A codeshare agreement, sometimes simply codeshare, is an aviation business arrangement where
two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on each airline's
designator and flight number, but is actually operated by only one of these cooperating
airlines, commonly called the operating carrier or more precisely: "Administrating carrier".
The term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the two-character
IATA airline designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, might also be sold by airline
YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876. Airlines YY and ZZ are in this case called "Marketing
airlines". Most of the major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other
airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. Typically,
code-sharing agreements are also a part of the commercial agreements between airlines
in the same airline alliances. Under a code sharing agreement, the airline
that administrates the flight is commonly called the operating carrier, often abbreviated
OPE CXR, even though ths IATA SSIM term "Administrating carrier" is actually more precise. The reason
for this is that a third carrier is actually involved, typically in the case that the airline
originally planning to operate the flight needs to hire a subcontractor to operate the
flight on their behalf In this case, the airline actually carrying the passenger should be
designated the operating carrier, since it is the one actually carrying the passengers/cargo.
When a flight is sold under several designators and flight numbers as described above, the
one published by the "Administrating carrier" is commonly called a "prime flight".
Several types of codeshare exist, commonly three types:
Block space codeshare: A commercial airline purchases a fixed number of seats from the
administrating carrier. A fixed price is typically paid, and the seats are kept away from the
Administrating carrier's own inventory. The marketing airline decides on their own which
booking classes the seats are sold in. Free flow codeshare: The airlines' inventory
and reservation systems communicate in real-time by messaging, commonly IATA AIRIMP/PADIS messaging.
A booking class mapping is defined between the airlines. No seats are locked to any of
the airlines, and any airline can sell any number of seats.
Capped free flow: Basically the same as above, but a capping are defined for each of the
marketing airlines participating in the codeshare with the Administrating carrier.
History In 1967, Richard A. Henson joined with US
Airways predecessor, Allegheny Airlines, in the nation's first codeshare relationship.
The term "code sharing" or "codeshare" was coined in 1989 by Qantas and American Airlines,
and in 1990 the two firms provided their first codeshare flights between an array of Australian
cities and U.S. domestic cities. Code sharing has become widespread in the airline industry
since that time, particularly in the wake of the formation of large airline "alliances".
These alliances have extensive codesharing and networked frequent flyer programs.
Reasons and advantages Under a code sharing agreement, participating
airlines can present a common flight number for several reasons, including:
For passengers Connecting flights: This provides clearer
routing for the customer, allowing a customer to book travel from point A to C through point
B under one carrier's code, instead of a customer booking from point A to B under one code,
and from point B to C under another code. This is not only a superficial addition as
cooperating airlines also strive to synchronize their schedules and coordinate luggage handling,
which makes transfers between connecting flights less time-consuming.
Shared responsibility between the carriers: When flying between two cities without a single-airline
connection, the passenger can pick a codeshared flight over two airlines or two flights booked
separately. If the flights are not codeshared, then the second airline has no responsibility
if the passenger or luggage misses the second flight due to a delay with the first. Under
a codeshared flight, the second airline is unlikely to charge extra fees or deny boarding
should the first, cooperating airline cause a delay.
For airlines Flights from both airlines that fly the same
route: this provides an apparent increase in the frequency of service on the route by
one airline Perceived service to unserviced markets: this
provides a method for carriers who do not operate their own aircraft on a given route
to gain exposure in the market through display of their flight numbers.
When an airline sacrifices its capacity to other airlines as a code share partner, its
operational cost will generally be reduced to nil.
Competitive concerns Much competition in the airline industry revolves
around ticket sales strategies. Criticism has been leveled against code sharing by consumer
organizations and national departments of trade since it is claimed it is confusing
and not transparent to passengers. Air-rail alliances
There are also code sharing agreements between airlines and rail lines. These are more formally
known as an air-rail alliance, but more commonly known as "Rail & Fly" due to the popularity
of the Deutsche Bahn codeshare with many airlines. They involve some integration of both types
of transport, e.g., in finding out the fastest connection, allowing exchange between an air
ticket and a train ticket, or a step further, the air ticket being valid on the train, etc.
In Europe these air-rail alliances are used to divide markets by selling these combination
tickets abroad for a lower price to attract more customers. The systems also prevent local
customers from buying these much cheaper tickets as the customer is only allowed to board the
plane with a valid train stamp from a station outside the country.
See also
Interlining Change of gauge
References
External links Snyder, Brett. "This isn't the airline I signed
up for." CNN. July 11, 2011. Article on prospect of codesharing between
North American rail and airline connections