Jet signs code share pact with Brussels Air

Leading private carrier Jet Airways has expanded its code share agreement with Belgium's Brussels Airlines to offer its passengers "seamless connectivity" with European cities, the company said on Friday.

The code share destinations are Birmingham, Barcelona, Lyons, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Manchester, Hamburg, Marseilles, Toulouse, Geneva and Vienna. Additionally current services on the Brussels-Lyon sector have been enhanced from three to six flights weekly.

Jet flies daily to Brussels from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. The airline also offers daily direct services to London from Mumbai and Delhi.

Currently, Brussels Airlines is 70 per cent owned by Belgium-based companies and 30 per cent by Virgin Express, British entrepreneur Richard Branson's low-fare carrier. It flies to over 50 destinations in 20 European countries, besides operating long-haul flights to eastern, central and western Africa.

According to Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, ''Besides widening Jet Airways' presence in the European market, the code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines has enabled both airlines to leverage each other's network strengths and service quality to significantly boost air travel on the Indo-European sector.''

The Indian carrier, which earlier scrapped its Mumbai-Shanghai-San Fransisco service along with a few other international services as part of its restructuring plans, hoped its agreement with Brussels Airlines would strengthen its existing international network.

"This will also offer seamless connectivity between India and Europe by offering our passengers convenient connections between Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai in India and 12 European code-share destinations," the statement said.