12 January 2009

Virgin extends Bmi codeshare

Virgin Atlantic and bmi are to expand an existing codeshare agreement.

The new deal will allow passengers on Bmi’s UK domestic and Middle East networks to connect with Virgin Atlantic’s North American flights at Heathrow.

Passengers can now book with Virgin Atlantic to travel on the following routes, connecting at Heathrow with Bmi flights:

New York JFK to/from Amman, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran
Newark to/from Amman, Beirut and Tel Aviv
Boston to/from Amman and Beirut
Los Angeles to/from Tehran

Virgin Atlantic passengers will also be able to make bookings to travel to and from the airline’s long-haul destinations and seven UK cities served by Bmi: Aberdeen, Belfast, Durham Tees Valley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester.

The new agreement extends an existing codeshare which enables passengers on Virgin Atlantic’s global network to connect at Heathrow onto bmi flights to and from Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Hanover, Venice and Palma.

Virgin’s commercial and revenue planning director Edmond Rose said: "This codeshare extension gives customers even more choice of journeys via Heathrow on two great partner airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Bmi.

"We are delighted to work more closely with bmi to provide our customers with access to its excellent Middle Eastern and domestic network."

Bmi commercial director Martyn Bridger added: "We are pleased to extend our codeshare agreement with Virgin Atlantic, providing customers with greater access to our strong domestic route network and growing range of destinations in the Middle East."

by Phil Davies