Virgin Blue Voted Best National and Best Regional Airline Two Years Running at AFTA Awards

The glittering annual event, held in Sydney over the weekend and attended by over 860 industry professionals, is Australia’s pre-eminent industry awards ceremony.

The Awards recognise the leading companies from a range of travel sectors including airlines, hotels, travel agents, car rental companies and wholesalers.

A record number of nominees were received for this year’s Awards, with the finalists nominated by travel agents who then vote for their favourite out of the shortlist based on personal experience in their dealings with the company from both their own and their client’s (the traveller’s) perspective.

The award criteria is based on a combination of factors including customer service, product and innovation.

Virgin Blue’s General Manager, Sales, Mathias Friess, accepted both awards on behalf of the Virgin Blue team.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “To be nominated and voted best regional and best national airline by our industry peers two years in a row is an absolute honour.

“While we have continued to evolve our product to better meet the immediate and future needs of our Guests, our commitment to low fares and exceptional customer service remains consistent and we value the strong relationships we have with travel agencies and individual agents, who play an integral role in stimulating tourism,” he finished.

Multi award winning airline Virgin Blue and international carriers Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue currently operate a fleet of 53 modern Boeing 737 aircraft flying to 22 Australian and eight international destinations including New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Virgin Blue was the first airline in the world to launch a Government certified carbon offset program, where Guests can offset the carbon emissions from their flights for as little as $1.