US Airways and fellow Star Alliance member Avianca are launching a new bilateral codeshare agreement after receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Tempe, Arizona-headquartered US Airways is also expanding its codeshare with TACA, the other subsidiary of AviancaTaca Holdings and also a Star Alliance member.
On December 18, the day before its Avianca and TACA codeshare announcements, US Airways unveiled a new bilateral codeshare agreement with another fellow Star Alliance member, South African Airways (SAA). Again, the announcement came after the two carriers received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as the Department of Transport – South Africa.
A South African Airways Airbus A340-600 flies off the coast of Cape Town, with Table Mountain prominently visible behind
US Airways says the Avianca and TACA codeshare agreements will give its customers new access to destinations throughout Colombia with Avianca and expanded access in Central and South America with TACA, along with the convenience of a single-ticket purchase for a seamless travel experience and the ability to redeem status Dividend Miles for travel.
Customers traveling on Avianca and TACA will also receive expanded access to the United States.
“US Airways’ new codeshare agreement with Avianca and expansion with TACA will provide our customers with expanded travel options and additional ways to earn and redeem status Dividend Miles,” says Andrew Nocella, US Airways’ senior vice president, marketing and planning. “With a long-standing relationship with TACA as a Star Alliance and codeshare partner, we look forward to enhancing this relationship with Avianca.”
US Airways has painted several of its aircraft in the historic liveries of its predecessor carriers. This Airbus A319 flies wearing an early America West Airlines livery
“Through the expansion of this agreement we can deliver more travel options for our passengers, as well as better serve US Airways customers flying on our route network,” says Alex Benitez, AviancaTaca’s vice president, planning, network and alliances. “We are driven by a strong focus on our clients’ needs and look to take actions that improve client satisfaction.”
US Airways customers will be able to connect to the Colombian cities of Bogota, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena and Medellin on Avianca.
Conversely, Avianca customers in these cities will have access to US Airways’ hub cities of Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and the airline’s focus airport at Washington Reagan National Airport.
Avianca has 18 Airbus A330-200s in service and on order. The carrier, now part of the AviancaTaca group, has alsor ordered 10 Airbus A350-900s (optioning 10 additional aircraft) and 15 Boeing 787-8s (optioning five more). Like sister carrier Taca, Avianca’s single-aisle jet fleet is exclusively comprised of Airbus A320-family aircraft
All fights are available for sale starting on December 21 on www.usairways.com for travel from January 7, 2013.
New connections in Colombia for US Airways customers connecting on to Avianca include Bogota from Fort Lauderdale, New York JFK and Orlando; Medellin from New York JFK and Miami; and Baranquilla, Cali and Cartagena from Miami.
Meanwhile, new connections in the U.S. for Avianca customers connecting on to US Airways include Washington Reagan National from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando; Philadelphia from Fort Lauderdale and Miami; Charlotte from Fort Lauderdale, Miami, New York JFK and Orlando; and Phoenix from Fort Lauderdale and New York JFK.
Although TACA is based at San Salvador in El Salvador, it also operates hubs at San Jose in Costa Rica and in Bogota. The companies owning TACA and Colombia’s Avianca have merged but the two airlines have kept their identities. TACA and Lacsa mainly operate a fleet of A320-family aircraft, including Latin America’s first A321s, but also operate some Embraer 190s
The expansion of US Airways’ codeshare with TACA means US Airways customers will now able to reach San Salvador in El Salvador and Guatemala City by connecting on to TACA. TACA customers will have access to the US Airways hub cities.
New connections for US Airways customers connecting on to TACA include services to Guatemala City and San Salvador from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Meanwhile, new connections for TACA customers connecting on to US Airways include flights to Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix from Chicago O’Hare.
This US Airways Airbus A319 wears the legacy livery of Piedmont Airlines, of of US Airways’ forebear carriers
Single-ticket flights under the new US Airways-South African Airways codeshare agreements are available for sale on usairways.com and www.flysaa.com for travel from December 19.
US Airways customers will gain access to destinations throughout South Africa with the new agreement and to Dakar, Senegal pending final government approval, along with the convenience of a single-ticket purchase.
Conversely, customers traveling on South African Airways will also receive expanded access to and throughout the United States.
US Airways is the world’s largest operator of Airbus aircraft, with well over 300 Airbus jets in service or on order. This is one of the airline’s A321-200s
US Airways customers will continue to have the ability to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on these new codeshare flights. South African Airways customers will also continue to earn and redeem miles as a member of SAA’s Voyager Frequent Flyer program.
New connections for US Airways customers connecting on to South African Airways include flights to Johannesburg from Washington Dulles, New York JFK, Frankfurt Airport, London Heathrow and Munich; to Dakar in Senegal from Washington Dulles; and connections on SAA within South Africa from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, new connections for South African Airways customers traveling on US Airways include flights to Philadelphia from London Heathrow; flights to Charlotte from Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Las vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington Dulles; and to Phoenix from Las Vegas, New York JFK, San Diego and San Francisco.
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