Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia have announced a new codeshare agreement. From the end of January, travellers booking through Virgin Atlantic will be able to buy tickets directly to Melbourne, with flexibility to connect via either Hong Kong or Los Angeles from Virgin Atlantic onto Virgin Australia services. Additionally, customers travelling through LA will be able to fly directly to Sydney and Brisbane as part of the new codeshare. The deal will also open more domestic options across Australia – enabling customers to easily add flights to or from eight Australian cities including Cairns, Brisbane and Perth operated by Virgin Australia.
“We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Virgin Australia which means customers can soon travel around the world using only Virgin airlines,” says Shai Weiss, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic. “The new deal will create more travel options between the UK and Australia by giving customers the choice of connecting through Los Angeles or Hong Kong to Melbourne and beyond. It also offers customers the security and ease of booking through a codeshare, as well as through check-in and a single bag drop for the entire journey. We’re looking forward to welcoming our Australian customers back on board, and couldn’t think of a more fitting way to do it than with our sister airline.”
Group Executive of Virgin Australia Airlines, Rob Sharp, welcomed the codeshare arrangement, saying that it will provide a streamlined customer experience when flying with the airlines.
“One of the key priorities for Virgin Australia is to provide choice to our customers and we can now offer that flexibility under this codeshare. We are looking forward to working with Virgin Atlantic to provide our customers with a seamless booking, check-in and travel experience when flying between Australia and the United Kingdom,” he said.
Virgin Atlantic offers up to three daily flights between London Heathrow to Los Angeles with a further one daily to Hong Kong. Both routes are operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.