Vigin America and Virgin Australia hope to gain U.S. DOT approval for codeshare flights

Virgin America (VX) is seeking US Dept. of Transportation approval to codeshare with Virgin Australia (DJ) on a series of VX routes within the US. The codeshare will place the DJ code on VX services from Los Angeles, Calif., to Portland, Ore., Washington, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Philadelphia, Pa. and Seattle.

Once approved, this will be the first-ever codeshare agreement for the California-based carrier, building on a 2009 interline agreement with DJ that connected Australia and US routes, according to a VX statement.

DJ serves 13 US destinations via its codeshare with Delta Air Lines.

“The United States is a very important market for Australia; it is the third most popular international destination for Australian visitors and our fourth biggest source of overseas visitors to Australia,” DJ Group Executive of Alliances, Network and Yield Merren McArthur said in a statement.

(Michael Mackey - ATWOnline News)