The fledgling airline, announced today that it will have to postpone its first service from Sydney to Los Angeles:
Virgin Blue Airlines Group announced today that an ongoing strike at
The Boeing Company’s Seattle plant has forced a delay to the planned 15
December, 2008 launch of its long haul international airline V
Australia.The announcement comes after Boeing advised its customers including
V Australia that it cannot predict the duration of the dispute and
therefore cannot guarantee the delivery date of the airline’s launch
aircraft.
The brand new 777-3ZGER has been sitting on the Everett flight line since August 21st when it first left the paint hangar in the new livery. The aircraft, named Didgeree Blue and registered VH-VGA, has yet to fly.
Service between Australia and the United States will now begin February 28, 2009. The new launch schedule will first start the daily VA1 (SYD-LAX) and VA2 (LAX-SYD). The following day, V Australia will start a thrice weekly service from Brisbane to Los Angeles with VA7 and the reverse on VA8.
Photo credit: FlightBlogger – VH-VGA on the eve of the strike vote.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.