NEW DELHI: Full-service carrier Vistara and Europe’s major airline Lufthansa on Monday signed a codeshare agreement to strengthen their existing interline partnership. Sales under the codeshare agreement progressively open on Monday on all channels and major GDS systems for flights starting December 16, 2019.
Moreover, the two airlines are planning to soon expand the scope of the agreement, enabling frequent fliers of both the airlines to earn miles/points when travelling on each other’s networks and enjoy other benefits.
Vinod Kannan, Vistara’s chief strategy officer, said: “Our codeshare with Lufthansa is another important step in this direction and helps us widen our customer base outside of India.” Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.
As part of the agreement, Lufthansa will add its ‘LH’ designator code to nearly 18 Vistara-operated flights every day covering 10 Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Vistara, the joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA), and Lufthansa already have an Interline/Through Check-in agreement, using which customers can connect from Vistara-operated domestic flights in India to Lufthansa-operated flights to both of its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich and beyond.
George Ettiyil, senior director, sales, Lufthansa Group Airlines in South Asia, said, “By teaming up with Vistara, we will strengthen and expand our position as the leading and most popular European airline in India — a country all set to become the third-largest aviation market in just a few years’ time.
Vistara, which began services in January 2015 and started flying international earlier this year, now has codeshare agreements with six airlines — Lufthansa, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, United Airlines and Japan Airlines, beside having over two dozen interline partnerships with various airlines.
Pact to help book passengers on partner carriers
Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence. As part of the agreement, Lufthansa will add its ‘LH’ designator code to nearly 18 Vistara-operated flights every day covering 10 Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai