ATLANTA and SYDNEY, Sept. 18,
2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Virgin
Australia Airlines (ASX: VBA) today announced two major milestones
of their recently approved joint venture: an expanded codesharing
agreement on flights between the United
States and Australia, and
an enhanced customer experience in Los
Angeles.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101123/CL04792LOGO )
Codeshare service will be available for sale beginning
Sept. 19, 2011, for travel effective
Nov. 6, 2011. Under the agreement,
Delta will add its code to all flights between Los Angeles and the Australian cities
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, operated by V Australia, Virgin
Australia's long-haul international carrier. V Australia will add its code to Delta's service
between Los Angeles and
Sydney.
For customers, the expanded codesharing means more options when
booking trans-Pacific travel on Delta or V Australia, as well as
benefits such as accrual of frequent flier miles and premium lounge
access regardless of which airline operates the flight.
To further improve the customer experience, from November,
flights operated by V Australia will arrive at Delta's Terminal 5
at Los Angeles International
Airport. This will allow for easier and faster connections
within the same terminal to the rest of Delta's network, as well as
access to new customs and immigration facilities in Terminal 5.
"The start of trans-Pacific codesharing and arrival co-location
at T5 in Los Angeles mark the
first major steps toward establishing our joint venture, which will
provide significant benefits for our customers," said Charlie Pappas, Delta's vice president –
Alliances. "Together, Delta and Virgin Australia will offer a
leading network and a superior travel experience for our customers
flying between the U.S. and Australia."
Virgin Australia Group Executive, Merren
McArthur said: "Since receiving U.S. government approval in
June, Delta and Virgin Australia have moved quickly to deliver the
consumer benefits that are enabled by our joint venture. The joint
venture will allow us to offer more choice and a more seamless
travel experience from November, providing guests with three
trans-Pacific services per day and allowing us to spread our
respective departure times out of Sydney to improve connections.
"The next milestone will be the expansion of the existing
domestic codeshare on each airline's domestic network, further
improving connectivity of our services and giving Virgin Australia
guests access to 250 destinations across the United States, Canada and Mexico," Ms McArthur said.
Following the U.S. Department of Transportation's approval of
antitrust immunity for Delta and Virgin Australia on trans-Pacific
flights in June, the two airlines have been working closely on
expanding codesharing, coordinating products and services and
extending frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access to
customers of both carriers. The joint venture will create a
comprehensive, fully integrated network able to serve thousands of
city-pairs in North America and
the South Pacific, providing numerous destinations which otherwise
would not be accessible to customers.
The trans-Pacific codesharing agreement is the latest expansion
of the partnership between the two airlines. In May, Delta and
Virgin Australia announced an enhanced codeshare that added Delta's
code to Virgin Australia flights to five destinations in
Australia, and added Virgin
Australia's code on Delta service to four new cities in
the United States.
About Virgin Australia group of airlines
Virgin Australia group of
airlines (ASX: VBA), formerly the Virgin Blue group of airlines,
was launched in 2000 and has since established a global reputation
as an innovator and leader in the aviation industry; renowned for
the warmth of its people and the quality of the service they
provide. Today the group employs over 7,000 people and includes
multi-award winning domestic airline Virgin Australia (formerly
Virgin Blue); international long-haul airline V Australia,
international subsidiary airline Pacific Blue; and Polynesian Blue,
a joint venture airline with the Government of Samoa. Virgin Australia group of airlines is currently in
the process of re-launching its domestic and short-haul
international product, and both V Australia and Pacific Blue
airlines will operate as Virgin Australia by the end of 2011. The
group also includes multi-award winning frequent flyer and loyalty
program, Velocity, and holiday arm, Blue Holidays. The group
operates a fleet of 89 modern Boeing 737, 777 and Embraer E-Jet
aircraft flying to 32 Australian and 16 international destinations
including the USA, UAE,
New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New
Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga,
Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Virgin Australia group of airlines has alliances with
Etihad Airways and Air New Zealand and has recently announced
partnerships with Singapore Airlines and Skywest Airlines which
will see it expand its footprint in Asia and regional Australia.
About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each
year, and was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline
worldwide in its 2011 World's Most Admired Companies airline
industry list. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and
the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 339 destinations in
59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees
worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft.
A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta
participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture
with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance
partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights,
with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt
Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline's service includes the
SkyMiles frequent flier program, a world-class airline loyalty
program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50
Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide. Delta is investing more than
$2 billion through 2013 in airport
facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance
the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Customers can
check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and review
flight status at delta.com.
SOURCE Delta Air Lines