Virgin Australia and Air Canada announce first stage of strategic cooperation agreement

Virgin Australia and Air Canada signed (15-Dec-2016) a MoU to enter into a strategic cooperation agreement. The first stage of the codeshare is scheduled to be implemented in early 2017.

• Virgin Australia passengers will be able to book travel on Air Canada services from Los Angeles to Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. When travelling on these services, Virgin Australia guests will earn loyalty points;
• As part of the strategic cooperation between the airlines, Virgin Australia plans to place its code on Air Canada's direct flights between Australia (Brisbane and Sydney) and Vancouver in a subsequent stage of the agreement;
• Air Canada passengers on daily services from Vancouver to Brisbane and Sydney will be able to travel on connecting Virgin Australia flights to an additional 10 cities throughout Australia and New Zealand on Virgin Australia-operated flights. Subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals, Air Canada will place its code on Virgin Australia flights to Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Christchurch and Auckland, New Zealand. Customers will also be able to travel on Virgin Australia flights from Sydney to Brisbane, Sydney to the Gold Coast and Brisbane to Wellington, New Zealand. Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Christchurch and Auckland. They can also travel on Virgin Australia services from Sydney to Brisbane, Sydney to the Gold Coast and Brisbane to Wellington;
• Members of Air Canada's loyalty program Aeroplan will earn loyalty points when travelling on these codeshare services;
• Virgin Australia and Air Canada plan to offer reciprocal frequent flyer redemption benefits on each other's flights in a subsequent stage of the agreement, with further details to be released in 2017. [more - original PR - Virgin Australia] [more - original PR - Air Canada]