Hi all,
On Saturday I flew from Brisbane to Port Macquarie via Sydney and return also via Sydney. The main reason for this trip was to fly on Virgin Australia’s brand new ATR72-500s (actually owned by Skywest).
Introduction
As soon as I heard Virgin would be getting ATR72s I knew I had to fly on them
My friend Josh who went with me to Sydney in May and Melbourne in June also wanted to come. And when Virgin announced the routes they would be operating we started to think about where we would fly to. At first we thought we would fly Brisbane to Gladstone return, one way on Virgin and one way on QantasLink.
And then the flights went on sale so I checked and Gladstone was on sale for $69 I believe. And Qantas was about the same, but I couldn’t find these fares for the days I wanted to travel. So we left for the time being. And one day I was just searching random flights on the Virgin site and saw that the normal fare for BNE-PQQ via SYD had been reduced to $99 one way due to direct flights being announced. So I looked at a few different dates and found the flights I wanted for travel on October 22nd.
The flights were DJ900 departing BNE at 0500 and arriving in SYD at 0735 local time, connection time in SYD was 1 hour and 5 minutes and then on to DJ1187 to PQQ arriving at 0940. We would have a bit over 3 hours in Port Macquarie and then onto DJ1188 back to SYD departing at 1255 and arriving at 1400, and then 3 hours connecting time in SYD and then onto DJ965 back to BNE arriving at 1730 local time. I told Josh and he said it sounded good, so I then asked my parents for permission and they said that I could go. So I booked, all up it cost $207, Josh didn’t pay a cent as he used his frequent flyer points he recently got from his trip to the US.
We booked in August and started counting down straight away
and before we knew it October 22nd had arrived
Brisbane Airport
I arrived at the airport at around 0415 very tired after a 0315 wakeup call
Josh had already arrived and was at our departure gate. I was very happy to see VH-YIB at our gate
New rego for me and a very new plane which was great. My second time in a new VA B738 after flying on VH-YFE last month. And Josh’s first time in one. At around 0440 boarding commenced so we lined up to board the aircraft
October 22, 2011
Virgin Australia
DJ900
BNE-SYD
VH-YIB B738 (Un-named)
Seat 12A
Boarded through the rear stairs, unfortunately I didn’t get any good photos boarding the plane as it was still quite dark. Took my seat (12A) with Josh in front in 11A. Pretty soon everybody was on board and we were being pushed back.
About to be pushed back
VOV and VBH
Taxied to RWY01 for takeoff, saw FVH at an off bay, would see her later in the day
And saw VBY who I was hoping I would see later
Roaring down RWY01
GA Apron
Right turn
