Virgin Australia to touch down in India

Virgin Australia, a long-haul international airline, plans to start its operation in India by early next year through an arrangement with Singapore Airlines (SIA). The Australian airline has sought approval from the International Air Services Commission for a codeshare agreement with SIA that operates in various Indian cities.

Codeshare is an arrangement under which two airlines share the same flight which apparently increases the frequency of their services.

“If our application is successful, we plan to implement the codeshare and use the full allocation by 31 January 2012,” Emma Copeman, a spokesperson of Virgin Australia, told Business Standard in an e-mailed reply.

“To facilitate our plans under this alliance, we are seeking this allocation of capacity to permit code-sharing with Singapore Airlines and its wholly-owned subsidiary Silk Air to a number of points in India,” Copeman added.

In June, SIA and Virgin Australia entered into an agreement to connect the former’s network throughout Asia with Virgin Australia’s wide range of Australian and Pacific destinations. However, the alliance is awaiting regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“We have sought an authorisation from ACCC for our alliance with Singapore Airlines and we expect a decision by the end of the year,” the spokesperson said.

The company has asked for allocation of 1,625 seats weekly under the codeshare agreement in respect to SIA’s services to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Initially, the allocation is sought for a period of five years from the date of determination.