Virgin Australia to Buy 787s or A350s

Virgin Australia is looking to buy either Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner or Airbus’ still-in-development A350 to bolster domestic and international routes.

Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti said a longer range jet is part of their expansion in to international routes as the airline moves past being solely a budget carrier.

The airline will be looking at Boeing’s 787-9, the latest composite variant for the U.S. plane maker and the A350 by Airbus, which is a direct competitor to Boeing’s plane.

‘The airline already serves Bali and Phuket from Perth and code-shares with alliance partner Singapore Airlines to Singapore and London.

On the radar is a service to Abu Dhabi to connect with alliance partner Etihad Airways’ extensive European network.

“Either we will operate it or Etihad,” Mr Borghetti said.

Virgin plans to move into the new terminal at Perth Airport, which is due to be ready by early 2014.

“If we were in the new terminal now we could grow our capacity through Perth even faster,” he said.’

This month Virgin ordered 23 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the newest version of the most popular commercial aircraft ever sold.