Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa Group sign co-operation agreement

 New partnership will see Cathay Pacific expand its network to more continental European destinations through codeshare arrangements with Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu and Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, signed a new co-operation agreement at today’s press conference in Frankfurt, Germany.

Cathay Pacific today signed a co-operation agreement with the Lufthansa Group that will see the airline codeshare on flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines to a number of destinations in continental Europe. Reciprocally, the Lufthansa Group will codeshare on Cathay Pacific services to four of the airline’s most popular destinations in Southwest Pacific.

Under the agreement, Cathay Pacific will offer 14 new destinations in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and Austria with the “CX” code placed on the following services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group:

Lufthansa Between Frankfurt and: Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Dresden, Hannover, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Oslo and Stuttgart.

Swiss Between Zurich and: Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Venice.

Austrian Airlines Between Vienna and: Frankfurt, Zurich and Düsseldorf.

The Lufthansa Group will place its airlines’ codes on services operated by Cathay Pacific between Hong Kong and Auckland as well as between Hong Kong and Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. Under a single booking, passengers from Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will be able to check through and seamlessly transfer to their final destination in Auckland or Australia via Hong Kong International Airport.

Today’s co-operation agreement also extends to both airlines’ frequent flyer programmes. Passengers who are members of Cathay Pacific’s travel and lifestyle rewards programme, Asia Miles and Lufthansa Group’s loyalty programme, Miles and More, will be eligible to earn and redeem miles when travelling on the above codeshare routes. Members of Cathay Pacific’s loyalty programme, Marco Polo Club, can also earn Club Points when travelling on codeshare flights marketed by Cathay Pacific and operated by Lufthansa Group.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu said the airline is delighted to grow its relationship with the Lufthansa Group, one of world’s largest and most respected airline groups.

“This new codeshare agreement will offer Cathay Pacific passengers enhanced connectivity to destinations in continental Europe through flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines via our gateways in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Zurich. At the same time, Lufthansa Group customers travelling from Europe to Southwest Pacific will have more convenient access to flights to Australia and New Zealand through our super hub in Hong Kong.”

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, said: “Cathay Pacific Airways and the Lufthansa Group, two of the world's leading aviation groups, are forming a ground-breaking partnership. I am particularly pleased because it strengthens our global network of strategic partnerships and further improves our airlines' offering on Asian routes in the interest of our passengers. The codeshare and frequent flyer agreement between Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Cathay Pacific Airways brings advantages for the passengers of all the partners, because the airlines' route networks complement each other perfectly. The co-operation with Cathay Pacific is another key building block in our Asia strategy.”

Tickets for the new codeshare destinations will be available for sale from 5 April 2017 for travel commencing from 26 April 2017 at www.cathaypacific.com.

The Cathay Pacific Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo airfreight subsidiaries signed a co-operation agreement back in May 2016 and, since February 2017, have been jointly marketing their capacities on flights between Hong Kong and Europe. Cathay Pacific has also taken over Lufthansa’s airfreight handling operations in Hong Kong; in Frankfurt, Lufthansa has taken over those of Cathay Pacific. Joint shipments from Europe to Hong Kong are planned from 2018.