Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) has announced that it will resume longhaul operations out of Melbourne Tullamarine during the second quarter of next year.

Effective April 4, 2017, the carrier will operate a 5x weekly Melbourne-Los Angeles International, United States service using B777-300(ER) equipment.

The route, a codeshare with transpacific partner Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson), will complement Virgin Australia's other Los Angeles flights from Sydney Kingsford Smith and Brisbane International.

However, Virgin has noted that in order to resume the Melbourne-Los Angeles route, it will have to cease its current 3x weekly Sydney-Abu Dhabi International, United Arab Emirates (UAE) service from February 4, 2017. In addition, it will also have to reduce Brisbane-Los Angeles flights from the current 7x weekly frequency, to 6x weekly from April 7, 2017.

In addition, Virgin Australia will launch its first long haul service from Perth International, from where it will operate a three times weekly A330-200 service to Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International)'s hub in Abu Dhabi sarting June 9, 2017, subject to government approvals.