Qantas and Air France customers will now have more options to travel between Europe and Australia via Asia following a renewed codeshare agreement between the two carriers.
Available for booking from June 5th for travel from July 20th, Air France will add its code to Qantas flights between Hong Kong and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and between Singapore and Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Air France customers will also be able to access codeshare services from Sydney to five cities on the Australian airline’s domestic network; Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide, Cairns and Darwin.
Under the reciprocal deal, Qantas will add its code to flights operated by Air France between Singapore and Hong Kong and Paris-Charles de Gaulle, as a continuation of flights from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
Patrick Alexandre, executive vice president, commercial sales and alliances at Air France-KLM, said: “We are very pleased to be re-establishing a partnership with Qantas.
“Thanks to this agreement, the Air France-KLM group will be able to offer one of the best possible travel solutions for its customers from Europe to Australia.
“It will also deliver a better travel experience for our Business customers, with connections in Singapore and Hong Kong, two of the most popular airports in the world.
“This new cooperation confirms our group’s desire to expand in the Asia-Pacific region.”
The new agreement will see the two airlines codeshare on a total of more than 200 flights per week.
Customers will benefit from more seamless travel experiences with single ticket itineraries and through-checked baggage as well as the opportunity to earn points on the new codeshare services.
Air France eligible customers will also be able to access Qantas lounges in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, as well as Qantas eligible customers to Air France lounges in Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Alison Webster, chief executive of Qantas International, added: “This is great news for our customers who want to travel to Europe via Asia, giving them another option to get to Paris and more opportunities to earn Frequent Flyer Points.
“The return of this popular codeshare delivers on our strategy of partnering to provide customers with access to an expanded network and more seamless travel experiences wherever they want to fly.”