Richard Branson plans SA-Oz service

V AUSTRALIA, Virgin Blue’s new long haul carrier, could begin services on the SA-Australia route if its bid for the additional frequencies made available through the recent bilateral discussions between South Africa and Australia is successful. According to FTW’s sister online travel news service, TravelHub, V Australia last month applied for the right to fly between Australia and South Africa. Virgin Blue is Australia’s secondlargest airline and was set up by Richard Branson. The airline will launch scheduled flights between Sydney and Los Angeles in December and between Brisbane and Los Angeles in February. According to TravelHub, it is planning to introduce five flights a week between Sydney and Johannesburg in October using B777-300ER aircraft on the route. In terms of the bilateral agreement, each country was awarded an additional 10 frequencies per week with four more weekly services becoming available from October next year and triple daily services possible from October 2010. But neither Qantas nor SAA has indicated any intention to take up the additional frequencies.