Virgin Australia has flown its last commercial flight with the Embraer E-Jet, after E190 VH-ZPH operated flight VA1105 from Newcastle to Brisbane on Saturday.
Wet and sombre skies greeted the E190 in Brisbane, where it touched down at 12:51 local time following a one hour and eight minute flight from Newcastle, flight tracking website Flightaware shows.
There she goes! The last ever E190 to depart from Newcastle Airport. This one is enroute to BNE. Pic:Matt Stockdale pic.twitter.com/bgwvIdBpkz
— Newcastle Airport (@NTLairport) February 3, 2018
Virgin Australia announced its decision to phase out the E190 from service in mid-2016 as part of plans to rationalise the airline group’s fleet to help cut costs. Other changes include the withdrawal for some of its ATR turboprop fleet and the transition of low-cost carrier subsidiary Tigerair from an all-Airbus A320 operator to the Boeing 737.
“Fleet simplification through reduction in fleet types will make the business more scalable and productive,” Virgin said at the time.
Meanwhile, Virgin Australia has taken delivery of its last Boeing 737-800 on order. Named Dreamtime Beach and registered VH-YWE, the 737 arrived in Brisbane on January 31 after transiting Kona, Hawaii and Nadi, Fiji on its delivery flight from Boeing Field.
“This week, we’re very happy to have welcomed our newest Boeing 737-800 Next-Generation (NG) aircraft to our fleet, named Dreamtime Beach,” the airline wrote in a blog post on its website. ”
“This delivery completes our Boeing 737 fleet of more than 80 aircraft.”
Dreamtime Beach’s arrival is the last currently planned delivery of a new aircraft type to Virgin Australia until the first of the airline’s 40 Boeing 737 MAXes on order is delivered in the second half of 2019.
