It’s been a while in the making, but Virgin Australia has finally launched its codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand.
Under the partnership, Virgin Australia will place is ‘VA’ code on a range Air New Zealand services between Australia and New Zealand. These fares are now on sale on the Virgin Australia website, with the first flights taking place on 9 December 2024.
The launch of these fares follows obtaining approval form the ACCC earlier this year.
According to Virgin Australia Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Alistair Hartley, the codeshare agreement isn’t just about flights:
It’s about creating seamless travel experiences.
We’re committed to delivering unprecedented network coverage, loyalty rewards, and travel flexibility that make crossing borders as easy as crossing the street
Let’s have a look at how that comes out in practice.
Codeshare Routes
The routes covered by the codeshare agreement are:
- Sydney <> Auckland
- Sydney <> Christchurch
- Sydney <> Wellington
- Adelaide <> Auckland
- Brisbane <> Auckland
- Brisbane <> Christchurch
- Brisbane <> Wellington
- Melbourne <> Auckland
- Melbourne <> Christchurch
- Melbourne <> Wellington
- Gold Coast <> Auckland
- Gold Coast <> Christchurch
- Perth <> Auckland
- Cairns <> Auckland (seasonal)
- Hobart <> Auckland (seasonal)
- Sunshine Coast <> Auckland (seasonal)
These flights are all international flights between Australia and New Zealand. The codeshare agreement does not extend to domestic services within New Zealand.
Velocity Benefits
While the codeshare doesn’t actually add any new flights (Air New Zealand already operates them), they do bring a number of advantages to Velocity members.
These benefits when flying on an Air New Zealand flight with a VA flight number include
- Earning Velocity Points and Status Credits
- Lounge access for Velocity Gold and Platinum members. These members will have access to the Air New Zealand lounge when flying on one of these services.
- Seamless customer experience when connecting onto a Virgin Australia flight on its Australian network, including transfer of baggage and boarding passes issued for the entire journey.
- Velocity Gold and Platinum Status entitlements including one additional checked bag (up to 23kg), priority check-in and priority boarding
- Virgin Australia Business Flyers will also have access to exclusive discounts and benefits in addition to options for corporate customers
The lounge situation is a bit tricky. While lounge access is available on Air New Zealand operated flights, the Virgin Australia operated flight to Queenstown remains a lounge-less experience.
Fares
While it is an Air New Zealand product, Virgin Australia sells based on its own fare families – Choice, Flex and Business. They do not offer the Premium Economy product where it is available,
The Choice fare looks to have the inclusions of the Air New Zealand ‘Works’ fare (and includes a meal and a baggage allowance). In the case of the Flex fare, this appears to be the Air New Zealand ‘Works Flexi’ fare.
Final Words
While the partnership goes some way to filling a gap in the Virgin Australia network, it is pretty much a one-way deal. It is basically a codeshare arrangement, and even then, it is only Virgin piacing its code on Air New Zealand. It doesn’t happen the other way around.
That’s a long-winded way of saying It is nowhere near the scale of their partnership of old. That said, it does seem to provide benefits to Velocity members that they didn’t have yesterday.
