Brand New Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YWD Pops into Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport on First Day of Revenue Ops

On Thursday 30 November, Virgin Australia's brand new and recently delivered Boeing B737-800 VH-YWD not only entered service with the airline, it made its first visit into Central Queensland, operating in and out of Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport from and back to Sydney as VOZ1555/1556.

VH-YWD was delivered to Virgin Australia at Brisbane on Sunday 19 November and has been noted wearing the name 'tinamirakuna'.  The aircraft is named after the Macquarie River in Tasmania, which is a key project of Greening Australia, which is also a partner of Virgin Australia.  'tinamirakuna' is the Tasmanian Aboriginal name for the Macquarie River, for the native Palawa Kani language.

Of interest, VH-YWD is reportedly the second-to-last 'Next Generation' Boeing B737-800 due for delivery to Virgin Australia before the airline starts taking delivery of its first Boeing B737 MAX in 2019.

Finally, over most days this week and also on Thursday 30 November, Virgin Australia also operated their other recently delivered Boeing B737-800 VH-YWA into CQ with it noted operating in and out of both Mackay and Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast) Airports.