Virgin tries to give Qantas the boot on Italy

Virgin Australia is seeking capacity to Italy for code share services with its alliance partners. (Seth Jaworski)

Virgin Australia is seeking to pry away half of Qantas’s weekly allocation of seats to Italy.

In an application to the International Air Services Commission, which distributes capacity to Australian airlines under international air treaties, Virgin said it was seeking 300 seats per week to support the introduction of code sharing services on existing flights to Italy operated by alliance partners Singapore Airlines and Etihad.

Qantas’s allocation of 600 seats per week to Italy is up for renewal. The IASC said it would now seek submission from both airlines to support their applications for the seats.

Qantas has used its allocation for codeshare services operated by Cathay Pacific but has announced plans to end its code sharing deal with Cathay assuming its alliance with Emirates receives regulatory approval.