Virgin Australia has capped off a huge year, announcing a new international route with a daily return Cairns-Tokyo (Haneda) service taking off on 28 June 2023. The highly anticipated route, operating for the first time, is being launched in partnership with the Queensland Government and Cairns Airport through the Queensland Government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.

To further bolster flight access between Australia and Japan, Virgin Australia will strengthen its strategic partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA), the largest airline in Japan and a trusted and long-standing Japanese carrier, creating greater value and choice for the airline’s customers.

The partnership will not only see Virgin Australia and ANA provide members of the airline’s Velocity and ANA Mileage Club frequent flyer programs reciprocal loyalty benefits throughout 2023 and beyond when travelling on each carrier, but greater codeshare flight access between the countries.