Naresh Goyal-owned private carrier Jet Airways said it has expanded its code share partnership with Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, which will help flyers with greater connectivity to the US via London.
Effective November 2, Jet Airways customers flying between India and North America will be able to connect through London Heathrow onto nine US destinations operated by Delta, Jet Airways said in a statement.
In turn, Delta and Virgin Atlantic customers flying between North America and India will be able to connect with Delta code share onto Jet Airways' flights to Mumbai and Delhi via London Heathrow and onward to 20 destinations within India.
The new routes complement Delta and Jet Airways destinations available through existing code share agreements via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle, the airline said.
Code sharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless transport to destinations where it has no presence.
"This expanded cooperation over London Heathrow now allows us to offer our guests travelling to North America, multi-gateway connectivity over all of Jet Airways' European destinations. The code share arrangement with Delta Air Lines will enable Jet Airways guests to seamlessly connect to 24 cities across the United States of America over London, Paris and Amsterdam," Jet Airways Whole-Time Director Gaurang Shetty said.
The destinations to which the expanded code share is applicable are Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Last month, the Mumbai-based full service airline entered a similar arrangement with Air France-KLM and Delta for US flights from Paris and Amsterdam.
"Further, our loyalty programme partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other's entire network," Shetty said.
According to the airline, Virgin Atlantic, which already operates code share flight with Jet Airways to five Indian cities and London Heathrow via Delhi, plans to expand it to 10 cities across North America, including Miami, Newark, San Francisco and Washington next year.
"We are pleased to announce an extended code share with Jet Airways which will provide even more options for our customers in North America and India. From spring 2017, we will offer seamless connections between five Indian cities and 10 US destinations via London Heathrow," Erik F Varwijk, Executive Vice President for commercial for Virgin Atlantic said.
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