Air India and Germany’s Lufthansa Group have agreed to build on their longstanding codeshare partnership which intends to boost flight options and connectivity for travelers between the Indian Subcontinent and Europe. The expansion, which will also see the Indian national carrier enter into a new codeshare agreement with Austrian Airlines, will include the broadening of existing codeshare agreements between the carrier with both Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS).
In all, the newly expanded relationship will see the addition of almost 60 codeshare routes operated by the four airlines combined serving cities in 12 India plus 26 European destinations. The expanded agreements increase the total number of codeshare routes between Air India, Lufthansa, and SWISS from 55 to nearly 100. Additionally, the new agreement between Air India and Austrian Airlines will add 26 codeshare routes. Air India and the three Lufthansa Group carriers are all members of the Star Alliance global group of carriers.
From February 20, 2025, Air India will offer its customers a total of 26 destinations across Europe and three destinations in the Americas beyond three Lufthansa Group gateways in Europe (Frankfurt, Vienna, and Zurich), with the Air India ‘AI’ designator code being placed on all codeshare services.
Reciprocally, customers of Lufthansa Group will be able to connect to Air India’s domestic services to or from 15 points within India, namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa Mopa, Goa Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. Additionally, Lufthansa Group carriers will add their respective designator codes to Air India’s international services to three destinations from Delhi and Mumbai – namely Kathmandu (Nepal), plus Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.
Additionally, flights currently operated by Air India and Lufthansa Group carriers between India and Germany or Switzerland will be covered under the expanded codeshare partnership. Customers flying between Delhi and Frankfurt for example will now have three daily flight options each way with ‘LH’ flight numbers, including two flights operated by Air India and one flight operated by Lufthansa. Both airlines have said that they plan to progressively include other destinations in their network in the codeshare agreement. The expanded codeshare agreements remain subject to regulatory approvals by the relevant authorities.
“Our goal is to enable our customers to travel from any corner of the world to another via Air India and its partner airlines. The expansion of our partnership with Lufthansa Group is a step in that direction, and we are pleased to take this long-standing relationship to the next level,” said Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer of Air India.
