Silhouette of passenger in front of the JetBlue Airbus A321neo aircraft spotted on the apron tarmac docked at the passenger jet bridge from the terminal of Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport AMS EHAM in the Netherlands.
Nicholas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images
JetBlue Airways said Wednesday that it is seeking Transportation Department approval to pair up with British Airways so the airlines could each expand their networks.
The codesharing agreement includes 75 destinations in the United States — 39 from New York and 36 from Boston — and 17 cities in Europe.
Airlines frequently turn to codesharing agreements, which allow airlines to sell seats on another airline’s flights, to grow in regions outside their network.
American Airlines also has a more than decade-old joint venture with British Airways across the Atlantic that is more involved than a code-sharing agreement. JetBlue has been growing its service to Europe in recent years, adding flights to Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and Edinburgh, though it is dwarfed by larger trans-Atlantic alliances, including those of American, United and Delta.
“We are always looking for new ways to offer our customers more choice when traveling,” JetBlue said in a statement about the agreement, which was reported earlier by Paxex Aero, an industry news site. With the new codeshare, customers will be able to seamlessly book a single ticket for travel on both airlines, providing an expanded network of destinations across Europe and the U.S.”
American and British Airways didn’t immediately comment.
JetBlue’s request for an agreement with British Airways comes a year after a federal judge knocked down JetBlue’s partnership with American in the northeast of the U.S., which allowed the carriers to coordinate schedules and routes.
