Virgin Australia will begin flying from Newcastle to Auckland from November this year, with the new seasonal route tapping into demand over the summer period.

A Boeing 737 with eight business class seats, 30 Economy X seats and 138 standard economy seats will make the three hour trip every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from 22 November 2018 to 17 February 2019.

Flight VA199 will depart from Newcastle Airport at 7.30pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, reaching Auckland at 12.25am the following day.

The VA198 return leg will be wheels-up from Auckland at 5.10pm and arrive into Newcastle at 6.45pm.

Flights will be on sale at the Virgin Australia website from today, with the airline saying it will consider extending the Newcastle-Auckland service further into 2019 based on demand.

The route signals the start of a second wave of expansion for Virgin's trans-Tasman network since the airline announced it would part ways with one-time ally Air New Zealand on October 28, 2018.

Virgin Australia is launching new routes between Sydney and Wellington and between Melbourne and Queenstown from October this year, with extra flights also being added to Auckland from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Read more: Virgin Australia launches Queenstown, Wellington flights

Air New Zealand has since inked a codeshare alliance with Qantas to take effect from October 28, although this will be restricted to each airline's domestic routes and not cover the hotly-contested trans-Tasman corridor, which seens an estimated 2.8 million travellers shuttle between Australia and New Zealand each year.

The alliance will see Qantas stamp its QF code onto 30 domestic AirNZ services across New Zealand, while the Kiwi carrier will in turn plant its NZ prefix on 85 domestic Qantas flight in Australia.

Qantas and Air New Zealand business class passengers and top-tier frequent flyers will enjoy reciprocal airport lounge access, while travellers will also be able to earn points and status credits in each airline's respective loyalty program on flights booked under the appropriate codeshare.

Also read: Here are three ways Virgin Australia intends to win against Air New Zealand