VA & SAA to codeshare Aus- South Africa

[Kieran Wells]

Virgin Australia and South African have announced a code share this evening for all ports of Australia, except Sydney to Perth and on to South Africa.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-partner-south-african-airways-hooks-up-with-virgin-australia

Very interesting since SAA is currently QF's partner.

[Rowan McKeever]

Well that's certainly an interesting dynamic isn't it! Will be fun to watch this play out :P

[Kazuya H]

Strange indeed.
I thought this route has always been a money maker for Q. Well, am pretty sure SAA will re-start the route if Qantas axes it and/or team up with Star Alliance partner Air NZ. hmmm....

[Erik H. Bakke]

SAA codeshare with VA, who have Air NZ and Singapore on the owner side.

Looks like VA is getting closer and closer to a Star Alliance membership.

[James Smith]

With the existing QANTAS codeshare on SAA, does this mean that Virgin Australia and QANTAS passengers will be flying in the same aircraft from Perth to Johannesburg?

[Brad Myer]

The SAA/QF codeshare agreement is up for renewal later this year and the ACCC has hinted it won't be renewed.

Looks like SAA are now looking at VA as a partner leaving QF on its own.

QF are now deciding what to do about PER-JNB links. The options are operate the services themselves or codeshare with EK via DXB.

The QF SYD-JNB route will remain unchanged at this stage.

[Justin L]

QF are now deciding what to do about PER-JNB links. The options are operate the services themselves or codeshare with EK via DXB.

Could an MK codeshare via MRU on the PER-JNB route be an option for Qantas? A bit more direct than with EK via DXB, and could still pick up connections from other ports.

[MarkR]

With the existing QANTAS codeshare on SAA, does this mean that Virgin Australia and QANTAS passengers will be flying in the same aircraft from Perth to Johannesburg?

They probably do now, but note this agreement is one way only at this stage, its about getting Springbok customers onto VA flights that earn for them, there is no earn for Velocity customers.

[MarkR]

QF have decided to end their SAA codeshare effective May 31