Air India inks codeshare pact with European carrier Flybe

 Flag carrier and Star Alliance member Air India on Wednesday announced the signing of a codeshare partnership with European regional airline Flybe, enabling travellers using the latter’s multi-frequency Birmingham (England) services from Belfast (Northern Ireland), Edinburgh and Glasgow (Scotland) to book seamless flights onward to Delhi.

Under the unilateral agreement, Air India will place its marketing code on these Flybe flights (BE). Seats will be available for booking via the Air India website or through local travel agents from May 10, 2016, with travel effective from June 1. Passengers who are members of Air India’s Frequent Flier Programme will accrue mileage points for journeys taken on flights carrying the AI flight number.

“The prestigious new partnership offers numerous benefits to customers who will be able to use a single ticket to fly from their local airport to Delhi via a seamless connection through Birmingham Airport onto Air India’s daily flights to New Delhi,” a statement from Air India said.

According to Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, “This codeshare agreement will be a huge benefit not only to Indians living in the UK, but also to tourists travelling to and from domestic sectors of the UK and India. Air India is continuously working towards providing seamless connectivity to its passenger across routes and with our agreement with Flybe, our passengers will have an unmatched connectivity in the UK. ”
“We can now give customers in the UK regions convenient access to the Indian subcontinent through Birmingham Airport,” Flybe Chief Executive Officer Saad Hammad said.