Jet Airways and Virgin boost India-US connectivity
Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have expanded their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, providing greater choice and enhanced connectivity via London Heathrow.
The new agreement will make it easier for guests to tailor their trip by combining flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines in a single booking.
Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can now connect through London Heathrow on to nine US destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic –Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle.
The codeshare expansion builds on an existing agreement (set up in 2009) between the carriers that enables Virgin Atlantic guests to travel on Jet Airways-operated services between Mumbai and London Heathrow in addition to the airline’s own direct Delhi to London service. In 2015 the codeshare was extended to Jet Airways domestic services, allowing Virgin Atlantic passengers to travel between London Heathrow and five destinations across India via Delhi or Mumbai.
Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time director, Jet Airways, said: “Offering greater choice and connectivity to our guests has always been a hallmark of our network strategy. The new codeshares build on the success of our ongoing cooperation with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow and will provide our guests with more connectivity to and within the United States.”
Shai Weiss, chief commercial officer for Virgin Atlantic, said: “We’re really pleased to extend our agreement with Jet Airways to offer customers even more choice when travelling between India and the US, via London Heathrow. This innovative codeshare allows customers to tailor their journey using a combination of flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and their transatlantic partner Delta Air Lines – whilst continuing to benefit from a single check-in and bag drop.”
In October last year, Delta Air Lines and Jet Airways announced a codeshare co-operation between India and the United States over London Heathrow, where Delta guests flying between North America and India can connect on flights operated by Jet Airways to 20 destinations within India. The Delta codeshare destinations include Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Pune, Trivandrum and Vadodara. Likewise guests flying on Jet Airways can connect on to Delta operated services via London Heathrow to 18 cities across the US.
Nat Pieper, Delta’s senior vice president Europe, Middle East, Africa & India, said: “Delta’s codeshare with Jet Airways has seen positive growth in passenger numbers since we launched the agreement six months ago, reflecting the strong demand for air links between the United States and India. The introduction of this new codeshare, increases travel options even more and further supports the Delta-Virgin Atlantic relationship.”