Lufthansa German Airlines and Shanghai Airlines today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that lays the foundation for closer cooperation between the two airlines and further enhances service quality and customer satisfaction.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Zhou Chi, Shanghai Airlines’ Chairman & CEO and Mr. Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa Group’s Deputy Chairman & CEO Passenger Airlines in Shanghai on May 31, 2002.
The MoU reinforces the airlines’ commitment in strengthening their cooperation in areas such as frequent flyer programmes, joint system development, the harmonisation of products and services, special pro-rate agreements (SPA), sales and marketing activities as well as network connectivity. 

Both airlines will work in close consultation with each other in prospective areas to explore the feasibility of joint cooperation, which will set out a framework for the two airlines to move towards a code-sharing agreement, subject to government and trade approvals.

Speaking on behalf of Shanghai Airlines, Mr. Fan Hongxi, President of Shanghai Airlines, said, “We are pleased that our partnership with Lufthansa has created a new chapter. The results of our cooperation will no doubt translate to enhanced competitive travel services for both of our customers.”

“This is a very important development in Lufthansa’s partner strategy and we are delighted to take this step with a company as reputable as Shanghai Airlines in a major growth market for commercial airline traffic, ” said Mr. Mayrhuber.

The MoU demonstrates that Lufthansa and Shanghai Airlines has successfully built upon a relationship that dated back to 1998 when both airlines concluded an interline agreement.

The cooperation with Shanghai Airlines will further strengthen Lufthansa’s expanding breadth of services to and beyond Shanghai. Lufthansa currently operates daily flights between Shanghai and Frankfurt; and three weekly flights between Shanghai and Munich. 

The partnership with Lufthansa will complement Shanghai Airlines’ well-established code-sharing agreement with Air China signed in 2001. Shanghai Airlines already has a comprehensive alliance agreement with All Nippon Airways (ANA) since April 2002. The MoU with Lufthansa, therefore, represents the second cooperation agreement that Shanghai Airlines has concluded with a Star Alliance member.

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