Bmi and Virgin have expanded their codeshare agreement to connect Bmi’s UK domestic and Middle East networks with Virgin’s long-haul services.
It means that UK regional passengers can purchase through-tickets from airports such as Aberdeen, Belfast, Leeds Bradford and Manchester, connecting in London on to Virgin’s long-haul destinations.
The codeshare has also been extended to connect selected Virgin North American destinations with Bmi’s routes to Amman, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran.
The expanded codeshare comes into immediate effect, and will enable through-ticketing and baggage-checking on these routes. But passengers should be aware that they won’t be available on Virgin’s website till February 4 – until then they can be bought via the carriers’ reservation centres, travel agents and independent websites such as Orbitz (US customers only).
Virgin announced late last year that it was in talks with Lufthansa over the future of Bmi, with the German airline due to complete its purchase of Sir Michael Bishop’s holding in Bmi any day now (see online news October 29, 2008).
For more information visit virgin-atlantic.com, flybmi.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
The full list of extended codeshare destinations is as follows:
- Virgin's long-haul destinations to /from Aberdeen, Belfast, Durham Tees Valley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford and Manchester
- 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
