Virgin Australia extends Singapore Airlines codeshare

Less than a day after  securing a ten percent stake in Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines has announced an expansion to its codeshare agreement with the carrier , a move set to boost coverage across  Australia, Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Effective immediately, Singapore Airlines will codeshare on all Virgin Australia domestic destinations, giving its customers access to 32 Australian cities.

Still subject to regulatory approval, the airline hopes to extend the codeshare onto Virgin trans-Tasman flights including the cities of Dunedin, Queenstown and Wellington within the coming months.

In turn, Virgin Australia will extend its current agreement with Singapore Airlines to cover connections from the east coast of Australia to Europe, the United Kingdom and additional cities in Asia, giving Virgin customers access to 64 destinations in Asia and 12 destinations in Europe.

Virgin Australia group executive of alliances, network and yield Merren McArthur said the announcement would meet growing demand for customers to travel onward from Asia to Europe.

In other Virgin news, the carrier and its other airline partner, Air New Zealand, announced it will recommence flights between Auckland and Sunshine Coast next year.

Starting 18 June and running for 17 weeks, the services will be operated by Air New Zealand and will run twice weekly to and from Auckland.

“The return of this direct service with an extended season in 2013 demonstrates the undeniable demand for Kiwis to visit the Sunshine Coast,” Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd chief executive Steve Cooper said.

Sourced: etravelblackboardasia