Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and All Nippon Airways Co reached a code-sharing agreement Tuesday starting in August on flights between Tokyo and London.
The agreement marked the 20th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic flying the Tokyo-London route.
"This will bring competition on the route," Virgin Atlantic President Richard Branson said at a news conference at the British Embassy in Tokyo.
"Both airlines will now be able to offer a double frequency on the route, which brings greater flexibility to travelers, more choices in schedules, better flight connections."
Each airline currently operates one flight a day between Britain's Heathrow and Narita.
Via code-sharing, under which a flight can have multiple airline designations, Virgin Atlantic and ANA can each effectively offer two planes per day with passengers using their chosen carrier's respective boarding passes.
While noting that 2009 is "likely to be the worst year in the history of aviation" amid the global economic slump, Branson expressed hope that Virgin is prepared to face this and continue making its London-Tokyo route profitable.
As part of its future expansion strategy, Branson said Virgin is "seriously considering" opening flights between Japan and Australia.
He emphasized the importance of fair competition among airlines and reiterated his opposition to a plan to integrate British Airways and American Airlines that would monopolize the world's airline market and "damage small airlines like Virgin Atlantic."
Virgin launched its London-Tokyo flights in May 1989 and has since carried about 3 million passengers. It has been in partnership with ANA since June 2003, enabling their respective frequent fliers to accumulate and redeem mileage on each other's flights.
© Japan Today
6 Comments
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nisegaijin
well, I have ANA miles... what we need is more routes!
frontandcentre
...presumably Virgin could only do this by code sharing with ANA, because as Virgin are UK-based they couldn't get a slot for one of their own flights?
IchyaTactics
Got to remember this guy, Branson. He is a big celebrity.
blvtzpk
Aha...now I know why he's picture of the day (June 3, '09)
cleo
Now you got it, Ichya! :-)
LoveUSA
He is in my heart - the handsome businessman from the UK.