Airport News

British Airways (BA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) will begin a joint business agreement with the two airlines sharing revenue on applicable flights between Europe and Japan.

The two airlines say that the joint business, which starts on October 1, 2012, will benefit customers by providing “better links between Europe and Japan, greater choice of flights to more destinations, enhanced frequent flyer benefits and the potential to launch new routes.”

BA and JAL are already members of the oneworld alliance, but the new announcement highlights that the two carriers have been forging ever closer ties in their evolution to the joint business.  Earlier this month, JAL and BA began offering codeshare flights between Tokyo (Haneda and Narita) and London (Heathrow).  The airlines say that the new joint business will now see the two airlines co-operating on all non-stop flights operated by JAL or BA between Japan and Europe.  This will not only include the 19 weekly services between the UK and Japan, but also JAL’s services to Paris and Frankfurt.  The airlines say that this gives customers the flexibility of using a combination of JAL and British Airways flights and aligned fares on their journey to and from Japan and Europe, significantly increasing their options.

JAL and BA will also be improving flight transfers for customers by enhancing and expanding the codeshare network beyond their respective hub cities.  JAL customers will, be able to book seats to the new codeshare destinations of Belfast, Helsinki, Frankfurt, and Gothenburg.

BA will extend its reach to more destinations in Japan by codesharing on flights to Kansai, Okayama, Izumo, Okinawa, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kagoshima.  Further expansion of codeshare arrangements are expected in the future.  The websites of the two airlines will also be updated to enable customers to make bookings and check-in online, and access the flight information they need, irrespective of the carrier they are flying on.

Customers participating in JAL and British Airways’ loyalty programmes will continue to have reciprocal benefits as customers of oneworld, but top tier members of the respective loyalty schemes will now have the opportunity to earn bonus points on applicable flights on either airline.