2065438+In July 2007, RichardBranson, founder of Virgin Australia, attended the launching ceremony of the maiden voyage from Melbourne to Hong Kong. (Sydney Morning Herald photo)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald and the South China Morning Post, Virgin Australia, Australia's second largest airline.
Australia will permanently cancel all flights between Hong Kong and Australia next month. The novel coronavirus crisis became the last straw to overwhelm Virgin Australia, and the airline decided to give up its three-year efforts and enter this Asian aviation hub.
Virgin Australia confirmed today that it will stop flights between Sydney and Hong Kong on March 2. The airline had previously "conducted a comprehensive review of this route" and concluded that this route is no longer commercially feasible.
Virgin Atlantic announced last year that it would cut flights from Melbourne to Hong Kong 1 1, and today confirmed that the last flight will take off in February 1 1.
The airline has been flying to Hong Kong since 20 17, trying to break into this high-demand aviation market dominated by Cathay Pacific and Qantas.
However, the Australian Departmentof Infrastructure
According to infrastructure data, Virgin Australia's flight vacancy rate in Hong Kong reached 36% in June last year. In contrast, Qantas and Cathay Pacific are only 20%.
Virgin Atlantic said today that the demand for this "challenging" route was severely hit by the demonstrations in Hong Kong for several months and the uncertainty surrounding the new coronary artery epidemic, which led to the company's decision to cancel this route.
Virgin Chief Commercial Officer mcleod (John
MacLeod) said that withdrawing from the Hong Kong market is a difficult choice, but with the help of Virgin's other airlines and cooperative airlines, international tourism is still an important part of the company's strategy.
Virgin Atlantic said it would contact customers who booked flights to Hong Kong on or after March 2 and make other travel arrangements for them.