Emirates launch Visit Australia Pass
Whilst the recession may be bad news for many airlines, it’s not all bad for passengers as they take full advantage of the many special offers being introduced in an attempt to lure more people to take to the skies.
One such offer is that currently being promoted by Virgin Blue and Emirates who have teamed up to launch the Visit Australia Pass.
The pass offers access to 22 additional Australian destinations on Virgin Blue, from the four Australian Cities currently served by Emirates: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, at special discounted rates.
The destinations with Virgin Blue are currently: Adelaide, Albury, Broome, Ballina/Byron Bay, Cairns, Canberra, Coffs Harbour, Darwin, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Hamilton Island, Hobart, Karratha, Launceston, Mackay, Mildura, Newcastle, Newman, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast
It has also been reported that the pass may be extended to provide for any new destinations covered by Virgin Blue in the future.
The pass must be issued in combination with return flights on Emirates to Australia on a single ticket and the international return journey must originate from outside both Australia and New Zealand.
A minimum of two and a maximum of four domestic Virgin Blue flights can be combined with the original Emirates flights and ticketing must be completed by March 31, 2010 and be within the validity period of the international ticket.
Emirates Vice President Australia, Stephen Pearse, said: “The Emirates Visit Australia Pass is a positive development for the Australian tourism industry as it offers an easy incentive for overseas travellers to see more of Australia, outside of the main centres, and therefore potentially stay longer.”
The pass is welcome news for Australian tourism and follows close on the heels of an agreement by the two airlines last month to provide a convenient, single ticket option for travellers flying to regional points in Australia.
This is hardly the first partnership Virgin Blue have formed, they teamed up with Delta Airlines early in July of this year to expand the reach of both carriers between the US, Australia and the South Pacific. Then in the same month they announced a deal with Qantas that saw the return of the ’10 pound Pom’, albeit for just a lucky 150 passengers.
Let’s just hope that Delta Airlines isn’t the jealous type!
If you are planning to travel around Australia, why not take a look at some of our travel features that give you the lowdown on where to head for and what to see!
Love Australia? Let us keep you informed...
- Join the Embrace Australia community today. Have your questions answered by our experts, start your own blog, get vital migration information and gain valuable insight from those who have already made the journey.
- Subscribe to our RSS Feed and have all our daily news and features delivered straight to your news reader.
- Join our mailing list -
One Response to “Visit Australia Pass gets Thumbs-Up”
Comment by Rev & Mrs RM McClean — October 21, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
In February 2009, we booked with Emirates to go to Australia for 6 weeks, starting 26th Nov 09.
Can we make use of the new pass and link with Virgin Blue? and what is the cost of internal Australian flights, using the Pass ?
Hope we can avail of this new arrangement.
I look forward to hearing from you
Regards
R M McClean