Virgin loyalty customers to fly with Singapore Airlines again

Virgin Australia has returned flight redemptions with Singapore Airlines to its Velocity Frequent Flyer loyalty scheme for the first time since it tripped into voluntary administration nearly two years ago. It primes the program to return to its former glory, bolstered by new partners such as United Airlines and returning collaborators such as Singapore Air, as the aviation sector looks to get over the latest COVID-19 travel dip. While the spread of the omicron strain forced Virgin to cancel almost one in four flights planned for the March quarter, Velocity boss Nick Rohrlach said nearly 40% of the program’s members are planning an overseas trip in the next year. “We are starting to see some green shoots,” Mr Rohrlach said. “In a recent survey, 39 per cent of members who responded said they are planning to travel overseas in the next 12 months, so it certainly feels that the dial is starting to shift in terms of consumer confidence.“Seats are still the most popular redemption reward for Velocity’s 10 million or so members, Rohrlach said, and Virgin wanted to give them a chance to burn the points they’ve accumulated over the pandemic as travel returns. The federal government said on Monday that Australia’s border would reopen to vaccinated tourists from February 21. “When we look at the most popular Singapore Airlines’ redemptions from 2019, Singapore, London, Paris, and Bangkok were top of the list, and we expect a similar trend as our members start to make bookings again,” Rohrlach said.<br/>