Virgin Australia has announced new codeshare routes with South African Airways (SAA) and Delta Air Lines.
First, Virgin will add its VA airline code on South African Airways’ daily Perth-Johannesburg service, operated with Airbus A340-300 and A340-600 aircraft, from October 21.
It builds on two carriers’ previously announced partnership, with SAA currently codesharing on Virgin’s flights from Perth to Australian mainland capitals Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
The tie-up also gives Virgin customers a second option to South Africa, given the Australian carrier already codeshares with Singapore Airlines (SIA) to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Both SIA and SAA are members of the Star Alliance.
Virgin, when it was known as V Australia, previously flew from Melbourne to Johannesburg, with the service ending in 2011.
Members of Virgin’s frequent flyer program Velocity can earn points and status credits on the new SAA codeshare flights when booked under the VA code, Virgin said in a statement on Wednesday.
SAA wound up it long-standing partnership with Qantas on the Australia-South Africa route earlier in 2014, withdrawing its SA code from Qantas’s Sydney-Johnannesburg flights. In turn, the Flying Kangaroo took its QF code off SAA’s services between Perth and Johnannesburg.
Separately, Virgin said it would add its VA code on alliance partner Delta Air Lines-operated flights to three new destinations from Los Angeles – Nashville, Kansas City and Raleigh/Durham.
“We continue to work with our partners to ensure we offer a growing international network that meets the needs of our business and leisure customers,” Virgin chief commercial officer Judith Crompton said in a statement.
The Virgin-Delta alliance offered 245 destinations across North and Central America.
