• Airline Virgin Australia says it will award a million Velocity Frequent Flyer points to a vaccinated Australian in an attempt to boost the COVID-19 vaccination rate.
• The VA-X & Win scheme will allow one lucky traveler the ability to fly around the world on the company’s tab — when Australia’s border reopens.
• But the contest will only open once every Australian is eligible for the jab, meaning there’s no guarantee of the contest opening this year.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Virgin Australia says it will offer millions of frequent flyer points and other prizes to Australians fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in an attempt to incentivise vaccine uptake ahead of the international border’s reopening.

But the airline says those prizes will only be awarded once every Australian is eligible for vaccination, meaning there is no guarantee for when the contest will open.

In a Wednesday announcement, Virgin Australia unveiled its VA-X & Win scheme, which promises to crown one entrant as a Velocity Frequent Flyer point ‘millionaire.’

Under Virgin Australia’s current points system, the winner could feasibly use those loyalty points to fly economy between Sydney and Los Angeles 22 times, or complete seven complete circuits between Australia’s capital city airports.

“What the latest lockdown in Melbourne and the evolving situation in Sydney has taught us, is the sooner we can all get vaccinated, the sooner we can get on with our lives, without the constant fear and uncertainty that come with lockdowns, restrictions and closed borders,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson said.

The scheme mirrors one proposed by competitor Qantas, whose CEO Alan Joyce last month announced plans to shower vaccinated Australians with free flights, accommodation, and other loyalty perks.

However, Virgin Australia says the contest will only open once all Australians are eligible to be vaccinated.

As it stands, only those in priority groups and Australians aged 40 and over are eligible for the jab. The federal government has not set a firm date for when vaccine access will open to the balance of the Australian population.

“Virgin Australia Group anticipates opening the VA-X & Win Competition in 2021 but this is subject to change based on the timeline for the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program,” the company said in a statement.

Separately, the carrier says it will hold a competition to drive the vaccine rate among its staff. Perks for lucky employees will include business class flights, airport lounge access, and bonus annual leave.

Virgin Australia says it will also provide “flexible working arrangements where possible” to help eligible workers get the jab. As it stands, the airline says 65% of its frontline staff, be they pilots, flight attendants, and other airport workers, have received at least one dose of vaccine or are registered to do so.

Further prizes under the VA-X & Fly scheme are yet to be announced.

Despite the scheme’s opening date being dictated by the federal government’s unclear timeline, Australia’s medicines regulator last month approved competitions that are open exclusively to the vaccinated population, opening the door for private businesses — including those hard-hit by the pandemic, like the aviation industry — to offer their own vaccine incentives.

The broad hope is that higher vaccine uptake will accelerate the reopening of Australia’s international border, reviving profits for airlines like Virgin Australia.

But the announcement of Virgin Australia’s contest comes as the national vaccine rollout lags behind both original targets, and the now-abandoned hopes of vaccinating every Australian by the end of 2021.

The most concrete assumption, included in the federal budget, is that all Australians will merely have access to the vaccine by the end of 2021.

The Health Department states 6,719,384 doses have been administered in Australia as of Tuesday.

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