Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means Points From The Pacific may receive a commission if you make a purchase using certain links.

It’s been a big day at Virgin Australia with 2 big things happening for the airline. An introduction of a brand new service and the official announcement of testing new onboard technology.

Canberra – Perth services will now be a service but only during parliamentary sitting

The airline has announced that they will start a Canberra – Perth service. The new service is mainly for parliament demand but also helps Canberra and Perth tourism.

Virgin will use a 737-800 aircraft which features 8 Business Class seats, and 168 economy seats, 30 of them being Economy X seats.

Here is the schedule courtesy of Virgin Australia,

In Parliamentary sitting weeks in August and September 2017, Virgin Australia will operate the following services on Thursdays and Sundays:

VA590 will depart Perth at 1235 and arrive in Canberra at 1825

VA589 will depart Canberra at 1900 and arrive in Perth at 2140

In sitting weeks between October 2017 and December 2017, Virgin Australia will operate the following services on:

Sundays

VA590 will depart Perth at 1205 and arrive in Canberra at 1855

VA589 will depart Canberra at 1930 and arrive in Perth at 2110

Thursdays

VA590 will depart Perth at 1135 and arrive in Canberra at 1825

VA589 will depart Canberra at 1900 and arrive in Perth at 2040

if you would like to purchase flights on the new service, purchase them at virginaustralia.com, flights are now on sale.

Virgin Australia Officially turn on Inflight wifi

There has been a lot of talk recently about in-flight wifi in Australia and it’s great to see it growing quickly. Yesterday I tried Virgin Australia’s Wifi and found it to be fantastic and very consistent.

Qantas have also been testing their Wifi and it appears to be working well but still has a few hiccups.

Virgin has today officially turned their wifi on. The aircraft fitted with it (VH-YIG) will be running tests for the next 3 months and the airline will look at pricing and the rollout from the feedback from passengers.

The trial is free for all passengers and in each seat, you’ll find instructions on how to connect and use the wifi. As part of the test, you’ll have access to Pandora music, Stan and Netflix for free. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to sign up onboard and have access to all 3 programs for 3 months, free of charge.