Qatar Airways to invest in Virgin Australia

On 1 October 2025, Virgin Australia and the Qatar Airways Group announced that the latter is planning to acquire 25% of the shares of Virgin Australia. The shares will be taken-over from Bain Capital and the deal is subject to regulatory approval.

For us aviation enthusiasts, the deal is of interest as part of the plan is for Virgin Australia to launch long-haul flights in mid-2025 to Doha from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. For these flights, the airline will wet-lease widebody aircraft from Qatar Airways. It will, however, also give the company insights if it would be feasible to operate its own widebody aircraft again in the future.

Virgin Australia is no stranger to operating widebodies on long-haul flights as it has operated eight Airbus A330-200s and five Boeing B777-300ERs in the past. Both types were withdrawn from use in 2020 during the pandemic.

Today, the fleet is made-up of nine B737-700s, 75 B737-800s, and eight B737-8s. Subsidiary Virgin Australia Regional Airlines is operating seven A320s and three Fokker 100s.

Photo by Virgin Australia.