Flight VA15 departed shortly before 3:30pm on the wet-leased Qatar Airways 777-300ER A7-BEE, a week after the launch of the first of Virgin’s restored long-haul services from Sydney on 12 June.
The 787-9 service will be put on hold from 31 March to 25 October due to what Air New Zealand describes as “ongoing challenges with the availability of serviceable Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines” that power its Dreamliner fleet.