Tourexpi
Air India and Lufthansa Group announce significant expansion of codeshare partnership
Air
India and Lufthansa Group have agreed to build on their longstanding codeshare
partnership, which sees Air India enter into a new codeshare agreement with
Austrian Airlines, as well as expand the existing codeshare agreements between
Air India, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS).
The
expanded partnership significantly boosts flight options and connectivity for
travellers between the Indian Subcontinent and Europe with the addition of
close to 60 codeshare routes operated by the four airlines across 12 Indian and
26 European cities.
The
expanded agreements increase the total number of codeshare routes
between Air India, Lufthansa and SWISS from 55 to nearly 100.
Additionally, the new agreement between Air India and Austrian Airlines adds 26
codeshare routes. This provides greater choice, convenience, and seamless
experiences to travellers from both regions.
Customers
of Lufthansa Group will now be able to connect to Air India’s domestic services
to or from 15 points within India, namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru,
Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa Mopa, Goa Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi,
Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. Additionally, Lufthansa Group
carriers will add their respective designator codes to Air India’s
international services to 3 destinations from Delhi and Mumbai: Kathmandu,
Melbourne, and Sydney.
Additionally,
flights currently operated by Air India and Lufthansa Group carriers between
India and Germany or Switzerland will be covered under the expanded codeshare
partnership. For example, customers who wish to fly between Delhi and Frankfurt
will now have three daily flight options each way with ‘LH’ flight numbers,
including two flights operated by Air India and one flight operated by
Lufthansa.
Reciprocally,
Air India will now offer its customers a total of 26 destinations across Europe
and 3 destinations in the Americas beyond its gateways in Europe (Frankfurt,
Vienna, and Zurich), with the ‘AI’ designator code placed on the following
services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group, including Austrian
Airlines for the first time:
Lufthansa
Between
Frankfurt and: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bremen, Brussels, Copenhagen,
Dresden, Düsseldorf, Dublin, Geneva, Hamburg, Hannover, Luxembourg, Lyon,
Manchester, Marseille, Munich, Nice, Nuremberg, Oslo, Prague, Riga, Rio de
Janeiro, São Paulo, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Valencia, Washington D.C.
SWISS
Between
Zurich and: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bremen, Brussels, Copenhagen,
Dresden, Düsseldorf, Dublin, Geneva, Hamburg, Hannover, Luxembourg, Manchester,
Marseille, Munich, Nice, Oslo, Prague, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Valencia.
Austrian
Airlines
Between
Vienna and: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bremen, Brussels, Copenhagen,
Düsseldorf, Geneva, Hamburg, Hannover, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Munich,
Nice, Oslo, Prague, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Valencia.
Both
airlines plan to progressively include other destinations in their network to
the codeshare arrangements.
Air
India and the three Lufthansa Group carriers are members of Star Alliance.
Frequent flyers will continue to earn and redeem points/miles on all four
airlines, while elite status holders of Air India’s Maharaja Club and Lufthansa
Group’s Miles & More programmes will benefit from Star Alliance Gold
benefits including priority services, extra baggage allowance, and airport
lounge access across the world.
According
to Lufthansa Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dieter Vranckx: “We are
thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Air India and elevate the travel
experience for our joint customers. By further enhancing our cooperation, we
will increase the travel options between Europe and India and offer our
passengers improved access to additional destinations. Lufthansa Group remains
committed to India, and we are excited about the possibilities and potential
the country and Air India as a partner have to offer”.
Nipun
Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India, said: “Our goal is to
enable our customers to travel from any corner of the world to another via Air
India and its partner airlines. The expansion of our partnership with Lufthansa
Group is a step in that direction, and we are pleased to take this long-standing
relationship to the next level. With this renewed partnership, our customers
will have access to more destinations and greater flexibility to travel across
Europe on Lufthansa Group carriers. It also gives us the opportunity to serve
Lufthansa Group customers, with warmth and quintessential Indian hospitality,
aboard Air India flights. We look forward to continue working closely with our
Star Alliance partners in making the world feel like a smaller place.”
Subject
to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be progressively made
available for sale through the airlines’ respective booking channels.
Image
Credit: © Lufthansa Group
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