Virgin-HNA alliance tick

THE Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) this morning granted final authorisation for the coordination of airline services between Virgin Australia, HNA Aviation, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express Airways.

The five year pact is likely to realise “significant public benefits,” the ACCC said, mainly by supporting the introduction of new services between Australia and mainland China & Hong Kong.

Interim authorisation was granted in Mar and since then VA has launched its new Melbourne- Hong Kong route, with the ACCC confirming the carrier is also expecting to launch flights to mainland China.

The wide-ranging alliance deal allows for the coordination of codesharing, frequent flyer programs, lounge access, route planning and scheduling.

The approval was announced just after VA unveiled its full year results for 2016/17 ( TD breaking news) which showed a statutory loss of $185.8m - an improvement of $38.9m.

The underlying loss before tax was $3.7 million, with ceo John Borghetti saying the figures were impacted by restructuring charges from the three year Better Business program which will deliver “significant long-term cash flow savings”.

VA domestic operations were impacted by slow conditions and reduced demand, while the airline’s international division was profitable after exiting loss-making routes including its Sydney-Abu Dhabi services.

Tigerair Australia’s domestic operations were profitable, but Tigerair’s overall result was impacted by the launch and later withdrawal of services to Bali.