Virgin Atlantic announces new codeshare with Korean Air

A render of the tailplanes of a Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air aircraft.
Image Credit: Virgin Atlantic
Len Varley - Assistant Editor 4 Min Read
4 Min Read

Virgin Atlantic has announced a new codeshare agreement with Korean Air, offering customers more opportunities to fly seamlessly to South Korea and beyond.

The first phase of the agreement will launch as of Saturday 25 March. This will mean that customers booking through Virgin Atlantic will have the opportunity to travel directly to Incheon Airport, in South Korea’s capital, Seoul. 

By June this year, customers will then be able to connect onwards from Seoul to a variety of destinations throughout Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. 

Asian network expansion


The codeshare with Korean Air is a first step towards Virgin Atlantic’s entry to Seoul and is set to further enhance the airline’s network and presents in Asia. 

IndiGo partnership

From May, services to Shanghai, China will resume, alongside an expanded codeshare with IndiGo throughout India and beyond.

In August 2022 Virgin Atlantic and IndiGo announced their codeshare agreement for services between the UK and India. The agreement came in ahead of what was Virgin Atlantic’s largest ever flying programme in India.

The Indian market sector is rapidly becoming one of the largest aviation sectors worldwide. IndiGo has progressively increased its domestic footprint with a progressive regional network expansion programme.

The initial codeshare destinations between the two carriers in India included Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Delhi and Mumbai.

The additional destinations included Kochi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Pune, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Vadodara, Indore and Visakhapatnam.

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SkyTeam alliance


at the beginning of the month, Virgin Atlantic formally joined the SkyTeam global alliance, becoming the first and only UK airline in the collective.

For the UK airline this meant access to an extended shared network across 1,000 global destinations in over 170 countries.

Korean Air is one of the founding members of the SkyTeam alliance. Virgin Atlantic’s entry into the alliance further built upon the success of its transatlantic joint venture brokered in February 2020 with Delta and Air France-KLM. Each of these airlines are already long-established SkyTeam members.

Virgin Atlantic is co-located at London Heathrow’s Terminal 3, alongside Delta and existing SkyTeam members Aeromexico and China Eastern.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members will also be able to take advantage of SkyPriority services at Seoul Incheon, including priority check in, baggage handling and boarding. 

Airline statement


Speaking on the launch of the latest agreement with Korean air, Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, commented:

“We’re pleased to launch a codeshare with Korean Air, as we know such agreements bring an array of benefits to our customers.”

“As one of Asia’s major carriers, Virgin Atlantic customers can benefit from its extensive route network, that will offer more choice throughout Asia and Australasia.”

“Our enrolment into SkyTeam, of which Korean Air is a founding member, enhances customers benefits further. Our Flying Club members can enjoy SkyPriority benefits at both London Heathrow and Seoul Incheon as well as earning and redeeming miles across Korean Air’s network.”

Headquartered in London, the airline now employs over 7,500 people worldwide, flying customers to 28 destinations across four continents.

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