British Airways agreed an alliance deal with Finnair on 27 February which will initially see codesharing between London, Helsinki and Swedish capital Stockholm. Deutsche BA and the Finnish airline will also codeshare.
The deal came at the end of a busy week for the UK carrier, which started with confirmation that it was seeking bids from Airbus and Boeing for up to 100 aircraft from either the A320 or Next Generation 737 families to replace the fleets at BA Regional (BAR), Air Liberté, Deutsche BA and EuroGatwick. Up to 30 aircraft will initially be ordered for BAR, with first deliveries in September 1999.
In between, low cost rival easyJet served BA with a High Court writ seeking an injunction to stop what the Luton-based airline alleges is cross-subsidy of BA's new subsidiary, Go. EasyJet claims that the guaranteeing of Boeing 737 leases by BA allows Go to take the aircraft below market rates.
Source: Flight International
