Air India and Singapore Airlines C6L (SIA) have agreed to expand their codeshare agreement, adding 11 Indian cities and another 40 international destinations to their network.
This marks the first extensive expansion of codeshare arrangements between the airlines since 2010, offering customers enhanced travel options between Singapore and India, as well as beyond.
From Oct 27, Air India and SIA will codeshare on each other’s flights between Singapore and the Indian cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, increasing their total weekly scheduled codeshare services between the countries to 56 from 14.
SIA will also codeshare on Air India’s domestic flights between Delhi and Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Lucknow, and Varanasi, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Goa, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as between Kolkata and Guwahati.
Meanwhile, Air India customers will be able to access 29 destinations across SIA’s network.
In Southeast Asia, these include Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia, the Indonesian cities of Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, Cebu and Manila in the Philippines as well as Danang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
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Within Asia, destinations include the Japanese destinations of Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo-Haneda, and Tokyo-Narita, and Busan and Seoul in South Korea.
Lastly, destinations in Oceania include the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand.
SIA customers will also be able to connect to Air India’s international services from Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai to 12 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
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European destinations include Copenhagen, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Amsterdam and Birmingham, London-Gatwick, and London-Heathrow in the UK.
Between the Middle East and Africa, these include Nairobi, Kenya, and Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Both airlines plan to progressively include other destinations in their network to the codeshare arrangements. Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be progressively made available for sale through the airlines’ respective booking channels.
Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial officer (CCO), Air India, says: “This is a continuation of our effort to offer our guests more choice and an extended global network. Air India and Singapore Airlines have been longtime partners, and with this expanded scope of our codeshare agreement, we are excited to offer our guests greater connectivity to destinations across South East Asia, the Far East, and Australasia.”
“Adding Air India’s domestic network to our codeshare arrangements will also offer our customers enhanced connectivity and convenience in India, which is a key market for the SIA Group,” adds Lee Lik Hsin, CCO, Singapore Airlines.
As at 12.18 pm, shares in SIA are trading flat at $6.39.
