Lufthansa has been busy in the background and has spent time with Avianca by introducing a codeshare agreement with the carrier.
This is after discussions with the Airline, a route launch from Frankfurt to Bogota, and Star Alliance having discussions with Avanica-TACA Group.
Codeshares will be applied to the Columbian domestic network, connecting Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin and Pereira and feeding the Lufthansa service.
Avianca in returns gets a codeshare on services back to Frankfurt, and on connections through to Madrid and Barcelona.
Avianca passengers will also gain access to Lufthansa’s five-times weekly connection between Bogota and Frankfurt. The Colombian carrier also connects to Europe through services to the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona.
The more important phase of codesharing will begin if both carriers get further traffic rights by Avianca.
This is a very interesting play by Lufthansa, and could be seen as a backup strategy to the LAN/TAM Merger that is in play. LAN is a member of OneWorld, whilst TAM is a Star Alliance member. If LATAM goes OneWorld, and Avianca signs up with Star Alliance, they have a backup strategy.
If however LATAM goes Star Alliance, Star goes from having a minmal presence in the South American market to a dominating one.
This is a situation that will be interesting to watch as it unfolds. Needless to say, OneWorld and SkyTeam will be watching with great interest.
Subject to the carriers’ securing traffic rights, the codeshare is to be extended in a second phase to international South American routes served by Avianca.
