Virgin Australia - Fleet

Fleet

Initially Virgin Australia leased its aircraft, but recent additions to the fleet have been purchased outright. Virgin Australia-owned Boeing 737s are indicated by the Boeing customer code FE in the model suffix. Aircraft owned by Virgin Australia International are indicated by ZG in the model suffix.

In November 2006, Virgin Blue announced plans to purchase 11 Embraer 190 and three Embraer 170 aircraft with options for six more E-jets, which later became orders for an additional three E170s and three E190s. In February 2008 a further four E190s were ordered, leaving six options and ten purchase rights.

Virgin Blue received its first Embraer 170 in early September 2007 at a special ceremony at the Embraer plant in Sao Jose dos Campos. A revised logo was introduced on the tail, bringing the Virgin Blue brand into line with the logos of other Virgin-branded companies.

Like Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia gives the aircraft in its fleet names, previously incorporating female names and words connected with Australian cities and localities or other quintessentially Australian themes. Recent additions to the fleet have featured names of famous Australian beaches. Names on Virgin Australia aircraft include 'Brissie Lizzie' ("Brissie" being an Australian slang name for Brisbane, and "Lizzie" being slang for Elizabeth), 'Sassy Sydney' (Sydney is a female name as well as the name of Australia's largest city), 'Prue Blue' (incorporating the name Prudence and also a pun on the Australian phrase "true blue", meaning "patriotic"), 'Tassie Tigress' (incorporating both the slang name for Tasmania and the common name for the Thylacine) and 'Mackay-be Diva' (a pun on the city of Mackay, Queensland and Makybe Diva, a famous Australian racehorse). Beaches which have aircraft named after them include Cable Beach, Cottesloe Beach and Bondi Beach. Each aircraft in the Virgin Australia livery (some are painted in Pacific Blue livery for cross-promotional reasons) also features a "virgin girl" as nose art, complete with a wide-brimmed Aussie hat, trailing an Australian flag.

On 24 October 2007, Virgin Australia announced the introduction of Premium Economy on all domestic flights. As the E-jets already have four-abreast seating, the number of seats on these aircraft remained unchanged after the rollout of Premium Economy.