Virgin Australia has launched its long-awaited codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand. Tickets are now on sale across the codeshare network, with Virgin Australia customers able to book “VA” coded flights operated by Air New Zealand for travel from 9 December 2024.
While the partnership doesn’t add any new flights or routes across the Tasman, Velocity Frequent Flyer members can benefit from earning Velocity points and status credits when flying Air New Zealand. Velocity Gold and Platinum members can also enjoy benefits including lounge access when booking these services.
Here’s how it all works…
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Virgin Australia’s new partnership with Air New Zealand
After receiving approval from competition regulators in August, Virgin Australia officially launched its new trans-Tasman partnership with Air New Zealand today.
Customers can now book Air New Zealand services from Australia to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on the Virgin Australia website. By booking on the VA flight number, Velocity members can earn points and status credits. Velocity Gold and Platinum members can also enjoy status benefits when booking the VA code.
The new partnership also makes it possible to book Virgin Australia domestic connections on the same ticket as an Air New Zealand trans-Tasman service, with VA flight numbers all the way.
Unfortunately, the partnership doesn’t really do much more than that.
You can now redeem Velocity points on the VA codeshare services, but not as traditional Reward Seats. You can only book the Air New Zealand flights through Velocity as a “Points Plus Pay” redemption at relatively poor value.
VA codeshare routes operated by Air New Zealand
The Virgin Australia marketed codeshare flights are available now to book on the following Air New Zealand routes:
These flights are only available to book as one-way or return services departing Australia. Under this arrangement, Virgin Australia is not able to sell codeshare tickets departing New Zealand.
Pricing and fare inclusions
Virgin Australia is selling three categories of airfares on the Air New Zealand codeshares: Choice, Flex and Business.
The Economy Choice fare is equivalent to a “Works” ticket with Air New Zealand and includes a checked bag and meal. Virgin’s Flex fare is mapped to “Works Flexi” on Air New Zealand.
Virgin’s Business fare is the same as Air New Zealand’s base level Business Class airfare, which is not refundable. This is different to regular Virgin Australia Business Class tickets, which you could normally cancel with no fee. Unlike when booking direct with Air New Zealand, there’s no option with Virgin to pay a bit more for a refundable “Business Flexi” ticket.
Virgin Australia is not selling Air New Zealand Premium Economy seats. To book Premium Economy, you’ll need to book direct with Air NZ.
In general, the pricing when booking via Virgin Australia is about the same as you’d pay if booking direct with Air New Zealand – but not always. Sometimes the pricing appears to be a bit higher when booking the VA code, and in some cases it’s a lot more. Air New Zealand controls the pricing.
When booking a flight from Australia to New Zealand, you might want to compare the cost of booking direct with Air NZ to the Virgin Australia codeshare price. If you want to use your Velocity benefits, it could still be worth paying a bit more to book through Virgin – but at least you’ll be able to make an informed decision.
We understand that Virgin Australia’s intention is to match the Air New Zealand fare pricing for the equivalent product. Where there are discrepancies, this could be due to some technical issues that Virgin’s team is working to resolve.
Earning Velocity points and status credits
As with regular Virgin Australia flights, you’ll earn 5 Velocity Points per $1 spent on VA marketed flights operated by Air New Zealand. This will reduce to 4 points per $1 spent from April 2025, unless you have a Velocity points-earning credit card. The usual bonus points apply for Velocity Silver, Gold and Platinum members.
According to the Velocity Frequent Flyer website, this is the amount of status credits you can earn when booking by 1 April 2025:
| One-way Miles | Choice | Flex | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – 1,700 | 30 | 45 | 95 |
| 1,701 – 2,500 | 35 | 50 | 110 |
| 2,501 + | 45 | 65 | 140 |
Most trans-Tasman routes are less than 1,700 miles. The Adelaide-Auckland and Cairns-Auckland routes are both between 1,701-2,500 miles in distance, while Perth-Auckland is above 2,500 miles.
From 2 April 2025, Velocity will change its system to awarding 1 status credit per $12 spent.
Status benefits for Velocity Gold and Platinum members
Velocity Gold and Platinum members can enjoy the following benefits on Air New Zealand when booking it as a Virgin Australia marketed flight:
- Priority check-in
- Priority baggage
- One additional checked bag
- Priority boarding
- Lounge access at selected airports (plus one guest, who must be on the same flight)
Access is available to the following lounges at the following airports:
- Adelaide: Virgin Australia Lounge
- Auckland: Strata Lounge (not the Air New Zealand Lounge!)
- Brisbane: Air New Zealand Lounge
- Christchurch: Air New Zealand Lounge
- Gold Coast: Virgin Australia Lounge
- Melbourne: Air New Zealand Lounge
- Perth: Air New Zealand Lounge
- Sydney: Air New Zealand Lounge
- Wellington: Air New Zealand Lounge
There are no extra status benefits for Velocity Silver members flying Air New Zealand.
What’s not included in this partnership?
Notably, Velocity members cannot book Air New Zealand codeshares on flights to or from Queenstown. As Virgin Australia also operates on the Sydney-Queenstown, Melbourne-Queenstown and Brisbane-Queenstown routes, competition regulators won’t allow the airlines to codeshare on those routes.
Virgin Australia codeshares are not available on other Air New Zealand routes, such as those to the United States or Pacific Islands. You also can’t book a VA-coded flight on any Air New Zealand domestic routes – although, ironically, you can book these as Qantas-marketed QF flights.
Also of note, this partnership is completely unilateral. There are no benefits available to Air New Zealand Airpoints members on Virgin Australia.
Overall, it’s good news for Velocity members heading to New Zealand and certainly better than nothing. But if you were hoping for an arrangement like the one from last decade, you’ll be disappointed. And there’s nothing at all in this for Air New Zealand customers.
Virgin & Air NZ used to have a much deeper partnership
Previously, the two airlines had coordinated on prices, schedules and service levels across the Tasman as part of a deep joint venture partnership. This had also included full reciprocal frequent flyer benefits for Velocity Frequent Flyer and Airpoints members across both airlines’ joint networks.
In 2018, that partnership came to an end after Air New Zealand, which previously even owned a stake in Virgin Australia, decided not to renew it. Following this, Virgin Australia briefly became a “full service” airline on trans-Tasman routes before eventually closing down its New Zealand business at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virgin Australia did not return to New Zealand until late 2022, and only reinstated flights to Queenstown. Virgin no longer flies to Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington or Dunedin – and has no plans to resume services to these destinations, either.
In the meantime, Air New Zealand launched a codeshare partnership with Qantas to provide connectivity to each others’ domestic networks. The Qantas-Air New Zealand deal also includes reciprocal lounge access when booked on codeshare services. But that agreement does not cover trans-Tasman routes (nor would competition regulators ever approve that).
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