Air India and Lufthansa Group have had an active codeshare partnership for a while. However, the duo has decided to build on that agreement by incorporating additional routes in the codeshare network. Nearly 60 new routes have been added to expand the partnership, resulting in Air India’s new codeshare with Austrian Airlines, which, like SWISS, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways, is a member of the Lufthansa Group.
With Lufthansa and SWISS, the expansion bumps the codeshare route count from 55 to about 100. Moreover, the new partnership with Austrian Airlines results in 26 more codeshare routes for Air India passengers. Put together, the expanded list provides stress-free travel itineraries across 12 Indian and 26 European destinations.
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The expansion in codeshare means Air India can offer its customers 26 destinations across Europe and three in the Americas connected from three of the airline’s gateways – Frankfurt, Vienna, and Zurich. The Indian carrier will print the code ‘AI’ on the following services provided by Lufthansa Group carriers:
On the other hand, the Lufthansa Group carriers can add their respective codeshare designator codes on Air India’s domestic services to or from 15 cities. The list comprises Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa Mopa, Goa Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. Additionally, they will offer codeshare benefits on three of the Indian airline’s international services from Delhi and Mumbai: Kathmandu, Melbourne, and Sydney.
That’s not all. The newly expanded codeshare partnership will also cover the flights operated by Lufthansa Group and Air India between India and Germany or Switzerland. For example, those planning to travel from Delhi to Frankfurt will now have three daily flights for each sector with ‘LH’ flight numbers: two Air India and one Lufthansa.
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This partnership also includes earning or redeeming frequent flyer points on all four airlines. Those holding elite status in Air India’s Maharaja Club and Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programmes can enjoy Star Alliance’s Gold tier benefits, such as priority services, extra baggage allowances, and airport lounge access.
