Lufthansa Group and Air India: closer ties to build on EU-India free trade agreement
Lufthansa Group and Air India's planned joint business agreement (JBA) would be the first such agreement in the airline industry since Lufthansa Group and Singapore Airlines deepened their commercial relationship in 2017.
India is Lufthansa Group's second most important intercontinental market after the US, and Europe is Air India's most important region outside Asia. Lufthansa Group is the number two operator by seats on routes between Europe and India, where Air India is the market leader.
The two partners have a long history of commercial collaboration through codeshares and Star Alliance membership. The JBA will take this relationship to a much deeper level, comprising network expansion, joint sales and marketing, coordination of schedules and networks, and greater loyalty scheme integration.
This step is timed to build on the recently concluded talks over a new European Union/India free trade agreement. This should help to stimulate greater demand for aviation between Europe and India - which is the world's biggest nation by population, and which is underpenetrated by air travel.
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