Dubai
Jet Airways and Alitalia new code-share agreement, which was possibly brokered by Etihad Airways, will look to give the two airlines an edge to tap into traffic flows between India and Italy.
“It’s been a feature of Etihad’s equity alliance that the various members have entered into reciprocal code-share arrangements,” stated Binit Somaia, Director South Asia at CAPA — Centre for Aviation.
Etihad holds a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways and looks set to take a 49 per cent stake in Alitalia.
Jet Airways and Alitalia will code-share on flights Abu Dhabi from July 5. Jet Airways will place its code on Alitalia flights between Abu Dhabi and Rome and onwards to Bologna, Florence, Naples, Turin, Venice and Verona in Italy. Alitalia will place its code on Jet Airways flights from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai and Delhi and onwards to Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Udaipur.
“The India-Italy market is one that makes sense for such an agreement. India receives around 100,000 Italian tourists a year, and almost 200,000 Indians visit Italy so it is a sizeable and growing market; however there was until recently no direct connectivity,” stated Somaia.
Last month, Air India launched Delhi to Milan via Rome. Jet Airways use to operate Delhi-Milan but later suspended the service.
