carrier announced as its first inbound service arrived in Melbourne on March 17.
The new service will commence on December 16 after the carrier takes its fifth Boeing 777-300ER. The airline says it will be focusing on attracting business traffic on the new service, as well as taking advantage of the strong leisure market.
There is a very strong existing VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market between South Africa and Australia and we are confident we can further stimulate this through affordable fares, while at the same time promoting Australia as a highly desirable leisure destination for South African tourists,” Virgin Blue Group CEO Brett Godfrey said.
V Australia currently has authorisation to operate up to five weekly services between Australia and South Africa, indicating that the airline could still launch more services to Johannesburg in the future. Qantas and South African Airways also operate flights to South Africa, from Sydney and Perth respectively.
