Hong Kong Airlines cements relationship with Virgin.

Hong Kong Airlines has wasted no time inking a codeshare deal with Virgin Australia as part of a budding alliance that could see the carriers exchanging crew members. The codeshare covers flights to and within Australia, as well as between Australia and New Zealand, and comes as the airlines move towards a strategic alliance recently given preliminary approval by Australia’s competition regulator. It will see Virgin Australia will offer codeshare services on Hong Kong Airlines’ five return services per week between Hong Kong and the Gold Coast and Cairns with an interline agreement on destinations in mainland China. Hong Kong Airlines customers travelling to or from Hong Kong will enjoy codeshare flights to 11 destinations on the Virgin Australia network from July 5, when Virgin launches its new Melbourne-Hong Kong service. These include select flights within Australia as well as services between Melbourne and Hong Kong, Gold Coast and Auckland, Melbourne and Christchurch and  Melbourne and Auckland. Frequent flyer reciprocity will be available from July 5 and lounge access and other perks are in the pipeline. “In addition to codeshare flights and frequent flyer benefits, the two airlines intend to explore other ways to deliver benefits for their customers, including an exchange of cabin crew to enhance the inflight experience for customers,’’  the airlines said in a joint release. Hong Kong Airlines co-chairman Zhang Kui said the alliance was a major step in a globalisation strategy to turn Hong Kong Airlines into an international carrier. In addition to its Australian services, the airline has also launched flights to Vancouver, Canada, in a bid to expand coverage in the Oceania and North American regions. “We believe the alliance will enable Virgin Australia’s customers to gain convenient access to Hong Kong and via Hong Kong, the world’s aviation hub and Hong Kong Airlines’ base, to additional routes in mainland China,” Zhang said.