Code
sharing is a business term which first originated in the airline
industry. It refers to a practice where a flight operated by an
airline is jointly marketed as a flight for one or more other airlines.
Most major airlines nowadays have code sharing partnerships with
other airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline
alliances.
The
term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule,
generally the 2-character IATA airline designator code and flight
number. Thus, XX123, flight 123 operated by the airline XX, might
also be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876.
Under
a code sharing agreement participating airlines can present a common
flight number for several reasons, including:
Connecting
flights - This provides clearer routing for the customer, allowing
a customer to book travel from point A to B through point C under
one carrier's code, instead of a customer booking from point A to
C under one code, and from point C to B 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.
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 unserved 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. |
