It seems the rift between Qatar Airways and American Airlines, both members of oneworld alliance, is over. Today, American Airlines announced it has renewed its codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways.
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This is the first step in building a strategic partnership between the airlines that will increase commercial cooperation, bolster connectivity and create new travel options for customers. Following restoration of the codeshare, American will begin exploring the addition of service from the U.S. to Doha. In addition to American exploring the addition of service from the United States to Doha, both airlines will discuss new ways to further their partnership through expanded commercial cooperation that will enable long-haul growth for both airlines.
“Our goal is to continue to expand and deepen our global partnerships to complement American’s network and create more choice for our customers,” said American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. “The issues that led to the suspension of our partnership two years ago have been addressed, and we believe resuming our codeshare agreement will allow us to provide service to markets that our customers, team members and shareholders value, including new growth opportunities for American Airlines. We look forward to the renewed cooperation between our airlines and hope to build an even stronger relationship with Qatar Airways over time.”
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said, “We are very pleased to secure this strategic partnership with American Airlines — an agreement between two successful and ambitious airlines with a shared common purpose to enhance the customer experience. The deal will bring together two of the world’s largest airline networks, increasing choices for millions of passengers and providing seamless connectivity to a significant number of new destinations, in line with Qatar Airways’ successful growth strategy. We have moved on from past issues and look forward to working closely with American Airlines to build a world-leading partnership for all our customers. This agreement will harness our complementary strengths and resources and enable more customers to experience Qatar Airways’ award-winning product quality.”
Pending government approvals, American will place its code on select Qatar Airways nonstop and connecting services to and from the U.S. and Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha, allowing American’s customers to access new destinations in the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia and South East Asia that are not currently served by American. Qatar Airways will place its code on select flights beyond American’s hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX), as well as on American’s international flights to and from Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
