Air India is a rising star with promises for never-before-like flying experience for Indians abroad. Among the major international airlines looking to partner with Air India, Lufthansa won the toss for expansive code-sharing. The codeshare partnership with Air India gives Lufthansa access to 12 Indian cities from its gateway destinations – New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Precisely, passengers of Lufthansa’s USA-India flights can experience seamless connectivity to 12 more Indian destinations, on a single ticket (same booking reference number).
Previously, Lufthansa’s India network was limited to Delhi IGI Airport, Mumbai CSMI Airport, Hyderabad RIG Airport, and BLR Kempegowda Airport. It required some passengers to make additional arrangements to travel to their final destinations from those gateway airports. Thanks to the expanded codeshare agreement, Air India now flies Lufthansa passengers to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Indore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar.
With single US to India flight tickets of Lufthansa Airlines, you can effortlessly travel to any of the above destinations in India. In return, Air India gains access to Lufthansa Group airlines’ vast European network. Wondering why Lufthansa expanded its codeshare partnership with Air India?
Though IndiGo has the largest share of the domestic travel market, the Lufthansa Group airlines chose Air India to expand their reach within India. Several considerations, including Air India’s growing domestic network, revamped lounging facilities, and A320neo aircraft fleet with modern upgrades, seem to have influenced Lufthansa’s decision to expand its longstanding partnership with the Tata airline. The A320neo family fleet that Air India describes as “a backbone of its domestic flight operations” is being upgraded with cushy seats and modern amenities, such as USB chargers and electronic device holders.
Nipun Aggarwal, Air India’s Chief Commercial Officer, shared his excitement, saying, “Our goal is to help customers travel from anywhere in the world to anywhere in India with ease. The expanded Air India-Lufthansa codeshare partnership is a big step in that direction.” “We’re excited to offer our customers better connectivity through Air India while they fly between Europe, USA, and India,” said the CCO of Lufthansa Group.
The perks of flying with Lufthansa exclude generous free check-in baggage allowance, 2 bags of up to 23kg each, which Air India, Singapore Airlines, and the Middle East carriers allow on economy flights to/from India. Most itineraries of Lufthansa flights between USA and India incur additional fees for economy travelers to check in a second bag. Lufthansa Group’s expanded codeshare agreement with Air India for seamless operations to more Indian cities does not make a difference in terms of economy class baggage allowance.
