Singapore-Virgin tie the Knot as Qantas’ Woes Continue
Singapore Airlines’ proposed alliance with Virgin Australia has won “draft” approval from the ACCC.
Regulatory approval will enable Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia to build an integrated alliance, an expanded network and seamless service offerings for travellers in Australia.
The alliance comes as the two carrier’s main competitor Qantas continues to be embroiled in industrial action, maintenance issues, shareholder unrest over senior executive salaries and the share price as well as the unpopular Asianisation of the airline. Qantas’s consumer relations took another battering as it announced this week that more Jetstar maintenance would be moved to Asia, another in flight engine problem and allegedly losing contact with a juvenile passenger under its care.
The new alliance will connect Singapore Airlines’ global network with Virgin Australia’s wide range of Australian and Pacific destinations, offering customers seamless connections, convenient flight schedules, access to more airport lounges and greater opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles.
Singapore and Virgin Australia lodged an application with the ACCC in June under which the airlines propose to:
– Codeshare on each other’s international and domestic flights;
– Offer reciprocal frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access;
– Coordinate schedules between Singapore and Australia and beyond to provide seamless connections; and
– Engage in joint sales, marketing and distribution activities.
Meanwhile Virgin Australia will build on its existing relationship with Hawaiian Airlines by codesharing on the North American carrier’s services between Sydney and Honolulu from October 31.
Onwards connecting flights to the neighbouring islands of Maui Kauai and The Big Island are also part of the agreement.
Hawaiian currently operates five weekly flights from Australia, which will increase to daily departures from December 14. The two airlines have had an interline agreement in place since 2006, which allows Hawaiian Airlines passengers to connect to Virgin Australia ports in Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile Qantas’ public relations disasters continue with the federal government threatening to intervene in the industrial issues.
Qantas says it has cancelled 400 domestic flights over the next month following the grounding of five aircraft. While the airline blames the disruptions on strikes by engineers resulting in a backlog of 
maintenance work, the engineers’ union says it’s a shortage of spare parts that has held up operations.
In the lead up to the peak tourism season, accommodation and tourism operators across Australia are facing threats to their businesses as a result of the continuing industrial action by airline unions against Qantas.
The chief executive officer of the Accommodation Association of Australia, Richard Munro, said all threats to the livelihood of businesses operating in the tourism and accommodation industry are unwelcome.
“The livelihood of tourism and accommodation operators across Australia depends on travellers being able to get to destinations. The potential for a detrimental impact on these operators as a result of union industrial action against Qantas is of great concern for the AAA.
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