Air India ropes in BMI for code share

MUMBAI: With an eye on the large European market which is coming out the recession, the state-owned Air India has inked a code sharing pact with the England-based airline BMI ( British Midland International), the second largest operator at London's Heathrow airport, sources said.

The national flag carrier is expected to roll out code sharing facility this month, the airline sources said. The cash-strapped Air India currently has code share arrangement with as many as 10 airlines across the globe.

"We have already signed the agreement with BMI. At present, some technical nitty-gritties are being fine-tuned. In all likelihood, we will roll out the code-share within this month," Air India sources said, adding "we are also exploring similar arrangement with a few other airlines."

The arrangement would provide a lot of "synergetic benefits" to Air India, besides providing a greater foothold in the European and other markets, they stated.

On whether the national flag carrier is looking at similar arrangements with some American airlines, the sources replied in the negative, saying there are some practical difficulties in doing so.

Though there is no regulatory impediment on code sharing, American airlines are not keen on such a facility with most of the foreign operators, he explained.

Code-sharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless transport to multiple destinations where it has no presence.

A StarAlliance member, BMI operates services to 40 destinations. Air India is in the process of joining the Star Alliance, an elite club of 27 global airlines, by June. The alliance would enable the airline to automatically get connected these member-operators.