The Australian competition watchdog has granted a five year extension of Virgin Australia’s airline alliance with Gulf carrier Etihad.
The current deal between the two airlines was to expire on February 25, 2016 and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has permitted an additional five years to 2021.
"Today’s announcement by the ACCC is great news for the partnership and for Australian travellers. In its first five years, the partnership between Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia has promoted vigorous competition in the Australian travel market an increased choice for travellers," said Etihad CEO James Hogan.
The alliance provides codesharing on routes between Australia and Abu Dhabi and reciprocal benefits for lounge access and frequent flyer miles accrual.
The tie-up also extends to joint sales and marketing strategy, crew secondments between the carriers, and cooperation on procurement.
"We have introduced more codeshare destinations, delivered further enhancements to the customer experience and more than doubled seat capacity between Australia and Abu Dhabi, through the launch of new routes, more flight frequencies and larger aircraft," said Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti.
