American Airlines announced today that it has entered into an extensive codeshare agreement with SWISS, the newly branded national airline of Switzerland and one of Europe’s largest carriers. The arrangement includes reciprocal frequent flyer cooperation with American’s AAdvantage® program and SWISS’ Qualiflyer program.
American will put its AA code on SWISS’ eight daily transatlantic flights between Switzerland and seven U.S. gateways, as well as on SWISS’ flights beyond Zurich to points in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This beyond service will be on the combined network of Crossair’s existing European regional operations and significant portions of the former Swissair intercontinental and European trunk route system.
SWISS’ U.S. gateways are Boston, New York-JFK, Newark, Washington, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
SWISS, in turn, will place its LX code on American’s two daily transatlantic flights between Zurich and its U.S. gateways of Dallas/Fort Worth and New York Kennedy and American flights to a broad range of destinations within North America, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Effective March 31, members of American’s AAdvantage frequent flyer program will be able to earn and redeem mileage credit when they travel on flights operated by SWISS. Likewise, members of SWISS’ Qualiflyer program will earn and redeem mileage credit when traveling on flights operated by American.
"This codeshare and frequent flyer agreement between these two highly regarded, world class airlines will enable us to offer our customers more service options and greater travel flexibility," said Mike Gunn, American’s executive vice president for marketing and planning. "This partnership reflects American’s continuing commitment to bring top-quality airlines into our worldwide network."
Gunn said American, which on Monday celebrated 15 years of service to Zurich, will now be able to offer its passengers more on-line travel options and convenient access to more points in Europe and beyond, especially for those passengers originating from American’s DFW gateway. The combination of the Crossair and former Swissair networks will provide American customers more on-line destinations than the American Airlines-Swissair relationship provided.
Both carriers will soon apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation for approval of the codeshare agreement and expect to implement it shortly thereafter.
American and SWISS will continue to explore ways to strengthen their relationship beyond what they announced today.
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