Apparently, if you put a hat on a snowball, it can last a long time in hell.
In semi-related news, American Airlines has renewed its codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways.
American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER arriving at London Heathrow
Qatar Airways Airbus A330-300 at Hamad International Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
For both airlines, it’s a new first step in building a strategic partnership between the airlines that will increase commercial cooperation, bolster connectivity and create new travel options for customers. This comes two years after their initial partnership was dissolved.
In addition, American Airlines will begin exploring the addition of service from the U.S. to Doha. Both airlines will discuss ways to further their partnership to help them grow.
Whilst this is not a Joint Venture – where there is revenue sharing at risk, it is more than an interline agreement and represents a thawing of hostilities.
Where are the codes being applied?
Pending government approvals, American Airlines will place its code on select Qatar Airways nonstop and connecting services to and from the U.S. and Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha. This will mean American Airlines customers can access destinations in the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia that are not currently served by the airline.
In return, Qatar Airways will place its code on select flights beyond American’s hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, New York-JFK, Los Angeles Philadelphia and Miami. Qatar Airways Codes will be applied on American Airlines international flights to and from Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
In quotes
American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said
“Our goal is to continue to expand and deepen our global partnerships to complement American’s network and create more choice for our customers,”
“The issues that led to the suspension of our partnership two years ago have been addressed, and we believe resuming our codeshare agreement will allow us to provide service to markets that our customers, team members and shareholders value, including new growth opportunities for American Airlines. We look forward to the renewed cooperation between our airlines and hope to build an even stronger relationship with Qatar Airways over time.”
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Mr. Akbar Al Baker said,
“We are very pleased to secure this strategic partnership with American Airlines — an agreement between two successful and ambitious airlines with a shared common purpose to enhance the customer experience. The deal will bring together two of the world’s largest airline networks, increasing choices for millions of passengers and providing seamless connectivity to a significant number of new destinations, in line with Qatar Airways’ successful growth strategy. We have moved on from past issues and look forward to working closely with American Airlines to build a world-leading partnership for all our customers. This agreement will harness our complementary strengths and resources and enable more customers to experience Qatar Airways’ award-winning product quality.”
Vasu Raja, Senior Vice President of Network Strategy for American Airlines said
“This partnership with Qatar is another step to increase our connectivity, while providing more choice and making travel easier and more accessible for our customers,”
“As we look to build out a truly global network and create a strong presence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the renewed codeshare with Qatar Airways will be one of the cornerstones of making that a reality.”
American Airlines breaks away from the big three
It seems that relations have thawed enough, that American Airlines has broken away from Delta and United Airlines, baying against subsidies and so on – and are getting down to the business of getting passengers from A to B
And codeshares are one way to ensure passengers
Whilst the fall of Air Italy may have helped – removing the perceived threat, decisions like these don’t happen overnight by any stretch of the imagination.
Or maybe the loss of LATAM has woken up the airline’s management to explore new possibilities.
None the less, for passengers – it gives more opportunities for travel – which is always a welcome thing.
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