Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa Group enter into new codeshare agreement

Cathay Pacific has signed a co-operation agreement with the Lufthansa Group that will see the airline codeshare on flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines to a number of destinations in continental Europe.

Reciprocally, the Lufthansa Group will codeshare on Cathay Pacific services to four of the airline’s most popular destinations in Southwest Pacific.

Under the agreement, Cathay Pacific will offer 14 new destinations in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and Austria with the ‘CX’ code placed on the following services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group:

Lufthansa - Between Frankfurt and: Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Dresden, Hannover, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Oslo and Stuttgart.

Swiss - Between Zurich and: Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Venice. Austrian Airlines - Between Vienna and: Frankfurt, Zurich and Düsseldorf.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu (left) and Lufthansa Group Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO Carsten Spohr 

The Lufthansa Group will place its airlines’ codes on services operated by Cathay Pacific between Hong Kong and Auckland as well as between Hong Kong and Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. Under a single booking, passengers from Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will be able to check through and seamlessly transfer to their final destination in Auckland or Australia via Hong Kong International Airport.

The co-operation agreement also extends to both airlines’ frequent flyer programs. Passengers who are members of Cathay Pacific’s travel and lifestyle rewards program, Asia Miles and Lufthansa Group’s loyalty program, Miles and More, will be eligible to earn and redeem miles when travelling on the above codeshare routes. Members of Cathay Pacific’s loyalty program, Marco Polo Club, can also earn Club Points when travelling on codeshare flights marketed by Cathay Pacific and operated by the Lufthansa Group.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive, Ivan Chu, said: “This new codeshare agreement will offer Cathay Pacific passengers enhanced connectivity to destinations in continental Europe through flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines via our gateways in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Zurich. At the same time, Lufthansa Group customers travelling from Europe to Southwest Pacific will have more convenient access to flights to Australia and New Zealand through our super hub in Hong Kong.”

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, said: “Cathay Pacific Airways and the Lufthansa Group, two of the world’s leading aviation groups, are forming a ground-breaking partnership. I am particularly pleased because it strengthens our global network of strategic partnerships and further improves our airlines’ offering on Asian routes in the interest of our passengers. The codeshare and frequent flyer agreement between Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines  and Cathay Pacific Airways brings advantages for the passengers of all the partners, because the airlines’ route networks complement each other perfectly. The co-operation with Cathay Pacific is another key building block in our Asia strategy.”

Tickets for the new codeshare destinations will be available for sale from 5 April 2017 for travel commencing from 26 April 2017.