Virgin may join SkyTeam alliance

Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. has said passengers may benefit if its long haul off-shoot V Australia joins the Delta Air Lines-led SkyTeam alliance.

The suggestion, which was made in a filing to US regulators, is Virgin Blue's strongest hint to date that it could join the world's second- largest aviation alliance.

The Sydney Morning Herald said that the proposed tie-up would be a major coup for SkyTeam, which has been aggressively seeking to boost its partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

V Australia and Delta released a joint statement that ''it is possible that Australian-origin passengers might benefit if V Australia were to join SkyTeam''.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Transportation is continuing to push the airlines for additional information about their proposed tie-up.

Despite gaining the seal of approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year, the deal still needs approval from the US authorities.

The two airlines have rejected reports that the deal might lead to ticket price hikes but concede they cannot make ''specific predictions about fares - other than to say they will be fully competitive''.

Delta also said it had ''only distant aspirations'' of expanding beyond its daily Sydney-Los Angeles services.