Air India and Lufthansa Group agreed to expand their long-standing codeshare partnership. Air India will enter into a codeshare agreement with Austrian Airlines and expand the existing codeshare arrangements between Air India, Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines.
The expanded partnership significantly increases flight options and connectivity between the Indian Subcontinent (India) and Europe, with the addition of nearly 60 codeshare routes operated across 12 Indian cities and 26 European ones.
The expanded agreements increase the total number of codeshare routes between Air India, Lufthansa and SWISS from 55 to nearly 100. In addition, the new agreement with Austrian Airlines will add 26 codeshare routes. This gives travellers from both areas more choice, convenience and seamless experiences.
Lufthansa Group customers will be able connect to Air India domestic services from or to 15 points in India: Ahmedabad Amritsar Bengaluru Bhubaneswar Chennai Delhi Goa Mopa Goa Dabolim Hyderabad Indore Kochi Kolkata Mumbai Pune Thiruvananthapuram. Lufthansa Group will also add their respective designation codes to Air India international services from Delhi and Mumbai to three destinations: Kathmandu (Nepal), Melbourne (Australia), and Sydney.
The expanded codeshare partnership will also cover flights operated by Air India or Lufthansa Group carriers from India to Germany or Switzerland. 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 on gradually adding other destinations to the codeshare arrangement. Star Alliance is a group of airlines that includes Air India, the three Lufthansa Group carriers and other international carriers. 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 strengthening our cooperation, we can offer our customers better access to other destinations and more travel options between Europe. Lufthansa Group continues to be committed to India. We are excited about what the country, and Air India in particular, can 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 relationship with Lufthansa Group represents a step forward in this direction. We are delighted to take this longstanding relationship to a new level. Our customers will be able to travel to more destinations in Europe with Lufthansa Group airlines thanks to this renewed partnership. Air India offers us the chance to serve Lufthansa Group clients with warmth and Indian hospitality aboard Air India flights. We look forward in continuing to work closely with our Star Alliance partner airlines to make the world feel smaller.”
