Oneworld alliance carriers Cathay Pacific and Qantas are to start a codeshare agreement from October. It is the first time these two competitors have worked together, even though both are founding members of the alliance.
The codeshare agreement will open up more options for people in the Asia-Pacific region. Frequent flyers in Australia and Hong Kong will benefit most especially from this.
Codeshare Agreement
Qantas will place its code on Cathay Pacific services from Perth to Hong Kong and Cairns to Hong Kong. This fills in some missing links in the Qantas network and should prove attractive.
From Hong Kong, a range of destinations in Asia will be available on both Cathay Pacific (Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai and Colombo) and affiliate Cathay Dragon (Bangalore, Denang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Yangon). All of these cities are already accessible by Qantas passengers through other cities via codeshare agreements.
This provides the first services to Townsville, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin and Hobart on Cathay Pacific. As a virtual network expansion, it opens up more of Australia than before.
Overall Thoughts
Cathay Pacific has a large network into Australia, connecting all the major cities with Hong Kong. It is also a popular airline among Australian people. The ability to fly Cathay Pacific on a Qantas flight number and earn frequent flyer miles will be a boon.
The rivalry between the two airlines will of course continue. That being said, it is good to see them working together for a change, hopefully to the benefit of both carriers and consumers.
What do you think of this codeshare agreement? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
To never miss a post, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here so check them out!
Featured image by Robert Frola via Wikimedia Commons.
