Virgin Australia Holdings has formed a strategic commercial alliance with a Chinese air service provider, HNA Aviation Group, to accelerate its access to the Chinese market.
The alliance was formed via the company’s subsidiaries, Virgin Australia Airlines and Virgin Australia International Airlines.
The collaboration will allow Virgin Australia to introduce direct flights between Australia and China. It will also enable the company to initiate code-share agreements and offer new benefits to passengers.
Hainan HNA Innovation Ventures, a subsidiary of HNA Aviation Group, will acquire a 13% stake in Virgin Australia Holdings.
The company will subscribe to a private placement of shares offered by the Virgin Australia at a price of A$0.30 ($0.21) per share to raise A$159m ($114.1m).
Hainan plans to increase its stake to approximately 20% in the future.
Portuguese airline TAP Portugal has signed a code-share agreement with JetBlue to offer its customers convenient flight options to multiple destinations in North America.
TAP will place its code on JetBlue flights departing from the John F. Kennedy and Boston Logan International airports.
Passengers will be able to travel to more than 34 North American locations, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago.
