By James Wilkinson

V Australia has extended its ticket offering on flights to the United States, with the introduction of cheap one-way fares on flights from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles.

V Australia is offering one way LA tickets for $579

Virgin Blue Group CEO Brett Godfrey said the initiative was another example of V Australia remaining open and adaptable to new ideas and championing change for consumers.

 “Nine years ago when Virgin Blue entered the market we virtually invented the concept of affordable, unrestricted one-way domestic fares by removing the archaic ‘advanced purchase conditions’ and minimum stay requirements then associated with expensive one-way fares,” he said.

“The biggest joke in the industry was that for the cheapest and least-restrictive one-way fare, travellers had to purchase a return fare and throw away the return portion.

“This was obviously good for the airlines, but not so for travellers and Virgin Blue changed all that and now we’re doing the same for trans-Pacific travel on V Australia,” Godfrey said.

The $579 airfares released yesterday (Jul 20) by V Australia are up to 70 per cent cheaper than rival airlines (when compared to flights on Aug 20) – when Qantas and United Airlines are both charging $1928 one-way.

V Australia is also offering the one-way tickets across all fare brackets – a first for the industry on the Australia-USA route according to Godfrey.

“With V Australia’s new ‘freedom fare’ we’ve certainly made it easier and much more affordable for those who want flexibility for their return flight, or only need to travel in one direction,” he said.

The move bodes well for business travellers, particularly those on extended stay working trips. It also provides more flexibility for group travel, where, like domestic travel, sectors can be purchased rather than round trips.