aviation
Lufthansa and Air China sign JV deal
Lufthansa and Air China signed a
wide-reaching partnership agreement in
Beijing which will enable the two aviation
groups to jointly operate all connections
between Europe and China as part of a commercial joint venture. This means that the
two companies will implement what they
agreed to do as part of a memorandum of
understanding in summer 2014.
Following a joint venture with the
Japanese airline All Nippon Airlines (ANA)
and a joint venture with Singapore Airlines,
which was signed in November 2015, this is
now the Lufthansa Group’s third enhanced
partnership in Asia.
Lufthansa Group and Air China plan to
cooperate more closely in the future. Their
flight timetables will be better coordinated
with each other, allowing them to provide
customers with more convenient connections between their individual route
networks. They also plan to offer common
fares, modify corporate programmes to
improve the products available to corporate
customers and examine the opportunities for
optimisation with regard to existing connections in frequent flyer programmes.
In addition to Lufthansa and Air China, the
agreement extends to the Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss International
Air Lines.
The expanded code-sharing connections
will enable Air China’s customers to conveniently travel on more code-sharing routes to/
from various destinations in Austria, Belgium,
Germany and Switzerland via the Frankfurt,
Munich, Zurich and Vienna hubs. In turn,
Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines will
gain access via Air China to additional routes
in China, the second-biggest aviation market
in the world. Further destinations are set to
be added soon as part of code-sharing.
The commercial joint venture is scheduled
to commence at the start of the 2017 summer flight timetable.
“The Chinese aviation market is one of
the most important growth markets worldwide. We want to profit from this growth
together with our Star Alliance partner Air
China,” said Carsten Spohr, chairman of
the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche
Lufthansa AG.
“The joint venture with Lufthansa and the
Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and
Swiss International Air Lines is another major
steps of Air China’s globalisation strategy following Air China’s accession into Star Alliance
in December 2007," said Cai Jianjiang, chairman of Air China.
Volaris becomes North America’s
first A320neo operator
Aeroflot adds new
Airbus A321 to its fleet
Volaris, North America’s low cost carrier receives its first A320neo,
making the airline the first operator of the A320neo in North America.
Volaris is Mexico’s largest Airbus customer, having ordered 74 A320 Family aircraft, including 30 A320neo.
The all-Airbus operator became a customer in 2006, and since then has
become Mexico’s biggest A320 Family operator with 63 A320 Family aircraft
in service, including 17 A319, 42 A320 and four A321.
The A320neo Family incorporates latest technologies including new
generation engines and Sharklet wing tip devices, which together deliver
more than 15 percent in fuel savings from day one and 20 percent by 2020.
“The arrival of the A320neo symbolises an important step in our ambitious
ultra low-cost strategy,” said Enrique Beltranena, CEO of Volaris.
“Volaris is delighted to be the first to bring this new technology to passengers in North America.”
“Mexico’s strong economic growth presents a key opportunity for the
country’s top airlines such as Volaris to expand and remain environmentally
efficient, and the A320neo will be exceptional in achieving this for Volaris,”
said Rafael Alonso, president of Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean.
Aeroflot, Russian based carrier, has taken delivery of its new
A321 aircraft equipped with aerodynamic wing-tips known as
Sharklets.
Aeroflot operates А321 aircraft across its European and
domestic routes network. All A321 aircraft family are delivered
to Aeroflot directly from the manufacturing plant in Hamburg.
The airliners are designed in a new enhanced two class
composition with 16 seats in business and 167 in economy.
The aircraft is named in honour of Vasiliy Shukshin, a great
Soviet film director and actor.
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