Virgin Australia will add Japan to its international cargo network, beginning March 29, 2020, with daily services between Brisbane and Tokyo-Haneda. Cargo space on the new route will be marketed by Virgin Atlantic Cargo under a long-standing international long-haul sales and marketing agreement with Virgin Australia.
The daily A330 flight will offer between 15 tons and 20 tons of cargo capacity. The new route, Virgin Australia’s first-ever service to Tokyo, is expected to attract strong demand from both passengers and cargo customers. With the launch of the new Brisbane-Tokyo route, Virgin Australia will be suspending an existing Hong Kong-Melbourne service effective Feb. 11, 2020, due to softening passenger demand, but said it will continue to closely monitor the route and look to reenter the market in the future if it is financially viable to do so.
Dominic Kennedy, managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said in a statement, “Although the route will be stopping in February, we will continue to offer capacity on Virgin Australia’s daily Sydney-Hong Kong flights and provide a direct trucking service between Melbourne and Sydney to ensure customers retain access to the important Hong Kong cargo market.”
Virgin Atlantic Cargo also markets cargo capacity on Virgin Australia’s direct services connecting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with Los Angeles, where they also link directly into Virgin Atlantic’s international network.
Virgin Australia Cargo offers more than 3,400 flights per week through access to the Virgin Australia Group’s flight network of 47 domestic and 16 international destinations.