A Virgin Australia Airplane At Denpasar Airport In Bali, Indonesia
Indonesian air force soldiers hold rifles they guard near a Virgin Australia airplane at Denpasar airport in the resort island of Bali April 25, 2014. The pilot of a Virgin Australia plane flying from Brisbane to Bali on Friday reported a hijacking attempt after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit, an Indonesian transport official said. A Virgin Australia Airlines official said there had not been an attempt to hijack the aircraft but a "flight emergency" after a 28-year-old male passenger who was drunk had banged on the door of the cockpit trying to get in. Crew members seized the passenger, who authorities identified as Matt Christopher from Australia, and handcuffed him. Reuters/Stringer

Virgin Australia disclosed it has expanded its frequent flyer programme tie-up with Star Alliance member South African Airways. This means that Velocity members may now earn points and status credits every time they fly onboard South African flights beginning in early 2015. The deal will, likewise, cover Airlink and SA Express, partners of South African Airways. Apart from points, Virgin's Velocity and SAA's Voyager's elite members will also enjoy lounge access, priority check-in and priority boarding under the reciprocal frequent flyer agreement.

SAA is regarded as South Africa's national flag carrier, flying to 38 destinations in 26 countries in Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. In 2012, it began servicing the Beijing, China, route as part of its international route expansion. Its hub is located at OR Tambo International Airport. It currently has a fleet composed of 54 aircraft. It was founded in 1934.

Apart from its codeshare agreement with SAA, Virgin Australia has deals with:

Air Mauritius

Aerolineas Argentinas

Air Berlin

Airlines PNG

Delta Air lines

Etihad Airways

Garuda Indonesia

Hawaiian Airlines

Singapore Airlines

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines

Virgin America

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Samoa

SAA, meantime, has prevailing arrangements with:

Airlink

Air Mauritius

Air Seychelles

El Al

Emirates

Etihad Airways

Jet Airways

JetBlue Airways

Mango (subsidiary)

Malaysian Airlines

Saudia

RwandAir

SA Express

Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Australia is in a tight competition with Qantas, the country's flag carrier airline, over on-time performance. A report by the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that in October, Virgin led the highest level of on-time departures at 88.9 percent. Qantas followed a close second at 88.6 percent. Jetstar and Tigerair, meantime, were at 82.2 and 80.2 percent, respectively.

But Qantas dominated the on-time arrival at its respective destinations. It was revealed Qantas arrives earlier or much on time at 88.7 percent, while Virgin, Australia's second-largest airline, was at 87.5 percent. Jetstar came at third at 83.5 percent and Tigerair at 77.8 percent in the same month in review.

According to Australian Aviation, in early 2014, SAA terminated its partnership with Qantas on the Australia-South Africa route. Its SA code was withdrawn from Qantas's Sydney-Johnannesburg flights. Later on, Virgin Australia placed its QF code off SAA's services between Perth and Johannesburg.