SkyTeam carrier Virgin Atlantic has identified the alliance’s newly-recruited Scandinavian operator SAS as a new codeshare partner, and has unveiled codeshares with Middle Eastern airlines El Al and Saudia.
SAS is set to join SkyTeam in September, leaving Star Alliance in the process, following an investment agreement involving SkyTeam’s Air France-KLM Group as part of SAS’s restructuring programme.
“Virgin Atlantic and SAS…are working towards new commercial partnerships with the best access to and from Scandinavian key hubs,” says the UK long-haul airline, although it has yet to specify the routes involved in the codeshare.
“This collaboration will offer new destinations, enhanced connectivity, and a more seamless, elevated customer journey for all travellers in the very near future.”
Virgin Atlantic is also entering a codeshare agreement with Israeli flag-carrier El Al, as it prepares to reinstate Tel Aviv services – suspended when the Gaza conflict began – from 5 September.
The codeshare with El Al, says Virgin, will strengthen its offering and provide connectivity via London Heathrow to US destinations, through Virgin flights and those of its SkyTeam partner Delta Air Lines.
El Al disclosed a strategic co-operation agreement with Delta last year and indicated that it could provide a potential path to SkyTeam membership, if it sought to join the alliance.
Virgin Atlantic has entered a third codeshare pact, with SkyTeam member Saudia, the first phase of which has commenced, with Virgin customers on services from the USA able to purchase onward connections – through London Heathrow and Manchester – on Saudi services to Riyadh and Jeddah.
