Italian airline Alitalia has signed a codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia, effective from April 15.
The agreement will see Alitalia place it AZ flight codes on routes from Abu Dhabi to Sydney and onto Brisbane, while Virgin Australia will codeshare on Alitalia routes from Abu Dhabi to Rome and Milan Malpensa.
Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways owns stakes in both carriers – 49 per cent in Alitalia, and 25.1 per cent in Virgin Australia.
The Gulf airline recently extended its alliance with Virgin Australia on routes between Abu Dhabi and Australia.
Commenting on the new codeshare John Shepley, chief strategy and planning officer, Alitalia said:
“There are about one million people in Australia with Italian heritage so we’re hoping that this new agreement will encourage more air travellers, especially friends and relatives, between these two great nations.
“I can really see more Australian tourists visiting Italy thanks to this agreement and the connection times at Abu Dhabi work well for customers travelling from Australia to Italy. New benefits for members of both carriers’ loyalty programmes will be an added incentive for travel”.
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