Air Berlin and Virgin Australia will begin a codeshare agreement on a range of services from next month.
The agreement will see the German carrier place its "AB" code on flights beyond Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to six Australian destinations - Adelaide, Ayers Rock, Cairns, Darwin, Gold Coast and Perth - served by Virgin Australia.
The arrangement, which comes into place on August 1, compliments the existing codeshare with Etihad Airways on flights from Germany via Abu Dhabi to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Air Berlin will also place its code on Virgin Australia's non-stop flights from Abu Dhabi to Sydney and from Phuket to Perth.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, Air Berlin's CEO, said: "The new codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia will provide our flight guests with even better access to key parts of Australia.
"The six-destination increase coupled with the an expansion of existing codeshare flights with Etihad Airways and additional codeshare connections with Virgin Australia from Abu Dhabi to Sydney will make this possible."
The codeshare will see Air Berlin's Berlin-Abu Dhabi-Sydney connections increase from four per week to daily, while the Sydney to Dusseldorf service will become double daily.
The flights from Berlin and Dusseldorf to Abu Dhabi will carry Virgin Australia's "VA" flight code.
Topbonus members can collect and redeem award miles on flights with Virgin Australia and enjoy the added privileges such as access to selected airport lounges.
airberlin.com, virginaustralia.com
Graham Smith
