From December 20, American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia are adding another 317 codeshare flights to their trans-Atlantic joint business between North America and Europe.

This is in addition to the more than 2,700 codeshares that were introduced at the launch of the three airlines’ joint business in October 2010. At the time codeshares were introduced between the UK and US and Spain and the US. This sees the carriers begin codesharing on flights to Canada, Mexico and many cities across Europe.

Codeshares allow an airline to apply their flight number to a service operated by a partner carrier, giving customers a wider range of destinations to choose from.

Customers can visit any one of the airlines’ websites as a one-stop-shop and mix and match their flights from across the three airlines’ schedule to suit their itinerary and pocket.

With today’s announcement, American will add its (AA*) code to an additional 57 British Airways flights to 16 destinations and four Iberia flights to two destinations. British Airways will add its (BA*) code to 42 additional American Airlines flights to 18 destinations and 56 Iberia flights to eight destinations. Iberia will add its (IB*) code to 72 American flights in 23 destinations and 86 British Airways flights to 24 destinations.

In total, as a result of the joint business, British Airways’ code will be published on over 2,800 American and Iberia flights serving more than 366 destinations. American Airlines’ code will be displayed on over 800 British Airways and Iberia flights to 174 destinations, and Iberia will publish its code on more than 90 British Airways and 264 American Airlines flights to 80 destinations.  All together, the joint business will serve more than 400 destinations in over 100 countries with more than 5,200 daily flights.

These new codeshare flights will go on sale from December 20 with travel starting from December 28, 2010.

Members of the three airlines’ frequent flyer programs - American’s AAdvantage programme, British Airways’ Executive Club and Iberia’s Plus - can earn and redeem points or miles on these new codeshare flights.

“Today’s announcement continues to demonstrate how our stronger relationship with our oneworld partners delivers value to our customers,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Expanded codesharing makes it easier and more convenient for our respective customers to travel on the global networks of all three airlines and delivers on our promise of more routing choices, easier connections and a better overall travel experience.” 

Andrew Crawley, British Airways’ commercial director, said: “When we launched the joint business in October, we said that we would be rolling out more benefits to customers and this introduction of more code-share flights across our three airlines is exactly that. The feedback we’re getting from customers is very positive already and we will continue to align our policies in order to bring them even more benefits.”

Manuel López Aguilar, IB general director Commercial and Clients, said: “The expanded codesharing that will be in place before the end of the year is another benefit for our customers which can be added to the new routes that we will be launching from next Spring, which in the case of Iberia are Madrid-Los Angeles and Barcelona-Miami. We could not operate these new routes without the joint business.”

  * Customer benefits of the transatlantic joint business include:
  * Coordinated schedules on joint business routes to provide customers with more flight choices and timings.
  * Dedicated support teams for customers transferring at five of the airlines’ hubs: New York JFK, London Heathrow, Madrid, Chicago and Miami.
  * Online check in and boarding pass printing with either the airline operating the flight, or the airline the ticket was booked through.
  * Integrated online flight information on all three airlines’ websites.
  * More integrated account management for corporate customers.

In addition, American, British Airways and Iberia announced five new routes beginning Spring 2011 as a benefit of the new joint business. They are: New York JFK-Budapest and Chicago-Helsinki (operated by American Airlines), London Heathrow-San Diego (operated by British Airways), plus Barcelona-Miami and Madrid-Los Angeles (operated by Iberia).  Moreover, American will add frequencies from New York JFK to Barcelona and Miami to Madrid for already-existing service. These new frequencies also begin in Spring 2011.