Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines begin codeshare partnership

Malaysia Airlines (MH) and Japan Airlines (JAL) this week in Beijing announced the expansion of their respective networks through a new codeshare agreement between the member and member-elect of the quality airline alliance oneworld, beginning 1 July.

JAL will begin marketing MH-operated flights between Kuala Lumpur and Japan as well as five other Malaysia domestic points and seven regional destinations such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Conversely, MH will place its flight indicator on JL-operated flights connection Tokyo (Narita) to Fukuoka, Nagoya and Supporo in Japan, and to nine international cities including Asian powerhouses like Hong Kong, Taipei and Seoul, resort destinations like Guam and Honolulu and across the Pacific to Boston, Chicago and New York.

Reservations and sales of the new MH and JAL-coded flights began from 12 June.

“Japan Airlines is pleased to begin this code share arrangement with Malaysia Airlines as members of the alliance gear up to welcome it into the oneworld family,” JAL Chairman Masaru Onishi said. “We are looking forward to strengthening JAL’s and oneworld’s Asian network with them, especially in South East Asia, so as to provide customers with a more connected, comprehensive network and quality service in a region of growth.”

“Malaysia Airlines is excited to be able to partner with JAL in a code share that gives us an excellent opportunity to expand Malaysia Airlines reach without having to mount our own flights to cities in Japan and beyond in North Asia and the US,” Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

“This code share between Malaysia Airlines and JAL is also an important first step towards strengthening our relations with partner airlines in the oneworld alliance and we hope to enter more code share relationships with other oneworld partners progressively in the coming months, which will also contribute towards greater connectivity for the alliance.”

The announcement of JAL-Malaysia Airlines partnership was following the introduction of SriLankan Airlines as the latest member-elect of oneworld alliance.