Virgin Yet To Join Etihad's New Alliance Club
Virgin Yet To Join Etihad's New Alliance Club Etihad has unveiled plans to form its own Airline alliance with its partner Airlines to improve network, service and Frequent Flyer points for a more consistent experience, but local partner Virgin Australia has yet to join the group. Etihad Airway Partners founding members will include Airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, India's Jet Airways and Darwin Airline. Those are the carriers with which Etihad has the closest relationship. Etihad owns 21.2 per cent of Virgin and the Abu Dhabi based carrier's Australian born chief executive James Hogan sits on the board. However, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines also have equity stakes in Virgin, making for a more complicated structure. Mr Hogan said Etihad Airways Partners was open to any airline, regardless of whether it was part of an existing alliance. Airberlin is a member of the oneworld alliance and there has been speculation Etihad could expand its existin...