Air France has extended its growing network of global alliances by signing a new commercial accord with Air India.
Further Air France deals are in the pipeline, including a probable agreement with a Chinese carrier, resulting from the visit to China by Air France president Christian Blanc and French president Jacques Chirac in mid-May. Talks are also under way with Finnair.
The accord with Air India, which is exclusive, centres on a codesharing arrangement leading to extra capacity being offered. Air India will transfer from terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle to the new Air France hub at terminal 2, where it will be better placed to take advantage of the connections provided by the Air France hub now being completed. Air India will reverse its current Paris-Frankfurt service, providing instead a feeder into the Paris hub from the German city.
The accord will eventually give Air India access to 26 new destinations in Africa, Europe and North America, such as Dakar, Frankfurt and San Francisco. Brijesh Kumar, Air India's managing director, says that the airline's codeshare agreement with Air France, which begins in October, will initially be limited to just five destinations, and will later be expanded in stages as Air India secures more third-country rights. Air India will also be allocated space on the four freighter services operated by Air France to India.
The agreement follows a year of tie-ups which have left the French national carrier with a network of global accords stretching from the USA, through Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines (although the full benefits of these will not be realised until France and the USA conclude an open-skies deal), with Italy's Alitalia, Poland's LOT, Hungary's Malev and Royal Air Maroc of Morocco. They replace the agreements forged under the previous administration with Air Canada, CSA, Sabena and Vietnam Airlines, virtually all of which have now been allowed to lapse.
Source: Flight International
