Virgin Australia will soon take off from Adelaide to Bali.

The popular route will re-commence on 14 December 2022, just in time for the summer holidays.

To celebrate, the airline has dropped sale fares starting at $399 return until 25 September 2022.

There are also now rewards seats available on the dates we looked at.

Virgin Australia Group Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, Alistair Hartley said the airline was pleased to expand its short-haul international network.

“The return of our direct services between Adelaide and Denpasar is a reflection of the growing demand we continue to see for Bali since relaunching from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne earlier this year and announcing our first-ever direct Gold Coast services commencing in March 2023,” Mr Hartley said.

The route will be operated by a Boeing 737 featuring economy and business class. Flight VA 113 will depart Adelaide at 5.50 pm, landing at 8.40pm. The return flight VA 114 departs Bali at 10.50 pm, landing in Adelaide at 6.20am.

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Qantas announced today that it’s putting serious money into its Adelaide, Auckland, Port Hedland, and Rockhampton lounges.

Auckland International Airport

Qantas is set to totally revamp and expand its current lounge area at Auckland International Airport, a project that was delayed by the pandemic.

This will enhance the pre-flight experience for customers traveling between Australia and New Zealand, as well as those on the new Auckland-New York service.

The existing two lounges will be combined and redeveloped into a single Qantas International Lounge. It’ll also expand into a neighboring space, increasing overall capacity by around 40 percent, from 244 to 340 seats.

Design work will start soon, and construction will be done in stages so the lounge can stay open during renovations. The lounge will have features tailored for long-haul travel, based on positive feedback from other lounges like the Perth lounge.

Adelaide Domestic Airport

Qantas has plans to build a new 190-seat Business Lounge at Adelaide Domestic Airport and give their current Chairmans Lounge and Qantas Club a serious facelift.

This new Business Lounge will cater to all those business-savvy and premium leisure travelers Qantas has been attracting. Altogether, the three lounges will have a whopping 570 seats.

The Adelaide Airport lounge area revamp will start in the second half of 2023. South Australia’s tasty food scene and beautiful nature will play a big part in the design.

Rockhampton Airport

Qantas is building a new lounge at Rockhampton Airport to show their ongoing commitment to investing in regional Australia and as part of the airport’s overall facelift.

It’ll be double the size of the current one, with room for up to 60 guests, and should open its doors in November this year.

Port Hedland Airport

Qantas is also giving its Port Hedland lounge a makeover as part of a larger terminal upgrade. The new lounge will be much bigger, with enough space to quadruple the capacity to 120 guests. That’ll be perfect for the growing FIFO crowd.

The project is set to be finished by late 2023.

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Qantas will start flying to New York again after three-year pause due to COVID.

Starting from June 14, 2023, the new service will take Aussie travellers to New York via Auckland. The route will operate three days a week at first, using Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Before COVID, Qantas used to fly to New York via Los Angeles, but now they’re changing it up and making it easier for passengers (since transiting at LAX can be painful) by going through Auckland instead. And they’re upgrading the lounge in Auckland too.

The airline will be in direct competition with Air New Zealand on this route. Qantas also plans to fly non-stop to New York as part of Project Sunrise from 2025.

You can book flights from Sydney to Auckland to New York starting today.

Qantas already operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, and that’ll increase to 11 when the new New York flight starts.

In the first week, Qantas is flying two Points Planes, which means every seat in every cabin is available for Classic Reward flight on QF3 and QF4 on June 16. If you’re a Frequent Flyer based in Brisbane or Melbourne, you can also use Classic Rewards for your trans-Tasman flights. So, what are you waiting for? Book your flight now!

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Virgin Australia business class customers and top-tier frequent flyers can once again enjoy priority security screening in Brisbane and Melbourne, but only during the weekday morning peak travel period.

The airline has reopened Premium Entry in Brisbane and a Priority Screening lane at Melbourne Airport.

These are reserved for Velocity gold status holders and above, business class guests, and eligible high-tier guests of the airline’s international partners.

The lanes are open between 5.00am and 10.00am weekdays, allowing guests to swiftly move through both airports during those times.

Virgin Australia used to provide priority screening for eligible customers at all hours of the day, and it’s unclear if the airline hopes to return to that in the future or if weekday mornings are the ‘new normal’.

In the meantime, fast-track security remains shut at Sydney Airport.

Commenting on the situation, the airline spokesperson said that “Virgin Australia is continuing to work through options with Sydney Airport Corporation.”

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Have you been affected by months of chaos at airports around the country?

If so, get ready for an official “sorry” from Qantas.

Frequent flyers will start receiving an email and video message from CEO Alan Joyce from Monday.

Mr Joyce will acknowledge the recent challenges and blame a labour shortage and high levels of sick leave in its workforce.

The airline says it is rolling out a range of initiatives to improve mishandled bags and on time performance.

As well as saying sorry, Qantas is offering customers flight discounts and other benefits. These include:

• a $50 off a flight promo code
• 12 months status extension for Silver members and above
• more reward seats being released
• lounge pass invites for silver and gold members
• a special gift for platinum and above members.

Check your inbox next week with more info about these offers.

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