Air Canada announced that it would be working with Continental Airlines to establish a broader network and an enhanced travel experience for its passengers. This comes after United Air Lines and Continental Airlines announced that they would be codeshare partners and Continental would join the Star Alliance.
This new change gives Air Canada a broader set of destinations on the east coast from the New York (Newark, NJ) area and from Cleveland, OH. As well as east coast destinations, Air Canada will be able to offer passengers enhanced service from southern United States out of Continental’s Houston Hub. This partnership plans on: code sharing, product offers through frequent flier miles, and lounge access.
This also gives Continental the benefits of Canadian travelers seeking flights to remote locations in the United States that current Star Alliance members, US Airways and United Air Lines, do not serve.
Air Canada also signed a multi-lateral framework agreement with Continental, United Airlines, and Lufthansa. This is an attempt to create a transatlantic joint venture to enhance services to Europe, India, the Middle East and Africa. Nine Star Alliance carriers, including Air Canada, have filed a joint application with the U.S. Department of Transportation to add Continental Airlines to their antitrust immunity.
This promises to be a very helpful codeshare to Continental and Air Canada; more so for Continental. Continental did not have a Canadian based airline in the SkyTeam Airline Alliance, thus this really expands their network to their passengers. I think in the future we might see something in the works between US Airways and Continental, perhaps a codeshare. Star Alliance will have the East coast as well as the Midwest well-covered with hubs in: Newark (New York area), Washington D.C., Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Toronto. Southern U.S. and the west coast is well covered as well, with hubs in: Las Vegas (now a secondary hub for US Airways), Phoenix, Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco. Don’t forget United’s Denver hub.
Image: flickr.com
