AA, Sahara Sign Codeshare Agreement

American Airlines signed a codeshare agreement with Air Sahara on October 14, 2005 for the daily non-stop flight that it will operate between Delhi and Chicago from November 17.

The airline announced a special promotional return fare of Rs 38,000, which is about Rs 7,000 less than the current fares being charged, for travel between most Indian cities and Chicago. The promotional fare is available for travel between November 17 and February 28 next year. However, the special promotional return fare will not be available for travel between December 16 this year and January 15, 2006.

Officials from Air Sahara said that the promotional fare will be valid for travel from several domestic cities and passengers travelling from most metro cities to Chicago will not be charged more than the promotional fare. However, those travelling from some cities will be charged a small amount for the flight to Delhi.

American Airlines managing director (Asia and Pacific), Athar Khan, said that while it takes a passenger about 17 hours 45 minutes to reach Chicago on Air India, the same journey on Lufthansa takes about 18 hours 45 minutes. Khan added that the journey will be completed in less than 16 hours on the American Airlines flight.

The codeshare agreement will enable American Airlines passengers to make easy connections throughout India using the network of Air Sahara while travellers from various parts of the country will be able to connect to destinations not only within the US but also in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Air Sahara hopes to not only launch direct flights to the UK from December but is also looking to expand its network in the Far East by the middle of next year.