Virgin Australia launches Pride flight from Perth to Sydney for World Pride 2023

Virgin Australia is expanding its network of Pride flights to Perth for February’s Sydney Mardi Gras — which next year is home of World Pride celebrations. Expected to be the biggest event for international tourism for Australia since the 2000 Olympics, World Pride is a 17-day festival celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. Staged at regular intervals since 2000, February’s event is the first time Australia and the Southern Hemisphere has hosted the now-biennial event and is anticipated to attract nearly 80,000 visitors. Perth passengers can from Tuesday night book flights on a dedicated flight for Friday February 24, including entertainment from local drag queen Barbie Q, DJ performances and a pre-flight party. Perth and Adelaide to Sydney are new pride routes launched by the airline, with themed flights from Brisbane and Melbourne also occurring on the same day. Each flight number will be symbolic to the community — in Perth’s case, VA2017 denotes the year same-sex marriage was legalised. “The reason for the expansion is the feedback we get from this community and how important this (recognition) is to them,” Virgin Australia chief people officer Lisa Burquest said. “And it’s important to us. “Diversity and inclusion on all levels is really important at Virgin Australia and the LGBTQ+ community has always been important, as customers and as employees. One-way fares from Perth to Sydney are $379. The airline has pledged to donate $30 from the sale of each ticket to Minus18, a charity that supports queer youth — which Ms Burquest said was crucial to ensure support for all ages of the queer community. “This community has a history of experiences and points in time that have been significant ... these flight numbers recognise those decisions and points in time that were important for them to take up their role in the broader community,” Ms Burquest said. Ms Burquest said Virgin reviewed the Pride flights each year and was open to considering running similar flights to Perth for the city’s PrideFest, held each November. Ms Q said she would not have contemplated such strong corporate support when she began performing nearly 25 years ago, adding the commitment was genuine rather than “queer-washing”, which many companies had been accused of during Pride events. “Give your employees a voice and make them feel more welcome — it’s a great opportunity,” she said. “Even doing this photo shoot, walking through the airport, people were loving it. (These initiatives) help the world move along and see how far we’ve come.”

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Virgin Australia launches Pride flight from Perth to Sydney for World Pride 2023