Why did Virgin Australia choose to partner with Delta and not United?

Why did Virgin Australia choose to partner with Delta and not United? Just curious escpecially seeing that Singapore and ANZ are both heavily involved in VA, and both are Star Alliance members as is UA? I just thought it would be naturally given, as I recall that Virgin Blue has some agreement with UA but I could be mistaken. Cheers.

Even though Virgin Australia partners with 2 Star Alliance airlines (NZ and SQ), it technically isn't in Star Alliance - which gives it freedom in choosing which airlines it partners with.

My guess is that in negotiations for a US-based partner Delta turned out to be the best deal - as Delta needed feed in Australia (unlike American Airlines which has QF and United which has NZ)

Did it have anything to do with the fact that DL took VS out of SQ's hands?

Timeline of events suggest it had no bearing. VA partnered DL first

Re: your last sentence, you're correct – United used to codeshare on some Virgin domestic flights (which I think was back in the Vigrin Blue days as I remember seeing the flights on the screens in what was the Blue Room back then).

VA & DL were the weakest players, being the newest entrants to the market. Both were seeking a partner to improve their offering.

The UA-CO merger was on the horizon so UA had other priorities.

I was told by a VA executive that the ACCC wouldn't authorise United and VA codesharing as that would of have reduced competiton in the region.