Virgin Blue orders 50 B737s, offers exclusive Blackberry service
24 Feb 2010
Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd, Australia's second-largest airline, said it may order as many as 50 737 planes from Boeing Co after returning to profit in the first half. It said it had reached an agreement ''in principle'' with Boeing Co in this regard.
The aircraft will bolster capacity on domestic routes, Brisbane-based Virgin Blue said in a statement without providing details.
The new 737s will be fitted with upgraded Boeing Sky Interiors and they will also benefit from fuel-efficiency and maintenance improvements, the statement said. The aim was not to have planes more than eight years old in its fleet, it also said.
The airline also announced plans to attract business travellers with a new mobile phone travel application that allows flight bookings, changes, cancellations and check-in via a barcode beamed to the phone's screen.
The airline's chief executive Brett Godfrey said the new arrangement was "an exclusive relationship we've signed with Blackberry, the world's leading provider of business devices, as least for travellers as we understand it."
"It allows us to simplify the mobile booking process experienced, by developing memory capabilities around prior bookings, faster and more efficient services," he said.
While basic functions of the application, such as booking, flight management and check-in will work on a variety of mobile phones, the Blackberry version will feature additional functionality that other phones - including the iPhone - will not.
