Air India and the Lufthansa Group Announce Major Codeshare Expansion

Air India and the Lufthansa Group have announced a significant expansion of their codeshare agreement that will cover flights to Australia, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and the Americas.

These codeshares include an all-new partnership between Air India and Austrian Airlines and expanded agreements between Air India and both Lufthansa and SWISS.

“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,” said Dieter Vranckx, chief commercial officer of the Lufthansa Group.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

Air India, Lufthansa Group Detail New and Expanded Codeshare Agreements

Air India and the Lufthansa Group are expanding their codeshare relationship. This includes an all-new codeshare partnership between Air India and Austrian Airlines, as well as expansions of existing relationships between Air India and Lufthansa and SWISS.

These new and expanded partnerships will allow passengers to travel more seamlessly than ever before to more destinations in all corners of the globe, especially between Europe and the Indian subcontinent. That’s because the partnership will result in codeshares covering 12 cities in India and 26 in Europe.

The existing codeshare routes between Air India, Lufthansa, and SWISS will increase from 55 to almost 100, and the new agreement between Air India and Austrian will add 26 routes.

Lufthansa Group flyers will be able to connect with Air India to or from the following cities:

The Lufthansa Group airlines will also add their code to Air India flights departing both Delhi and Mumbai for Kathmandu (KTM), Melbourne (MEL), and Sydney (SYD).

On the flip side, Air India flyers will gain easier access to 26 cities in Europe and 3 in the Americas served from Lufthansa Group hubs in Frankfurt (FRA), Vienna (VIE), and Zurich (ZRH).

Lufthansa flights to/from Frankfurt:

SWISS flights to/from Zurich:

Austrian flights to/from Vienna:

A press release from the Lufthansa Group states that Austrian Airlines and Air India intend to add more routes to their new codeshare agreement in the future, though no timetable was provided.

All of these airlines are members of the Star Alliance, which means passengers can earn and redeem miles on each other’s flights and receive reciprocal elite benefits where applicable. Certain tiers of elite status in either Air India’s Maharaja Club or Lufthansa Group’s Miles&More programs also entitle passengers to Star Alliance benefits across airports and destinations where they’re available.

Final Thoughts

Air India has expanded its existing codeshare relationship with Lufthansa and SWISS and has signed a new one with Austrian Airlines.

Covering many cities in just about every region of the world, this expanded partnership should give passengers with even more options for seamless travel. We look forward to seeing even more cooperation as Air India executes its turnaround plan and Lufthansa Group brings another airline — Italy’s ITA Airways — into the fold.