Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia announced today they will become the first airlines to offer a direct service between Perth and the New Zealand city of Christchurch in over 20 years. The twice weekly non-stop service will operate through the peak demand period from December 2013 until late April 2014.

Etihad Airways today heralded a successful first year of its equity alliance strategy, after a financial reporting season which saw each of the five airlines within the alliance – airberlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia, Aer Lingus and Etihad Airways – announce profitable performance. The airlines’ individual and collective results were boosted by a number of measures, including growing codeshare traffic between their networks, successful joint sales and marketing efforts, and a range of increasing business and cost synergies.

Virgin Australia has won regulatory approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to acquire regional carrier Skywest. Under the agreement, Skywest will become part of the Virgin Australia brand but will continue to operate under its current Air Operator Certificate with its own management team, based in Western Australia.

Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia have announced the expansion of their codeshare agreement to cover further destinations in Australia, Asia and Europe. Codesharing has been extended with immediate effect to all of Virgin Australia’s domestic destinations, offering SIA customers access to 32 Australian cities.

Singapore Airlines is to acquire a ten per cent stake in Virgin Australia in an agreement that will further strengthen ties between the two partner airlines. The strategic stake will be acquired through a placement of new shares by Virgin Australia Holdings.

Virgin Australia today announced major enhancements for guests flying from Australia’s East Coast1 to Perth, offering more internationally configured wide-bodied aircraft, increased frequencies and inclusive catering.