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Virgin Atlantic snubs British Airways for China Eastern
October 18th 2019
UK carrier will join the China Eastern-Air France-KLM joint venture. Read More »
British Airways (BA) fought hard to secure a partnership with China Eastern Airlines (CEA), but any deal now looks to be on shaky ground following the announcement that BA rival, Virgin Atlantic, will join the Air France-KLM-China Eastern joint venture. BA and CEA operate a code-share.
This month, CEA is increasing its three weekly Shanghai Pudong-London Gatwick service to daily, complementing its existing Shanghai Pudong-London Heathrow flights. Virgin Atlantic flies once a day to Shanghai Pudong from Heathrow. BA’s partnership with CEA resulted in a second flight to Pudong for BA.
The expanded joint venture completes an intricate ownership and partnership structure that revolves around Delta Air Lines. Delta is an investor in Air France-KLM, CEA and Virgin Atlantic. Air France-KLM has equity in Virgin and CEA has invested in Air France-KLM.
Recently, BA established a code-share with China Southern Airlines (CSA), which has bases in Guangzhou and Beijing Daxing. BA is moving its Heathrow-Beijing Capital flight to Daxing this month. CSA has a notable presence at Shanghai Pudong.
