Virgin Resumes Codeshare With Singapore Airlines

After a brief COVID hiatus, Virgin Australia’s codeshare cooperation with Singapore Airlines is back in full swing.

Although the partnership between the two airlines began in 2011, Monday was the first-day Australian travellers could book flights on Singapore’s network directly through the website of the Australian carrier.

Codeshares are a more formal agreement between two airlines than interline service agreements. They allow passengers to check bags, make reservations at a single location, and benefit from mutual loyalty programmes.

Since cancelling all of its international flights on 30 March 2020, Virgin has had to rely on alliances with other, larger airlines like United and Qatar to resume service on longer-distance routes. Shorter flights have resumed to Bali and Fiji, and the airline plans to launch service to Vanuatu and Samoa soon.

Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Seoul in South Korea, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Paris in Europe, London, United Kingdom, and Jakarta, Indonesia are just some of the 42 destinations in 23 countries made available by the agreement with Singapore.

In exchange, Virgin Australia provides codeshares on 31 domestic and international destinations served by the airlines, including the newest addition of Queenstown, New Zealand.

“Customers may now book directly on virginaustralia.com for seamless travel across Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond,” Virgin announced.

Following the reinstatement of redemption bookings and mileage/points conversion for KrisFlyer and Velocity members earlier this year, “the move is the next step in returning the carrier’s partnership to pre-pandemic operations.”

While customers’ ability to earn miles and points has remained intact throughout the pandemic, the full incentives and benefits of the relationship have now been made public in light of the rising demand for international travel.

In the past week, Virgin Australia has launched a daily service from Sydney and Brisbane to Queenstown and a four-times-weekly service from Melbourne.