Virgin Atlantic and bmi to expand codeshare

Virgin Atlantic and bmi are to expand their existing codeshare agreement so that customers travelling on bmi’s UK domestic and Middle East networks can benefit from seamless connections with Virgin Atlantic’s North American services.

With immediate effect, passengers can book with Virgin Atlantic to travel on the following routes, connecting at London Heathrow with bmi flights:

* New York JFK to/from Amman, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Tehran
* Newark to/from Amman, Beirut and Tel Aviv
* Boston to/from Amman and Beirut
* Los Angeles to/from Tehran

Additionally Virgin Atlantic customers will also be able to make bookings to travel to and from the airline’s long-haul destinations and the following UK cities served by bmi:

* Aberdeen
* Belfast
* Durham Tees Valley
* Edinburgh
* Glasgow
* Leeds Bradford
* Manchester

The new routes extend the existing codeshare which enables customers on Virgin Atlantic’s global network to connect easily at Heathrow onto bmi services to and from Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Hanover, Venice and Palma.

Edmond Rose, Director Commercial and Revenue Planning, Virgin Atlantic, commented:

"This codeshare extension gives customers even more choice of journeys via Heathrow on two great partner airlines, Virgin Atlantic and bmi. We are delighted to work more closely with bmi to provide our customers with access to its excellent Middle Eastern and domestic network."

Martyn Bridger, Commercial Director bmi, added:

"We are pleased to extend our codeshare agreement with Virgin Atlantic, providing customers with greater access to our strong domestic route network and growing range of destinations in the Middle East."

For further information, log on to Virginatlantic.com or flybmi.com.