As far as transformations go what Virgin Australia is today compared to it was literally just four years ago is fairly huge in the airline biz.

What started out as an airline with solid red painted planes named Virgin Blue in Oz, Pacific Blue here and Polynesian Blue in the Pacific Islands with nothing more than cheap fares on nice leather seats and great flight crews they’ve re-brand and morphed (with one of Australia’s super-star airline execs at the helm) into an airline that has made Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island flyers really take notice and what’s more travel on! And now for us under the long white clouds, we’re at last getting what our Ozzie neighbours get on their planes - business class!

The New Zealand based fleet of 10 Boeing 737-800’s are being refitted in the next few months with eight business class seats up front. Those seats can be bought now for flights beginning from February 28 across the Tasman.

At the launch last week where I was part of a group of NZ aviation media in Surfers, Group Executive of Public Affairs Danielle Keighery told me that while business class in the 737s had been in Australia for some time, the time was right to roll it out to the country that has become a key market for Virgin Australia. She said it would be a great experience too for trans-Tasman travellers with the wide and extremely comfortable seat even though the flight wasn’t so long. Passengers would also love the meals the airline had become famous for created by Australian star chef, Luke Mangan.

The ditch crossing is one of the longer routes VA flies with the 737. Air NZ does offer lie-flat biz class on some flight across the ditch on its much larger Boeing 777 aircraft. But for the majority of the flights, they use the Airbus A320 where there is only an extra legroom option but no business class even though they’re almost identical in size to Virgin’s 737s. Between the two airlines (remembering Air NZ owns 25 percent of the Ozzie airline) they’ve worked out schedules so there’s no clash with the two different planes leaving at the same time. It really has become a choice for travellers as to how you want to get over or back from Oz.

I’ve never traveled Virgin Australia business class before, so I was a Virgin Australia business class virgin! I did it for the first time from Sydney to Coolangatta on Thursday ahead of the product launch in Surfers. Despite it being only a one hour flight, the big leather seat was super comfy and felt like one of those famous reclining lounge chairs. Aside from the big chair, you get other treats when travelling business like priority separate check-in and boarding, plus use of the lounge. In another example of the tie-up between the two airlines, Air New Zealand’s Koru club lounge is used by Virgin Australia passengers in Brisbane and Sydney.

One difference between Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand is inflight entertainment. Air NZ have seatback mounted screens where VA use 10 inch Samsung Galaxy Tablets loaded with content. It has a very neat cover that folds to sit securely on the tray table. In business class you get one to use, but in economy the tablets must be rented. Or you could do this - download the free Virgin Australia App from the store or iTunes and watch on your own device! It’s a bit different to what we’ve become used to, but the system works really quickly and really well.

As I always do when seated beside a stranger, I introduce myself. I believe if I’m going to shuffle past them or them past me for a bathroom break on the flight, we should at the least know each others names! I’ve met some amazing people by that simple act, and did so in business class this trip. I spent the entire trip talking and listening to a fascinating Australian fellow who, as it turned out when I Googled him (as you do) is a very large property developer and oil man who lives in Jakarta. He told me he commutes very regularly and exclusively with Virgin Australia after giving them a go 10 years ago.

Aside from a couple of looks at the airshow to see how we were going dodging the big cold front, Our chatting meant I never actually dialled anything up on the inflight entertainment. I did use it on the home leg to NZ in premium economy and watched a ‘Big Bang Theory’ marathon on the tablet while keeping watch on the plane’s journey on the phone app. I was a happy aviation geek!

We weren’t able to sample Luke Mangan business class cuisine sadly on our short flight as we had lots of bumps dodging the big clouds blanketing Australia, which later that day turned into a big electrical storm that closed Brisbane Airport. I did though when I flew V Oz home in Virgin’s premium economy chair. It’s not as big as business but still pretty good, and the food is lovely. Interestingly, Chris the Flight Service Manager told me that the flight attendants can easily get lunch out to everyone (including dessert and coffee) in the one hour flight.

Virgin Australia’s Danielle Keighery said New Zealand is one of the world’s showcase countries that have marketed itself, its beauty and adventure tourism better than anyone. By showing what and who we are and what we have, the high end FIT (Free Independent Traveler) market has really begun to travel here. She said it was the right time for the airline to introduce business class seats that would compliment the already very strong offerings of Air New Zealand and give travellers a real choice for the trip across the ditch.

Seats are already on sale and I was told demand has been very good. I’ve always said stay less time where you’re headed and fly business! For your next journey to or from Oz you can now treat yourself (and not for too much either) so you too will no longer be a Virgin Australia business class virgin!