Virgin Australia’s first Boeing 737 MAX is expected to arrive this week, in what will no doubt be trumpeted by the airline as another chapter in its extraordinary turn-around since collapsing into administration just over three years ago in April 2020, before being rescued and rebooted under new owners Bain Capital.
The 737 MAX, which has been christened ‘Monkey Mia’ – continuing Virgin’s tradition of naming its aircraft after Australian bodies of water – is set to make the long journey from Boeing’s Seattle hub to Brisbane.
It will touch down as Virgin launches the new Cairns-Tokyo route for which the MAX was originally earmarked – however, those daily flights will initially be undertaken by an older Boeing 737-700 jet.
Virgin says the new MAX jet will be rostered onto domestic routes “for a short period” of time before beginning flights to Tokyo “to allow time for crew familiarisation and to obtain routine regulatory approvals.”
“The arrival of Monkey Mia is a significant milestone in our fleet renewal program and broader transformation” and will be followed by a further seven 737-8s over the coming years.
In addition to Cairns-Tokyo, Virgin is pencilling in a growing series of domestic and short-range international routes for its MAX fleet, ranging from the Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle and east-west services to Perth to overseas hops to Bali and Fiji.
“It will do a great job for us transcontinental (and) it’ll do a great job for us in more traditional short-haul international routes,” Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has previously remarked.
In addition to these eight 737 MAX 8 aircraft, Virgin also has 25 of the larger 737 MAX 10 jets slated for delivery starting in 2024.
Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737 MAX business, economy class
As previously reported, the Boeing 737 MAX will also see the debut of new business and economy class seating.
Each of Virgin’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets will be crowned by a new business class seat – although this is tipped to be the same design that’s being trialled on two of the airline’s Boeing 737-800s already darting around Virgin’s domestic network.
Hrdlicka is full of praise for the comfortable and well-appointed seats, which add a leg-rest and storage pocket lacking in the current business class, as well as AC/USB power outlets and a handy holder for tablet and smartphones.
“Our customers love them, and our crew love them too,” Hrdlicka has previously told Executive Traveller, adding the airline remains on a growth trajectory “and the MAX 8 is a modern fuel-efficient replacement” for its workhorse 737-800s.
The new concept economy seat offers a little extra legroom thanks to a slightly slimmer profile, with a fold-out device holder for the passenger’s tablet or smartphone and a handy USB port nearby (although this isn’t active in the seats Virgin is already flying).
And Hrdlicka has no qualms about flying on the MAX, saying the exhaustive testing following two fatal crashes and a global grounding makes it “probably the safest aircraft in the world today.”
Virgin 737 MAX vs Qantas A321neo
While the past two decades have seen Qantas and Virgin both flying the Boeing 737 as the backbone of their domestic inter-city networks, that all changes from the end of 2023, when Qantas will add the Airbus A220 – a game-changing jet capable of tackling inter-city as well as regional routes – with the Qantas Airbus A321XLR joining the fray from late 2024.
However, it appears the first Qantas A321XLRs won’t push that transformative envelope to include lie-flat beds in business class, with Qantas instead settling for an updated version of a premium economy-style recliner at the pointy end.
Source: https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/virgin-australia-first-boeing-737-max-delivery
