Delays to deliveries of Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737 MAX aircraft mean that adjustments have to be made to its Cairns-Tokyo Haneda flights.
The effects aren’t as major per se, but from the perspective of the carrier, it is to be expected that they wanted the MAX to operate this route.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Cairns-Tokyo Won’t See The MAX Until August…
As per data from AeroRoutes.com, it is understood that the MAX will not serve the Cairns-Tokyo Haneda route until August 8, at least.
Instead, the route, which is due to launch on June 28, will be operated by the airline’s Boeing 737-700 aircraft instead.
From August 9, it is then understood that the equipment will upgrade to the MAX.
Ahead of the launch, Virgin Australia flight VA077 will depart Cairns at 1315 local time and arrive in Tokyo at 2000 local time.
The return flight, VA078, will depart Tokyo at 2145 local time and arrive back in Cairns at 0615 local time the next morning.
More Woes for the MAX?
This ultimately indicates more woes for the MAX as Boeing tries to get ahead of its backlog amid delivery delays caused by the grounding of the aircraft type.
For Virgin Australia, this isn’t the news that they would like to put out, as they would want to start this new route between Cairns and Tokyo using a new aircraft type.
All eyes are now on the delivery dates for these new MAX aircraft for the carrier, as more delays could fuel some further disruption to the route network later down the line.
