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Virgin Australia has introduced the first brand-new aircraft to Western Australia’s charter market this century with the entry into service of its first Embraer E190-E2 aircraft ‘Coral Bay’ (VH-E2A). The aircraft completed its inaugural commercial flight (VA9217) operated by Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) from Perth to Boolgeeda on Monday. Coral Bay is the first of eight E190-E2s that Virgin has on order with Embraer. VARA is acquiring them as replacements for its aging fleet of Fokker 100s, all of which are more than 30 years old. The E190-E2 offers significant advantages over the Fokkers when operating to smaller airstrips in the hot and rugged terrain of Western Australia, including a longer range, a lower noise profile, as well as being 30% more fuel efficient. The Inaugural Flight Of Coral Bay Coral Bay's inaugural commercial flight saw it depart Perth International Airport (PER) at 7:15am for the hour and twenty minutes flight to Boolgeeda (OCM). The small airport is in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, and provides access to the Brockman 4 iron ore mine operated by Rio Tinto. Coral Bay returned to Perth later in the morning, and has subsequently operated multiple flights that include trips to the outposts of Geraldton and Albany as well. VH-E2A will be joined in VARA's fleet by seven additional E190-E2s, with three more expected next year and the balance in 2027. The aircraft will primarily operate on VARA’s charter routes across Western Australia, where the airline provides Fly-in-Fly-out (FIFO) flights for employees of the mining and resource industries. But it is also configured to support regular passenger operations on days with higher leisure demand and lower charter activity. VARA Executive General Manager, Nathan Miller. said the introduction of the E190-E2 ushers in a new era for regional aviation in Western Australia: “Coral Bay marks a major milestone for us. The E190-E2 is currently the world’s quietest and most fuel-efficient single-aisle jet in its class, with the design and range to meet the challenges of the mining regions we operate to across the state." The Evolving VARA Fleet Simple Flying first reported in March of 2024 that Virgin Australia was considering either the Airbus A220 or the Embraer E190-E2 as the jet of choice to replace the venerable rear-engined Fokker 100 twinjets at VARA. It eventually settled on the latter in August of that year, in a deal that was said to be worth $300 million. The new E190-E2s are configured with 100 seats in a dual-class layout. This includes eight seats in a 2-1 layout in Business Class, a first for Western Australia charter operations, and a main cabin with a 2-2 layout. The seats include in-seat power and are larger than the outgoing F100s, while the cabin offers significantly more overhead bin space as well as high-speed Wi-Fi. VARA says that the arrival of the Embraer E190-E2s will lead to the phasing out of the Fokker 100s "from early 2026." The airlines also maintains a fleet of Airbus A320-200s with an average age of 18 years which it will continue to use for operations that demand the higher capacity of the 180-seater aircraft. Coral Bay's Marathon Delivery Flight Coral Bay caught the eye of the aviation world last month when it embarked on a marathon delivery flight. Comprised of seven legs over five days, the aircraft visited five countries as it covered a total of 16,032 miles (25,802 km) to make its way to VARA's base in Perth. Coral Bay departed on September 3 from Embraer's facility at São José dos Campos (SJK) in Brazil, making the six-hour flight to Willemstad (CUR) in Curacao, followed by a second leg that same day taking it onwards to Brownsville (BRO) in Texas. The following day it continued to Ontario International Airport (ONT) in California, topping up with fuel ahead of a nearly six hour Pacific crossing to Kona International At Keahole Airport (KOA) in Hawaii. In total, the aircraft flew a combined 19 hours over the first two days. The rest of the journey was a little more relaxed, with three flights spread across four days. The first took it to Nadi Airport (NAN) in Fiji on September 5. At more than six hours and 30 minutes, this sector was the longest of the seven involved in the delivery flight. The following day VH-E2A reached Australian soil for the first time, touching down at Canberra International Airport (CBR).
