VIRGIN Australia has requested permission from the International Air Services Commission to allocate codeshare capacity to its partners Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines on routes to Bali and New Zealand.
The carrier is asking for permission to vary 1,080 seats per week in each direction to Denpasar by permitting the use of capacity for codeshare services with the two international partner airlines, adding that it also intends to implement the free sale codeshare on all of its services between Australia and Denpasar.
This will include its upcoming Bali flights from the Gold Coast when it launches in March next year 2023.
The same letter also requested the airline be allowed to codeshare on the New Zealand route with Qatar Airways, and to remove the use of the capacity to codeshare with former partners Delta Air Lines, Air Berlin, Hong Kong Airlines, Air New Zealand, Alitalia (now ITA Airways) and Hainan Airlines.
The news follows a long-running feud between Qantas and Virgin for 172 seats of added capacity on the lucrative Australian route to Denpasar, with VA ultimately proving victorious in the squabble for the in-demand seats after Qantas pulled the plug at the last minute, citing “a change in circumstances”.
VA proposed entering into a “virtual” international network
with several airlines, including Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines, back in May, and received formal approval by the ACCC in September.
