VIRGIN RALLIES TO HELP ANSETT STAFF AND PASSENGERS NEW REGIONAL ROUTE ANNOUNCED

Virgin Blue has confirmed it will begin direct flights between Brisbane and Mt Isa next week following the collapse of Ansett, which was the only airline that serviced the remote community.

Holidaying staff members have volunteered to return to work to crew additional late night and early morning services and all other Virgin Blue team members are working overtime to operate the airline out of normal hours.

Virgin Blue will also increase flights on existing routes, including Brisbane-Sydney, Brisbane-Townsville and Sydney-Melbourne, to try and cater for thousands of passengers whose travel plans have been thrown in to chaos.

At a press conference in Brisbane today, Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, outlined the airline's immediate response to the Ansett situation.

"Virgin Blue has 7% of the market and our team is giving 107% effort at this unprecedented time to try and cater for as many Ansett staff and passengers as possible.

We are offering special "distress fares" for Ansett ticket holders, providing jump seat and crew seat rides home for Ansett staff who are stranded away from their home port, increasing capacity, looking closely at taking over some of Ansett's regional routes and we have already employed a number of Ansett staff", he said.

Virgin Blue is also considering taking over regional Queensland carrier, Flight West, but won't commit to doing so until it has had a chance to review all financial documents associated with the airline.

One of the options also being considered is leasing up to 10 aircraft from Ansett and using Ansett crew to operate the increased flights, meaning employment for up to 1,000 Ansett team members and an increase in the Virgin Blue fleet from 9 to up to 20.

A special job application page has been set up for Ansett staff on Virgin Blue's website, https://www.virginblue.com.au. Schedules and prices for the new Brisbane-Mt Isa flights will be announced shortly, along with the schedules for the increased flights on existing routes.

Virgin Blue operates the most modern, technologically advanced aircraft in Australia today, with an average age of less than 5 years, compared with Ansett's average fleet age of 11.7 years and Qantas with an average fleet age of 10.8 years. (Salomon Smith Barney 2001 Fleet handbook)