Virgin Australia announced on Tuesday that it had been given regulatory approval for its proposed partnership with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

The nod from the US Department of Transportation marks the last major hurdle for the alliance. In a statement sent to the Australia Security Exchange on Tuesday, Virgin said the two companies are now able to implement the proposed trans-Pacific coordination strategy, which will see each carrier open up domestic codeshare routes to the other airline.

Virgin Australia’s chief executive, John Borghetti, said in a statement that the new partnership was a key part of his airline’s global coverage aspirations and said his team would now work hard to put all of the entailed benefits in place before the end of the year.

The news follows a number of codeshare-rearing partnership efforts initiated by Virgin this year. Now, the company’s customers can connect to domestic Delta flights in Los Angeles on a single trans-Pacific ticket. Cities currently available include San Francisco, Orlando, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York and Detroit.

In spite of the positive news, Virgin’s shares quickly went down just after the market opened on Tuesday as a result of prolonged flight disruptions in southern Australia and New Zealand.