Virgin Australia today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into a strategic cooperation agreement with Air Canada, increasing choice for travellers and improving the convenience of travel between Australia and Canada.

The first stage of the codeshare is scheduled to be implemented in early 2017, when Virgin Australia customers will be able to book travel on Air Canada’s flights from Los Angeles to:

• Toronto (YYZ)
• Vancouver (YVR)
• Calgary (YYC)
• Montreal (YUL)

When travelling on these services, Virgin Australia guests will earn Velocity Points. Virgin Australia and Air Canada plan to offer reciprocal frequent flyer redemption benefits on each other’s flights in a subsequent stage of the agreement, with further details to be released in 2017.

Travellers arriving on Air Canada’s daily services from Vancouver to Brisbane and Sydney will be able to travel on connecting Virgin Australia flights to Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Christchurch and Auckland. They can also travel on Virgin Australia services from Sydney to Brisbane, Sydney to the Gold Coast and Brisbane to Wellington. Members of Air Canada’s loyalty program Aeroplan will earn Aeroplan Miles when travelling on these codeshare services.

As part of the strategic cooperation between the airlines, Virgin Australia plans to place its code on Air Canada’s direct flights between Australia (Brisbane and Sydney) and Vancouver in a subsequent stage of the agreement.

John Thomas, Group Executive Virgin Australia Airlines, said: “We are enhancing our services from Australia to Los Angeles by offering our customers convenient codeshare connections to four major Canadian cities.

“We are thrilled to be working closely with a world-class airline in Air Canada to deliver new benefits for our customers, including the planned introduction of direct codeshare flights between Australia and Canada.

“Our agreement with Air Canada will provide our frequent flyers with more opportunities to earn – and soon redeem – Velocity Points.

“Canada is also an important inbound tourism market for Australia, with visitors spending AU800 million in 2015 and visitor arrivals increasing by three per cent .”

Further information

• Virgin Australia operates daily flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Los Angeles using Boeing 777 aircraft, and will introduce five flights each week between Melbourne and Los Angeles in April 2017.
• Air Canada operates up to 18 flights per day from Los Angeles to Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
• Air Canada operates daily non-stop flights from Vancouver to Sydney using Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and to Brisbane using Boeing 787 aircraft. 

About Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia launched in 2000 and has since established itself as a contemporary, full-service airline with a reputation for exceptional customer service. The airline is committed to delivering the world’s most engaging, stylish and effortless flying experience. In doing so, Virgin Australia has partnered with some of the world’s best airlines, Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines, opening up a combined network of more than 450 destinations.
Virgin Australia has developed an extensive flight network across Australia and the world and also provides Charter and Cargo services. It operates a modern fleet of around 130 aircraft that includes Airbus A330, Airbus A320, Boeing 777, Boeing 737, Embraer 190, ATR-72 turboprop, and Fokker 100 aircraft.
Virgin Australia’s award-winning loyalty program, Velocity Frequent Flyer, offers its more than 6.5 million members with a range of genuine and unique benefits. In 2016, Velocity was awarded Program of the Year in the Middle East & Asia/Oceania category for the fourth consecutive year at the industry-coveted Freddie Awards. 
www.virginaustralia.com

About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2015 served more than 41 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 54 in the United States and 90 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,330 airports in 192 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax.
www.aircanada.com