Air India and Lufthansa expand codeshare to nearly 100 routes across Europe and India

The Star Alliance partners have widened their long-standing cooperation, adding Austrian Airlines and opening up dozens of new one-ticket connections between 12 Indian and 26 European cities, alongside extended links into the Americas and Australia

Air India and Lufthansa Group are deepening their commercial relationship in a move that substantially widens connectivity between India and Europe.

The airlines have agreed to expand their existing codeshare arrangements, bringing Austrian Airlines into partnership with Air India and adding around 60 new shared routes across 12 Indian and 26 European cities. The total number of codeshare routes between Air India, Lufthansa and SWISS will rise from 55 to almost 100, with Austrian Airlines contributing a further 26.

For passengers, the impact lies in network breadth rather than headline-grabbing launches. Air India customers flying into Frankfurt, Zurich or Vienna will be able to book onward connections to 26 European destinations and three in the Americas under a single ‘AI’ flight code. That includes major commercial centres such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Munich and Stockholm, as well as long-haul links to Washington D.C., Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

The addition of Vienna as a codeshare gateway through Austrian Airlines creates an extra entry point into Europe, strengthening options for corporate travellers moving between India and the EU.

Reciprocally, Lufthansa Group passengers will gain streamlined access to Air India’s domestic network, with connections to 15 Indian cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. 

Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines will also place their designator codes on selected Air India international services from Delhi and Mumbai to Kathmandu, Melbourne and Sydney.

Existing services between India and Germany or Switzerland will also be covered under the expanded framework. On routes such as Delhi–Frankfurt, customers will see multiple daily options carrying Lufthansa flight numbers, even where aircraft are operated by Air India.

Both airlines plan to progressively include other destinations in their network to the codeshare arrangements.

Both sides are members of Star Alliance. Frequent flyers will continue to earn and redeem miles across all four airlines, while elite status holders will retain Star Alliance Gold benefits including priority services, extra baggage allowance and airport lounge access.

“Our goal is to enable our customers to travel from any corner of the world to another via Air India and its partner airlines. The expansion of our partnership with Lufthansa Group is a step in that direction, and we are pleased to take this long-standing relationship to the next level,” Nipun Aggarwal, chief commercial officer of Air India, said this week.

“We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Air India and elevate the travel experience for our joint customers. By further enhancing our cooperation, we will increase the travel options between Europe and India and offer our passengers improved access to additional destinations,” said Dieter Vranckx, chief commercial officer of Lufthansa Group.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be progressively made available for sale through the airlines’ respective booking channels.

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_{Main image: Air India}