Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have further expanded their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, providing greater choice and enhanced connectivity via London Heathrow.
From April 19, 2017, Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine U.S. destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle.
This expansion builds on the existing agreement between Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic in place since 2009 – enabling 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 this codeshare was extended on to Jet Airways domestic services allowing Virgin Atlantic guests 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. Further, our loyalty program partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other's entire network.”
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. From this week customers of both airlines can travel from five destinations across India with Jet Airways, and connect via London Heathrow to nine US destinations with Virgin Atlantic including Boston and Los Angeles, as well as many more US destinations with transatlantic partner Delta Airlines via key hubs such as New York and Atlanta. 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 cooperation between India and 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.
“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,” said Nat Pieper, Delta’s senior vice president Europe, Middle East, Africa & India. “The introduction of this new codeshare, increases travel options even more and further supports the Delta-Virgin Atlantic relationship.”