Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa have signed a partnership agreement. The two airline groups will operate key routes between Singapore and Europe on a joint-venture basis.
Flights between Singapore and Frankfurt or Munich as well as flights between Singapore and Zurich will be operated under a revenue-sharing arrangement. The new Singapore Airlines operated flights between Singapore and Düsseldorf that will be launched in July next year will also be covered under such agreements.
The cooperation extends to key markets in Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia. Schedules will be coordinated to provide customers with more convenient connections between the route networks. Joint fare promotions will be launched and corporate programmes will be aligned to benefit corporate customers. Existing frequent flyer programmes will be also enhanced.
This agreement includes Singapore Airlines subsidiary SilkAir as well as Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss.
Singapore Airlines customers will be able to access to and from points in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland via its transfer hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. There will be more than 20 new codeshare routes.
Singapore Airlines currently codeshares on: Lufthansa-operated flights between Singapore and Frankfurt, and beyond Frankfurt to 26 intra-Europe destinations; and Swiss-operated flights beyond Zurich to five intra-Europe destinations.
Lufthansa and Swiss will in turn codeshare with Singapore Airlines and regional arm SilkAir on more routes serving destinations in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific.
Lufthansa currently codeshares on Singapore Airlines – operated flights between Frankfurt and Singapore, and beyond Singapore to seven points in Southwest Pacific. Swiss currently codeshares on SIA-operated flights between Zurich and Singapore, and beyond Singapore to Bangkok.
Codesharing of more destinations are in the pipeline.
Some benefits of the agreement such as the new codeshare services will be introduced in the coming months while others requiring additional levels of regulatory approval may be implemented progressively through 2016.
