Air India is Virgin Australia’s latest partner

Virgin Australia is bolstering its partnership roster this week as Air India joins the likes of Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, and Qatar Airways.

The Star Alliance member already flies daily from Delhi to both Sydney and Melbourne, and has made no secret of its ambitions to grow the Australian market, with Brisbane a likely starter as more aircraft arrive.

Australia holds “plenty of untapped potential” for Air India, CEO Campbell Wilson remarked last year.

“Clearly there’s a huge amount of opportunity to grow, not just in terms of frequency, but certainly in respect of city coverage.”

“We see a significant opportunity with the Indian diaspora, and Australia is ranked, I think, in the top three of the markets Indians want to travel to. As soon as we get aircraft, we would like to put more into Australia, absolutely.”

Paving the way for that growth is a new partnership with Virgin Australia, allowing Air India passengers headed to Sydney or Melbourne to seamlessly connect to 16 Virgin Australia flights which will carry an AI flight number.

Those destinations include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, and Hobart, along with regional hubs Ballina/Byron Bay, Cairns, Launceston, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

“India is a growing tourism market for Australia and this partnership will encourage travellers arriving on one of Air India’s 14 weekly flights to explore more of our wonderful country thanks to seamless onward connections on the Virgin Australia network,” said Alistair Hartley, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Virgin Australia.

It’s expected that those onward Virgin flights carrying an AI code would allow members of Air India’s Maharaja Club lotalty program to earn reward points and tier points.

However, Virgin’s announcement makes no mention of VA codes being added to Air India flights to earn Velocity Points or status credits, nor of unlocking reward seats on Air India flights which could be booked with Velocity Points.

Executive Traveller has approached Virgin Australia seeking further clarification, and will update this story with the airline’s response.

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