Virgin lands Eagles, Dockers deal
West Coast and Fremantle fans will boost their club's coffers every time they fly with Virgin Australia this season under a "give-back" scheme - the first of its kind - that will be announced today.
Virgin will also announce it has become the official airline for the Dockers and the premier partner and official airline of the West Coast Eagles for the next five years.
The airline is also heading into its fourth season as the official AFL carrier.
From today, Virgin will give $10 to the clubs for every flight by Velocity Frequent Flyer members who register their club preference during the 2014 season.
The 100 most frequent flyers among those fans will also win a seat aboard a charter flight from Perth to Melbourne for the grand final, including tickets and accommodation.
Virgin Australia chief commercial officer Judith Crompton said the agreements were six months in the making and a huge boon for the airline.
"WA is a very important market to us and we've got the biggest football code now aligned with us and the two major clubs over there," she said.
"We have been expanding our footprint in WA and to just have our brand spread a little bit deeper and support the community is hugely exciting for us."
Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said it was a big decision to join Virgin after 27 years aligned with Qantas.
Mr Nisbett said the way Virgin had accommodated the Eagles for their fortnightly travel commitments was a major factor in the move.
"We've decided to go with Virgin this year and we think with the service and what they have provided for us in the past 12 months they are extremely capable and will do a great job for us," he said.
"They were so accommodating on the basis of flights and schedules for our games, which is a logistical nightmare."
Mr Nisbett said the financial windfall from the give-back scheme could also be significant.
"We shouldn't sneeze at $10 for every trip that our members take on a Virgin flight," he said.
"That's quite significant when you look at the flights our members and supporters have taken over the years."
Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich said the agreement was fantastic for the club, especially given an increasing number of fans were travelling the country to see them play.
The Dockers were in close contact with Virgin for last season's final series when they chartered flights for the qualifying final in Geelong and then the grand final.
"They have been excellent and we've worked really proactively with the Virgin operations team, who have been great with their assistance, not only for efficiency reasons, but for other reasons such as flying out at a particular time," he said.
Ms Crompton said seats from Perth to Melbourne for this year's grand final were already in hot demand and Virgin would add more flights closer to the season decider if either team was involved.
Virgin put on 5000 extra seats for Fremantle's maiden grand final last year.
