In an announcement from Frankfurt earlier today, Lufthansa has announced that it has entered into a codeshare arrangement with Etihad geared towards making it easier for the airlines to expand their reach.
The expansion of the relationship between the 2 carriers continues to evolve after LH agreed to lease a substantial part of Air Berlin’s fleet to help AB stave off further financial turmoil. Etihad is a major stakeholder in Air Berlin and they were very supportive of the arrangement which allows AB to refocus their efforts. That deal was finalized today as well.
The codesharing relationship starts in January 2017 and will cover Etihad’s 2 daily flights between Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi and their 2 daily flights between Munich and Abu Dhabi. What this means is that there will be an Lufthansa flight number (LH xxx) assigned to the Etihad operated flights, so that Lufthansa passengers can book travel on those specific Etihad flights directly from LH.com or through their travel agents.
In turn, Etihad will will assign their flight numbers to Lufthansa operated flights that operate from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro and Bogota. This allows Etihad to book their passengers directly onto these LH flights.
Please note that flights operated by Etihad will not earn any miles towards Miles & More balances, or any other Star Alliance Frequent Flyer program.
