Virgin Australia is running a long-term competition to encourage more people to book the middle seat on its planes.

The carrier admits the middle seat ‘has been a bugbear for travellers since the dawn of aviation’ and thinks it’s come up with a way to make the seat more popular.

The airline is launching the Middle Seat Lottery, with more than AUS $230,000 worth of prizes up for grabs.

Until 23 April 2023, one winner each week will be randomly selected from guests who enter the Middle Seat Lottery.

Prizes include cruises with Virgin Voyages, an adventure holiday in Cairns, helicopter pub crawl in Darwin, sports tickets and extra frequent flyer points.

To enter, passengers must be members of Virgin’s Velocity Frequent Flyer scheme and fly with Virgin Australia in any middle seat before 23 April 2023.