Here’s our weekly roundup of new air routes and codeshare partnerships.
Thai AirAsia to start Bangkok-Malé route
Come August 11, Thai AirAsia will begin daily services between Bangkok and Malé on a 180-seater Airbus A320, breaking Bangkok Airways’ monopoly on this route.
FD177 will depart Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport at 09.30 and arrive in Malé at 11.40, while the return flight will depart Malé at 12.30 and arrive back in Bangkok at 19.00.
Xiamen Airlines begins flights to Los Angeles
Xiamen Airlines on June 27 launched the Xiamen-Los Angeles service, the airline’s third American route.
Utilising a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, MF829 departs Xiamen at 20.00 every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and arrives in Los Angeles at 18.00 the same day. The return flight, MF830, departs Los Angeles at 00.15 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and arrives in Xiamen at 05.30 the following day.
With this route, Xiamen will operate a total of 10 flights weekly between China’s Fujian Province and the US. The carrier also plans to launch a Los Angeles-Qingdao-Xiamen service later this year in December.
SIA, Eurowings launch codeshare operations
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has signed a new codeshare agreement with Eurowings, a Dusseldorf-based subsidiary of Star Alliance partner Lufthansa.
The new codeshare partnership will provide Singapore Airlines customers access to 15 routes on Eurowings-operated flights, including Berlin, Budapest, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Manchester, Nuremberg, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw and Wroclaw (via Duseeldorf); Edinburgh and Rome (via Munich); and Hamburg (via Manchester and Zurich).
The new codeshare flights will be progressively made available for booking through Singapore Airlines’ various booking channels.
Jet Airways expands codeshares with three airlines
Indian airline Jet Airways has announced codeshare enhancements with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
In the first instance, Air France and Delta are codesharing on Jet Airways’ current service between Mumbai and Paris. Additionally, Air France, together with KLM and Delta, also codeshare on Jet Airways’ newly announced flight between Chennai and Paris, scheduled to begin October 29.
KLM and Delta will also codeshare on Jet Airways’ daily flight between Bengaluru and Amsterdam commencing October 29. Additionally, Delta will also codeshare on Jet Airways’ third frequency between Mumbai and London.
Jet Airways also codeshares on Air France services connecting Mumbai and Paris, as well as KLM’s thrice-weekly service between Mumbai and Amsterdam, beginning October 29.
Under the expanded scope, Jet Airways’ guests have access to as many as 43 European destinations via Amsterdam, 27 via Paris, and 34 in North America. Meanwhile, guests travelling from Europe or North America will gain easy access to 45 Indian cities on Jet Airways’ domestic network via Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.
Frequent flyer members of Jet Airways, Air France, KLM and Delta will continue to enjoy network-wide accrual and redemption of points on each other.
