Air France, Singapore Air Add Codeshares

Air France-KLM and Singapore Airlines have signed a memorandum of understanding to codeshare on each others flights from April 27.

Air France will add its flight codes to Singapore Air flights from Singapore to Sydney and Melbourne. Air France will also codeshare on SIA’s regional unit SilkAir flights to Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and Phuket in Thailand.

Singapore Airlines will add its code to 10 Air France flights from Paris to Aberdeen, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Newcastle, Nice and Toulouse.

The airlines said they will also look at opportunities to expand the codeshare to other carriers in their groups. The earning and redemption of frequent flier miles on the codeshare services will also be explored.

Singapore Air SVP Tan Kai Ping said the codeshare “offers significant benefits to customers through enhanced connections and increased codeshare destinations. [It] provides a strong foundation for future commercial co-operation opportunities between our two airline groups.”

Air France-KLM SVP Patrick Roux said “This kind of partnership is part of our aim to expand our market position and increase our range of destinations for our customers all around the world.”

The codeshare agreement comes two weeks after Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific announced a similar tie up, as European airlines attempt to fight back against the rise of Middle East carriers such as Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways.

The Air France-Singapore Air agreement is also similar to the Lufthansa-Cathay deal in that it is cross-alliance, with Singapore a member of Star Alliance, and Air France-KLM part of SkyTeam.