Five year extension granted to existing arrangement.
The ACCC has just granted Virgin Australia and Delta Air Lines authorisation to coordinate their operations between Australia and the USA for a further five years.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the “integrated network will likely be valued by travellers between Australia and the US,” with the authorisation also covering the carriers’ respective Australian and US domestic networks.
“Virgin and Delta operate return services between Sydney and Los Angeles, and Brisbane and Los Angeles – travellers use these key gateway points to then connect with other destinations. This is reflected in the growing number of passengers using such connecting services,” Sims said.
He said the alliance had also resulted in increased and better connections, better schedule spread, loyalty program benefits and improved lounge access.
The carriers had sought a ten year re-authorisation, but the ACCC only gave them half this time “due to the ongoing evolution of services on the trans-Pacific and the dynamic nature of the aviation industry”.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.