V Australia and Delta sign lounge and loyalty agreements

V Australia and Delta Air Lines have signed an agreement to allow reciprocal loyalty points on each others’ services, reciprocal lounge access, and the first codeshare agreement between the carriers.

Effective December 15, V Australia and Delta passengers will be able to earn loyalty points on each others’ services, as well as access each others’ lounges in Australia and the United States.

The two carriers will also commence codesharing on each others’ services from January 18, with the V Australia code to be placed on Delta services from Los Angeles to New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Orlando and Cincinnati. Delta will also place its code on Virgin Blue connecting services from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane from February 15.

Virgin Blue and Delta recently received formal approval from the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) for their planned Pacific joint venture, and are awaiting antitrust immunity from the US Department of Transport. The joint venture, which will see V Australia and Delta jointly agree pricing, schedules, product offerings and the like on Pacific routes, is expected to start operating during 2010.