Air India, Lufthansa deepen ties in 'rare' code-sharing pact
Air India and Lufthansa have strengthened their relationship with the German major expanding the code-share agreement on the popular India-Australia route. Under this new pact, passengers of Lufthansa, from its hub in Frankfurt and Munich, will be able to travel to Sydney and Melbourne via Delhi and Mumbai airports on Air India.
Lok Sabha Voting Phase 3: All the latest news
Similarly, Swiss Airlines, owned by the Lufthansa group, will partner with Air India where passengers from Zurich hub will be able to travel to Sydney, Melbourne, and Kathmandu on Air India through Delhi Airport.
This is a rare occasion where Lufthansa has agreed to place its code on Air India flights for international routes, say experts.
The German carrier has a joint venture with Singapore Airlines (SIA) for Europe to Australia routes where it doesn't fly directly. Tata and SIA are restructuring their airline business in India which will see the merger of Vistara into Air India in which SIA will own a 25.1% stake.
The partnership, said industry sources, could be a sign of greater cooperation between the airlines as Air India has started improving its inflight product with refurbished aircraft and better services.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr earlier told ET that he was looking to form a strong partnership with Air India.
Ameya Joshi, founder of aviation blog Network Thoughts, said the new pact shows that airlines are willing to do business with Air India based on its refurbishment plans.
Sources said the two airlines
