Air India Signs Codeshare Agreement With Japanese Airline All Nippon Airways

Air India has signed its second airline partnership after privatization. Following the interline partnership with Alaska Airlines, the airline has now signed a codeshare agreement with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA). With this new agreement, more flight selection options will be available for passengers travelling between India and Japan.

Air India and All Nippon Airways Signs Codeshare

Both Air India and All Nippon Airways (ANA) are members of Star Alliance. In an agreement signed on April 23, both airlines have agreed to share their flight designator codes on the flights of each other. This codeshare agreement will be live from May 23, 2024. With this, passengers traveling with both airlines will be able to seamlessly connect flights between India and Japan using a single ticket. Passengers will also be able to cross-utilize the lounges and priority boarding facilities.

Flight bookings are now live on the booking portals of both airlines. Let us have a quick look at the network and terms & conditions of this codeshare agreement.

Air India connects Delhi Airport to Tokyo Narita. On the other hand, ANA connects Delhi to Tokyo Haneda. ANA also connects Mumbai to Tokyo Narita.

With this codeshare agreement, Air India will put its IATA Code- AI on ANA flights connecting Tokyo to Mumbai and Delhi. Similarly, ANA will place its designator code- NH on the Air India flight connecting Delhi to Tokyo. In the future, this partnership will undergo expansion as per passenger needs.

Enhancing Connectivity

Nipun Aggarwal, the Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer at Air India said that this agreement marks a significant climb in air connectivity between India and Japan. With this, the network and reach of both airlines will expand. In the end, the customer is the winner as he/she will get more seamless options. Air India is looking to further expand this collaboration.

Katsuya Goto, a Senior Executive at All Nippon Airways, said that this collaboration shows the airline’s commitment to improving air travelers’ experience. He hoped that this would create a hassle-free travel environment between both countries.

Codesharing Agreements Increasing

In India, the domestic network is huge. There are more than 140 airports in the country. To penetrate deeper into the market, foreign airlines often sign codeshare agreements with an Indian airline to utilize its network and enhance passenger numbers. The latest example was the initial codeshare agreement signed between IndiGo and Malaysia Airlines. With the deeply rooted domestic network of IndiGo, Malaysia Airlines will benefit and will carry more passengers between India and Malaysia.

Air India also signed an interline partnership with Alaska Airlines in November 2023. In this partnership, a lot of North American destinations were included. From San Francisco, Air India provides connections to 26 US cities and 6 Mexican cities using the network of Alaska Airlines.

Air India already has codeshare partnerships with many foreign airlines. The airline recently started placing its AI code on all Air India Express flights. It has partnered with various European airlines like Lufthansa, Swiss, Croatia Airlines, TAP Portugal, and LOT Polish Airlines for codeshare flights. In Africa, the airline has codeshare agreements with Air Mauritius, Ethiopian Airlines, and EgyptAir. Asiana Airlines, the neighbor of ANA has also signed a codeshare agreement with Air India for the Delhi-Incheon-Delhi route.

What do you think about this new codeshare agreement? Discuss in the comment section.

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