The Hindu Business Line : Foreign airlines yet to decide on code share

Hanging in balance
Jet Airways, in an all-cash deal signed early this year, acquired Air Sahara for $500 million. But Air Sahara is yet to merge with Jet Airways.

Bangalore , April 17

Foreign airlines that have a code-share agreement with Air Sahara are waiting for the airline to merge with Jet Airways before taking a decision on the future of their ties.

American Airlines' (AA) Regional Manager for Indian sub-continent, Ms Nisha Maharaj, told Business Line that her airline, which has a code-share agreement with Air Sahara will wait till the merger with Jet Airways takes place to decide about the future of the agreement.

"We will be open to discussions with any other airlines in case we don't plan to go ahead with our relationship with the merged entity," Ms Maharaj said.

Jet Airways in an all-cash deal signed early this year, acquired Air Sahara for $500 million. But Air Sahara is yet to merge with Jet Airways.

British Airways, which had last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Air Sahara to explore the possibility of tying up for a range of services, is also understood to be waiting for the merger to happen. Sources close to the airline said that it will take a decision on the future of the MoU only after the merger takes place.

The MoU was expected to lead to a formal arrangement, which would allowboth the airlines to share ground services, frequent flyer programmes, and point-to-point flights between India and the UK.

Code-sharing pact

The code-sharing agreement between American Airlines and Air Sahara signed last year allowed passengers to access each other's frequent flyer programmes, and also allowed AA's passengers easier access to any of the destinations flown by Air Sahara in India.

In case American Airlines decides to transfer its code-share agreement from Air Sahara to Jet Airways, passengers from India will have seamless access to all the 240 cities worldwide the airline flies to.

American Airlines currently operates a non-stop daily flight from New Delhi to Chicago.

The airline has a fleet of 1,000 aircraft and is part of the One World alliance.