Virgin Australia, which operates the fired aircraft from Qatar Airways, officially began their long -term flights to Doha from the cities of Sydney, Pressban and Burith last week, followed by Melbourne to Doha in December 2025.
The announcement of this came during a special lunch in Doha to celebrate the first flight of Virgin Australia from Sydney to Doha in partnership with Qatar Airways, in the presence of dignitaries and officials of the two companies, the officials of the tourism sector, in addition to the Australian ambassador to Qatar, and representatives of the media.
Through Hamad International Airport in Doha, flights allow more than 100 air tracks across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and managed to passengers from Australia to benefit from a set of opportunities to earn the loyalty and increasing recovery program points for the members of the franchise club of the Qatar Airways and Velusiti program.
In addition, new trips offer a large boost to the Economy and the Australian tourism sector, which produces an economic value of about $ 3 billion in the next five years.
This cooperation also supports the growth of job opportunities, whether in Virgin Australia or in the wider aviation and tourism sectors in Australia, where Qatar Airways is scheduled to provide chances of loaning 20 pilots from Virgin Australia and 40 hospitality crew members in 2025. In a related context, sustainability is one of the other important areas of partnership between the two carriers, which includes developing sustainable aircraft fuel initiatives.
This comes in the wake of the Australian government’s approval to invest the Qatar Airways Group by 25 percent in Virgin Australia on February 27 to join Payne Capital, the joint stock company at the largest value.
The Qatar Airways Group and Fergen Australia have obtained the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Committee (ACCC) for the integrated alliance between the two companies. This final decision included the launch of 28 flights per week for Virgin Australia between Australia and Doha- which is operating under a lease contract with Qatar Airways. In the context, Qatar Airways and Fergen Australia signed in October 2024, also a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in a set of sustainability initiatives, including initiatives aimed at enhancing the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), environmental management including waste and energy management, sustainable purchases, and the development of the workforce in the field of aviation.
It is worth noting that the Virgin Australia Group was founded in 2000 by Sir Richard Branson and is now one of the largest Australian airlines that operate its flights via a wide local network in addition to short -term international flights, flight rental and shipping operations and its loyalty program, Velocity Flyer. The group uses more than 7,800 employees and includes more than 12 million members of Veloti who can use their points to reserve their flights to more than 600 destinations around the world through Virgin Australia and a network of global partner airlines.