Virgin slashes regional flights under new owners

Virgin Australia is set to cut flight routes across regional Australia as part of its rebuilding project. The company, newly owned by Bain Capital, will halt travel to destinations such as Uluru and Port Macquarie, as well as one flight to Nuku'alofa in Tonga. "With the changes to simplifying our fleet and ongoing subdued customer demand, we have been required to make some adjustments to our network," a Virgin Australia spokesperson said. "We have made the decision to withdraw services from (Uluru), Albury, Tamworth, Hervey Bay, Mildura and Cloncurry for the foreseeable future. We remain committed to regional Australia and plan to continue flying to 20 regional destinations across Australia. We will continue to review our network as travel restrictions ease and demand returns." The spokesperson said Virgin would contact people with existing bookings, but ticket-holders who had booked through a travel agent would need to contact them directly. <br/>