ANA kicks off Virgin Australia codeshare

All Nippon Airways passengers will be able to codeshare on select Virgin Australia flights from January 30 with further codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits coming later of the year. Details of the previously flagged deal released Friday show ANA code-sharing on six routes from January 30: Sydney-Brisbane, Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney-Cairns, Sydney-Canberra, Sydney-Gold-Coast and Sydney-Adelaide. ANA passengers will be able to travel on the six  Virgin Australia services with ANA tickets and check their bags through to their destinations with one seamless booking experience. Read: Competitors attack tax holiday for troubled Flybe. The announcement comes ahead of Virgin’s decision to launch flights between Tokyo-Haneda and Brisbane from March 29 to become the only flight connecting the two cities. ANA has also recently launched services between Tokyo and Perth and plans to increase the frequency of its flights from Tokyo-Haneda to Sydney. The airlines later this year plan to expand their codeshare in Australia as well as launch international codeshare between Japan and Australia as well as domestic codeshare in Japan. “Japan is a popular destination with Australians with more than half a million Aussies traveling there in 2018 and these numbers predicted to continue to grow,’’ Virgin Australia chief commercial officer John MacLeod said at the official announcement of the codeshare in Japan. “It’s important to us to provide travelers with better choice and convenience with our new flights from Brisbane, and the ability to travel onward in Japan with ANA.” ANA executive vice president Suichi Fujimura said the airlines shared a commitment to high-quality service. “This collaborative effort will allow us to meet growing passenger demand in the region by providing greater choice and flexibility through shared resources, and furthering ANA’s commitment to expanding the Japan – Australia network,” he said. Japan is new territory for Virgin, which  battled arch-rival Qantas to get one of two slots that opened up at Haneda. Qantas was awarded the second slot and is launching flights from Melbourne from March 29, switching its Melbourne-Narita flights to the closer airport. ANA also announced Friday it would donate $A20,000 to the Australian Red Cross bush fire appeall and a portion of sales from ANA travel packages to other relief organizations. Donation boxes placed at check-in counters in Perth and Sydney would also give passengers and opportunity to donate and funds being raised by ANA staff would be donated to Australian wildlife rescue organization WIRES.