Virgin Australia

Is Virgin Australia safe?

Yes. In 26 years of flying, first as Virgin Blue and since 2011 as Virgin Australia, the airline has never had a fatal accident and has never written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary an aircraft. It answers to Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), one of the stricter regulators in the world. We score it 88.

The points it loses come from the cockpit rather than the aircraft. Since 2022 Australian investigators have looked at several Virgin flights where crews started a take-off from the wrong place or flew below a safe height on approach. None ended badly, but they are the kind of slip a good airline is expected to design out.

The incidents that matter

Virgin Australia's accident record is short and mild: two Boeing 737s touched wingtips while taxiing at Hobart in 2016, an ATR 72 made a hard landing at Canberra in 2017, and cabin crew were hurt in 2017 when a 737 pitched during a fast descent near Adelaide. The serious incidents of the last few years are more telling:

• Brisbane, November 2022. The southern 831 metres of runway 19L were closed for works. A 737-800 with 177 people aboard rolled past the end of the usable runway and lifted off over the closed section. It continued to Melbourne normally.
• Cairns, October 2022. On a night approach, a 737 descended below the minimum safe height. Air traffic control issued a low-altitude warning; the crew climbed, went around and landed safely.
• Adelaide, April 2025. A 737 lined up past the start point for runway 23 and took off with less runway than planned. The ATSB covered it in one final report with other take-offs started from the wrong point at Adelaide.
• Hobart, July 2025. A passenger's bag caught fire in an overhead locker during descent. Cabin crew put it out and the flight landed.

Not every recent event was Virgin's doing. On 9 August 2026, a Virgin 737 had been cleared to take off from Sydney's runway 34L when a Qantas 737 began crossing the runway ahead. The Virgin crew stopped. The Qantas crew reported that they had been cleared to cross, and the ATSB is investigating.

Administration, Bain and Qatar

Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration in April 2020, when the pandemic grounded almost all flying, and was sold to the US private equity firm Bain Capital. Bain cut it back to a domestic and short-haul airline flying only Boeing 737s, retired the A330 and 777 wide-bodies, and returned it to the Australian stock exchange in June 2025.

Qatar Airways took a minority stake before the relisting and held about 23% of the shares in 2026, against about 40% for Bain. The partnership matters to passengers: Virgin's long-haul flights to Doha are flown by Qatar Airways aircraft and crews, so on those flights you are flying Qatar Airways, not Virgin.

How old is the fleet?

At 30 June 2026 Virgin flew 108 aircraft with an average age of 11.5 years, younger than Qantas mainline. Renewal is working: 21 737-8 MAXs had arrived, with five more due in the 2027 financial year and the larger 737-10 on order. Still, 74 aircraft are 737-800s, many from the Virgin Blue years, and nine are older 737-700s.

The group also runs Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA), a separate certificate that flies mostly charter work for mining companies in Western Australia. In 2026 it retired its Fokker 100s and started flying new Embraer E190-E2s. Some regional routes sold as Virgin Australia are flown under wet leases by other airlines with Fokker 70, Fokker 100, E190 and Saab 340 aircraft. This page scores the two main Virgin Australia certificates; VARA and the wet-lease partners are separate operators.

Who oversees Virgin Australia?

CASA certifies the airline and Australia is in FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary. Virgin Australia is an IATA member, which requires IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigates and publishes even minor events, which is why the incident list above is detailed.

What to check before you fly

• Look at who operates the flight. "Operated by" on your booking tells you whether it is Virgin Australia, VARA, a regional partner or Qatar Airways.
• Keep power banks out of the overhead locker. The Hobart fire started in a bag in a locker, where crew could not see it. Keep power banks and spare batteries on you or under the seat in front, where a problem is noticed at once.

How we scored it

The accident record (96) and oversight (92) carry the score. The serious incidents (78) cost the most points, because several were crew errors on take-off or approach, and the fleet (74) is still mostly 737-800s. Compare Air New Zealand, also at 88.