Virgin Australia, Qantas into Business Class airfares war

Virgin Australia and Qantas are firming up their girdles for an imminent face off over business class airfares at Cairns Airport. The airline has decided to take on Qantas and is all set to provide business class flights to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Virgin Australia has announced that it will introduce business class on 10 daily return flights to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from January next year. The airline will deploy Airbus A330, Boeing 737-700 and 800s and Embraer aircrafts to operate flights on these routes starting from January 18, 2012.

A top official of Virgin Australia said that the airline will be offering one-way fares to Brisbane at US$481.50, to Sydney at US$1,035.04 and to Melbourne at US$1,258.04. When compared with the business class airfares being offered by Qantas, the offerings by Virgin Australia are quite cheaper.

Virgin Australia is going to have an edge over Qantas in terms of business class price wars. The costly Qantas is offering business class tickets to Brisbane at US$1,177.13, to Sydney at US$1,532.34 and to Melbourne at US$1,671.46.

Kevin Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Cairns Airport, expressed delight and welcomed Virgin Australia for the introduction of business class. He also said that the airport is hopeful that Virgin Australia will be opening a lounge at Cairn Airport’s domestic terminal in the future.