Air India and Lufthansa Group have launched a significant expansion of their codeshare partnership, adding 60 additional routes.

The new expansion sees Air India enter into a new codeshare agreement with Austrian Airlines, as well as expand the existing codeshare agreements between Air India, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS).

The expanded partnership significantly boosts flight options and connectivity for business travellers between the Indian Subcontinent and Europe with the addition of close to 60 codeshare routes operated by the four airlines across 12 Indian and 26 European cities.

The expanded agreements increase the total number of codeshare routes between Air India, Lufthansa and SWISS from 55 to nearly 100. Additionally, the new agreement between Air India and Austrian Airlines adds 26 codeshare routes. This provides greater choice, convenience, and seamless experiences to travellers from both regions.

Customers of Lufthansa Group will now be able to connect to Air India’s domestic services to or from 15 points within India, namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa Mopa, Goa Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. Additionally, Lufthansa Group carriers will add their respective designator codes to Air India’s international services to 3 destinations from Delhi and Mumbai: Kathmandu, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Additionally, flights currently operated by Air India and Lufthansa Group carriers between India and Germany or Switzerland will be covered under the expanded codeshare partnership. For example, customers who wish to fly between Delhi and Frankfurt will now have three daily flight options each way with ‘LH’ flight numbers, including two flights operated by Air India and one flight operated by Lufthansa.

Reciprocally, Air India will now offer its customers a total of 26 destinations across Europe and 3 destinations in the Americas beyond its gateways in Europe (Frankfurt, Vienna, and Zurich), with the ‘AI’ designator code placed on the following services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group, including Austrian Airlines for the first time:

Both airlines plan to progressively include other destinations in their network to the codeshare arrangements.

Air India and the three Lufthansa Group carriers are members of Star Alliance. Frequent flyers will continue to earn and redeem points/miles on all four airlines, while elite status holders of Air India’s Maharaja Club and Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programmes will benefit from Star Alliance Gold benefits, including priority services, extra baggage allowance, and airport lounge access across the world. 

“We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Air India and elevate the travel experience for our joint customers, says Lufthansa Group chief commercial officer Dieter Vranckx. “By further enhancing our cooperation, we will increase the travel options between Europe and India and offer our passengers improved access to additional destinations. Lufthansa Group remains committed to India, and we are excited about the possibilities and potential the country and Air India as a partner have to offer.”

“Our goal is to enable our customers to travel from any corner of the world to another via Air India and its partner airlines,” says Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial officer, Air India. “The expansion of our partnership with Lufthansa Group is a step in that direction, and we are pleased to take this long-standing relationship to the next level. With this renewed partnership, our customers will have access to more destinations and greater flexibility to travel across Europe on Lufthansa Group carriers. It also gives us the opportunity to serve Lufthansa Group customers, with warmth and quintessential Indian hospitality, aboard Air India flights. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our Star Alliance partners in making the world feel like a smaller place.”

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