Vistara, Japan Airlines ink code share agreement

JAL is the second code share partner for Vistara after British Airways.

​Mumbai: Tata-SIA joint venture full service carrier Vistara on Friday announced a codesharing pact with Japan Airlines (JAL), a move which will allow Vistara customers seamless connectivity to Japan and vice versa.

The pact between the two carriers is effective February, according to a Vistara release. Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

JAL is the second code share partner for Vistara after British Airways. As part of the agreement, Japan Airlines will add its 'JL' designator code to approximately 32 Vistara flights operating across Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

JAL and Vistara already have an interline/through check-in partnership and the two airlines had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September, 2017 to pursue commercial opportunities together, the release said.

An interline arrangement refers to a pact to issue and accept tickets for flights that are operated by the partner airline.

The code share flights will offer convenient connections to and from a daily flight that Japan Airlines already operates to Delhi directly from Tokyo Narita, it said.

"We're delighted to further strengthen our partnership with Japan Airlines with this code share agreement. This partnership helps us offer greater convenience and variety of choice to customers with a comprehensive network, " said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief strategy and commercial officer, Vistara.

 The New Delhi-based airline currently operates over 800 flights per week to to 22 domestic destinations with a fleet of 22 Airbus A320/ A320 neo planes.

"The number of passengers travelling between Japan and India has increased over time. By strengthening the partnership with Vistara, we will be able to provide better network access for our mutual customers. And, we look to further cooperate with Vistara to open up additional opportunities for both airlines," said Hideki Oshima, executive officer, Japan Airlines.