Virgin Australia CE John Borghetti: China is the future for us

Virgin Australia has launched a play for the lucrative Chinese tourist market, with flights to Hong Kong beginning from Thursday. Virgin Australia CE John Borghetti said that Hong Kong was the perfect gateway to China. "You're geographically situated in a position where, within a 5-hour flight time, you can access half of the globe's population. So, it's very important for us. It's the spearhead of our Asian expansion," Borghetti said. "China is the future for us, in terms of in-bound tourism to Australia, certainly, but as Virgin Australia, we see this as a huge potential," he said. The airline has begun with 5 flights a week to Hong Kong, but Borghetti said that, ideally, the carrier would like 21 flights a week, although he said getting slots at Hong Kong's busy airport was challenging. <br/>