Virgin Atlantic & Flybe hope codeshare helps them further into profit. Benefits are there for both

Virgin Atlantic and Flybe, both back into profit after periods of losses, will launch a new codeshare from 2-April-2016. The agreement involves 19 short haul routes operated by Flybe, both domestic UK and international. These will connect into 15 Virgin routes from the UK to the US and Caribbean at all three UK airports outside Virgin's main Heathrow hub, namely Manchester, Glasgow and Gatwick.

The deal gives Virgin access to feed from 12 UK domestic routes and seven UK-Europe routes. This helps it to address its lack of short haul feed, albeit in a different way from the now defunct Little Red operation that only brought domestic traffic into Heathrow. Virgin's Delta relationship has changed its priorities in this regard. The codeshare also offers Flybe, which has gradually expanded its codeshare strategy in recent years, the potential for additional demand from passengers connecting to long haul leisure destinations.

Not long after Saad Hammad joined Flybe as CEO in 2013 he launched a restructuring and rebranding that he called the 'purple way'. Virgin Atlantic will be hoping that purple is a better colour than red for its short haul needs.