INSIGHTS
Getting to the Red Centre with Virgin Australia
In May 2025, FCM Meetings & Events hosted IDEX 2025: Resilience – The Red Centre. This leadership retreat brought together six senior executives from multiple industries for three days of meaningful conversation and cultural engagement. Set against the backdrop of Uluru, the event focused on resilience in leadership and life.
Virgin Australia (VA) played a key role in this experience, providing incredible group travel support, sponsorship, and a whole lot of stories into their resilience journey.
Wheels up with Virgin Australia
Travelling to Uluru presented some logistical challenges. At the time of IDEX 2025, direct flights were only available from Brisbane. With guests travelling from across Australia, many of our guests had a stopover in Brisbane, creating a golden opportunity to enjoy the Virgin Australia lounge, that was ready and waiting with delish drinks and comfy chairs. The layover became a moment of pause and a chance for guests to meet, recharge, and enjoy a bite to eat.
Virgin Australia's Pilot Gold perks also gave guests a little VIP moment with priority check-in, boarding and security, not only for IDEX, but also for three months after. The gift that keeps on giving really.
Fuelled by great food and conversations
As part of VA’s sponsorship, Virgin Australia hosted a gourmet lunch at Arnguli Grill, set in the surrounds of Desert Gardens Hotel. With native ingredients, beautifully plated dishes, and a backdrop that felt straight out of a postcard, it was a meal to remember. It also gave the guests time to sit, savour, and unpack the resilience-focused sessions that came before it.
Virgin Australia’s runway to resilience
Virgin Australia’s contribution went far beyond lounges, flights, and good food. Ashley Taylor and Barry Connelly from the VA team stepped up to the mic to share their own stories of navigating teams through challenges and changes.
The pandemic, recent weather events, [and the rest], have tested every aspect of this business and the people behind it. What stood out was how the VA team kept showing up. How they rebuilt, reconnected, and stayed close to customers during times of uncertainty. For our IDEX attendees, many of whom lead large teams and deal with similar events from time to time, it hit home.
Some highlights from Virgin Australia’s presentation included:
- Navigating through COVID and voluntary administration paved the way for a renewed vision. Highlighting VA’s own journey of resilience.
- The transformation was guided by a clear vision and underpinned by core values:
- A simple focused business model
- Operational excellence
- Experiences that guests love
- Strong financial performance
- All delivered by Virgin Australia’s people with authentic Virgin Australia flair
- Key strategic moves enabled Virgin Australia to rebuild the organisation:
- Streamlining the fleet for greater efficiency
- Expanding international reach through partnerships with some of the world's leading airlines
- Reinvigorating the customer experience by bringing back Wonderful through VA’s people
- Virgin Australia returned to profitability in FY23 for the first time in 11 years and delivered an even stronger performance in FY24.
- The company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in June 2024, marking a major milestone in its transformation and growth.
Commitment to accessibility
One of the most powerful moments that came out of IDEX was hearing about VA’s, Try Before You Fly initiative. A first-of-its-kind program and partnership with Adelaide Airport that helps people with disability experience air travel before they book. The program simulates check-ins, lets people explore the aircraft, and more. It is designed to build confidence and reduce anxiety for travellers who may previously have seen air travel as a barrier.
At FCM Meetings & Events, making everyone feel truly welcome is our bread and butter. It’s why we work hard to ensure our events are accessible. Whether that means chill-out zones, accessible venues, or speaker line-ups that reflect a broad range of lived experience. Inclusive thinking is the future, so we love seeing a major Aussie airline walk the talk on access and inclusion.
Group travel made easy
When it comes to group travel, there’s a big difference between booking flights and managing the entire travel experience. That’s where FCM Meetings & Events steps in.
We partner with airlines like Virgin Australia, which give our customers access to competitive fares, flexible booking terms, and the peace of mind that every moving piece is covered. VA’s group travel programme is perfect for events, conferences, and incentive travel, offering generous baggage allowances, flexible name options, and delayed payment options.
When you tap into FCM Meetings & Events, you’ll get:
- A single point of contact
- Flight times lined up with your event agenda
- Transfers, name changes, and special requests handled
- Tailored reporting and consolidated invoicing
Plus, we’re available 24/7 to sort out any hiccups.
Six execs flying to the desert or 2,000 team members heading to Queenstown, together with VA, we’ve seen it all.
Looking ahead
IDEX 2025 was a reminder that resilience can show up in all kinds of ways. In the stories shared, the partnerships formed, and the experience of simply getting there and back. Virgin Australia helped us bring that experience to life.
If you’re planning your next business event or group travel experience, let’s talk.
We’ll handle the strategy.
VA will handle the skies.
And together, we’ll bring your event to life.
Thanks again, Virgin Australia. Until next time.
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