Lufthansa Group and Air India will deepen cooperation on everything from routes to IT in a new push to boost connectivity between Europe and India.
The two carriers announced a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday that substantially enlarges their existing relationship. An interline arrangement of some kind is implied, with the airlines set to offer “more connected and consistent experiences across some of the world’s busiest routes on a single ticket.”
The agreement is meant to capitalize on business opportunities “unlocked” by a recent free trade pact signed by the Europe Union and India, the partners said.
Under the MOU, Lufthansa Group and Air India will collaborate in areas such as route planning, flight scheduling, loyalty programs, information technology, and customer service and experience. Previously, their relationship had been limited to codesharing and shared membership in Star Alliance.
Officials said the deal encompasses all of Lufthansa Group’s and Air India’s carriers and subsidiaries, such as Air India Express, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Lufthansa, and SWISS.
The partners will initially focus on growing traffic between India and Lufthansa’s home markets, specifically Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland. The MOU would eventually expand to cover the rest of Europe and the Indian subcontinent.
“Today’s agreement with our long-standing Star Alliance partner Air India is a strong signal of our mutual determination to open a new chapter in aviation between the EU and India following the landmark trade agreement between both economic regions,” Carsten Spohr, chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Group, said in a news release. “Together with Air India, we will strengthen our access to the aviation market with the highest growth rates worldwide.”
“This milestone in our deepening relationship with the Lufthansa Group is great news for travelers and enterprises alike between India and Europe,” added Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson. “As Air India continues to expand its global footprint with a fast-modernizing fleet and transformed product and service offerings, this framework enables us to explore closer cooperation on multiple fronts to meet the growing trade, commerce, and people-to-people ties between our respective regions.”
Lufthansa Group and Air India carriers currently codeshare on 145 routes across 29 cities in Europe and 15 in India.
In its reporting on the deal, Bloomberg said Lufthansa is likely using its alliance with Air India to push back on rapidly growing Middle East carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways, which compete in some of the same markets.
