Vistara, Lufthansa sign codeshare pact to cement interline agreement

Full-service carrier Vistara on Monday signed a codeshare agreement with Lufthansa to strengthening their existing interline partnership.

The two airlines are planning to soon expand the scope of the agreement, enabling frequent fliers of both airlines to earn miles and points when travelling on each other's networks.

As part of the agreement, Lufthansa will add its 'LH' designator code to nearly 18 Vistara-operated flights every day covering 10 Indian cities -- New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Mumbai and Pune.

"As a growing global carrier, one of our key goals is to offer an extended international network to our customers through such strategic associations," said Vistara's Chief Strategy Officer Vinod Kannan.

George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales for the Lufthansa Group Airlines in South Asia, said: "By teaming up with Vistara, we will strengthen and expand our position as the leading and most popular European airline in India -- a country all set to become the third-largest aviation market in just a few years' time."

Both airlines have an interline and through check-in agreement under which customers can seamlessly connect from Vistara-operated domestic flights in India to Lufthansa-operated flights to both of its hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and beyond.

Using the through check-in facility, customers get their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors, both domestic and international, with their baggage checked through to the final destination.

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