Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines have become members of the Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers to promote their transatlantic services and joint venture to agents.
The airlines have been joint-venture partners for more than 10 years and their partnership gives customers access to more 200 destinations across the Atlantic.
Scott Edwards, senior account manager at Virgin Atlantic, and Kate Devereux, senior account manager at Delta, said : “Joining Atas will allow both Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines to really showcase our product offering and seamless connections across the Atlantic, which is where our joint venture really shines through.
“It will also enable us to jointly showcase our offering to agents where we have perhaps struggled to reach in the past, especially the all-important homeworkers.
“UK travel agents are hugely important to us and play a fundamental role in our overall success as airline partners.
“They know what their customers want and that’s a great onboard experience, vast selection of routes with good connectivity and a reliable airline, which is something both Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines can provide. Without our agent partners, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
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“We do lots of joint marketing with our agency partners, hosting special events as well as sponsoring some of our agent events together.
“We love being out and about engaging with our partners as a single force as it really showcases how strong our partnership is.”
The airlines also say the touring and adventure travel sector is important to them as they have a “really strong” groups offering which growing.
“We want to work closer with those agent partners in this space and being part of Atas will allow us to do just that,” they added.
“The touring and adventure sector is becoming a lot more environmentally conscious. As airline partners, sustainability for us is also important which is why we are investing heavily into next-generation aircraft and how we can reduce our overall impact on the environment.
“We want to be the airline of choice for those environmentally conscious travellers.”
They said bookings remain “really strong” despite challenges such as the cost-of-living, with Virgin’s top-selling destinations being New York, Orlando, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
“Premium Leisure is really strong for us right now and we see the touring and adventure market key to its continued growth,” Edwards added.
“The late booking trend continues but we are also seeing people planning ahead so it certainly feels that the more standard travel planning timelines are starting to revert back to what we were all used to pre-Covid.”
He said Virgin Atlantic’s incentive scheme, Sky High Club, currently has a double points programme running until October 2. It also offers competitions with prizes such as a trip to Cape Town, to spend a few days at Sir Richard Branson’s wine estate, Mont Rochelle.
It is hoped that Delta Air Lines will be included in the programme in the future.
Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic is gearing up for five new routes, including a return to Dubai and launch to the Maldives this winter. Bangalore starts next March; Las Vegas-Manchester begins next summer, and the first South America destination, Sao Paulo, launches in May 2024.
Delta Air Lines’ has also been busy with new routes. Earlier this year it launched a service from Edinburgh to Atlanta which complements its existing New York (JFK) and Boston operations. In addition, it launched a service to Los Angeles from Heathrow, and New York (JFK) from Gatwick.
Claire Brighton, Atas director, said: “It’s very exciting to announce these two airline associate members – especially as they align so well with our touring and adventure focus.
“We’re able to support Virgin Atlantic and Delta to connect with more agents – and we’ll help agents to learn more about the carriers’ routes, eco-friendly credentials and trade offerings.
“It will be great to see them meeting our other members and agents at the conference next month in Liverpool.”