SAA strengthens ties with Virgin Australia
A new codeshare agreement between South African Airways and Virgin Australia will see the airlines coordinate on travel between Australia and Africa, despite SAA's existing arrangement with Qantas.
SAA has held a codeshare agreement with Qantas since 2000. The airlines were granted approval to continue their codeshare in September 2012, but only to the end of this year, with regulators on both sides making it clear that they were unlikely to consider extending it further.
The new “exciting development” with Virgin represents an extension of the existing interline partnership that has been in place since July 2010, SAA country manager Tim Clyde-Smith said.
“The new code share acknowledges the growth of Virgin Australia as one of Australia’s leading domestic airlines while meeting customer demands for more choice when making their international travel arrangements.
“It will give customers expanded access to Johannesburg and onto our extensive African network from Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on domestic Virgin Australia routes.”
Clyde-Smith identified the benefits for Australian customers as through-checking of baggage, receipt of all boarding passes at original point of check-in and the ability to earn status miles through its Voyager frequent flyer program.
“We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Virgin Australia in the future,” he hinted.
Meanwhile, a Qantas spokesperson said: "We have approval to operate our existing codeshare arrangement with partner South African Airways until the end of 2014. In terms of what happens beyond that date, we're reviewing our options to make sure we deliver the best outcome for Qantas customers."
"We're conscious of the regulatory hurdles on a potential extension, but there is nothing stopping us continuing to operate our own Sydney to Johannesburg service independent of this codeshare."
Codeshare tickets under the new SAA-Virgin Australia arrangement are now on sale for travel from February 11.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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