Qantas has expanded codeshare options for its passengers travelling to Europe through a new agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Under the deal, Qantas will add its QF airline code on KLM’s daily Singapore-Amsterdam nonstop flight operated with Boeing 777-300ER equipment.
At the same time, KLM will place its KL airline code on Qantas’s flights from Singapore to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
The arrangement also included access for eligible members of both airlines’ frequent flyer program into Qantas’s premium passenger lounges in Australia and Singapore, as well as KLM’s lounges in Amsterdam.
Qantas international chief executive Alison Webster said deal with KLM was part of the airline’s strategy to give its passengers more travel options.
“This codeshare provides customers with more choice of how they travel between Australia and Europe,” Webster said.
“It offers our customers another option to get to Amsterdam via our Singapore hub with more opportunities to earn status credits and Qantas Points.”
Currently, Qantas codeshares on Emirates’ services from Australia to Amsterdam via Dubai. The airline said this would continue.
The Emirates alliance that was formed in 2012 and recently renewed for a further five years covers destinations in Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a reciprocal frequent flyer benefits.
The codeshare with KLM is the latest in a series of bilateral deals Qantas has struck in recent times to expand the network beyond where it flies to with its own aircraft.
In May, it reinstated a codeshare agreement with Air France on the Singapore-Paris route. A month later Qantas unveiled a deal with Air New Zealand for codeshare access on domestic flights within New Zealand.
And most recently, Qantas and Cathay Pacific forged a codeshare agreement covering 13 Australian domestic routes, two Australia-Hong Kong routes and 10 routes from Hong Kong to India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the new codeshare – a Qantas spokesperson told Australian Aviation it was the first time the airline had established a codeshare with KLM – will give the Dutch flag carrier another gateway for its passengers headed to Australia.
KLM has existing codeshare agreements with China Southern (via Guangzhou), Etihad Airways (via Abu Dhabi), Garuda Indonesia (via both Denpasar and Jakarta) and Malaysia Airlines (via Kuala Lumpur) for travel between Amsterdam and Australia, according to a dummy booking on the airline’s website.
The KLM website also lists itineraries that include Qantas-operated flights with a QF airline code.
KLM chief executive Pieter Elbers said he was pleased to have struck a new codeshare agreement with Qantas.
“Australia is an important destination for business and leisure travellers, which is why Qantas is such an important partner,” Elbers said in a statement.
“This also allows us to grow our presence in this beautiful part of the world.”
KLM last flew to Australia with its own aircraft in 2001.
The codeshare flights would be available for booking from November 1, for travel from November 8 2018.
