American Airlines, already building out its new partnership with Alaska Airlines West Coast strength, gave the U.S. airline industry another adrenaline jolt Thursday when it announced a wide-ranging new alliance with JetBlue, whose strong Northeast network will give American new access and allow JetBlue passengers to book American international routes on a single ticket.
While the Alaska deal included the airline joining American-led OneWorld, there's no plan for JetBlue to sign on to an alliance. What will happen is that many flights will now be sold on both airlines as code shares, and passengers will be able to connect seamlessly between flights on the same itinerary.
American will gain access to 130 JetBlue routes and JetBlue will be able to sell seats on 60 American routes, including premier international destinations including London, Tel Aviv, Athens and Rio. The JetBlue routes bookable on American include nine new routes from Newark Liberty.
Like the Alaska tie-up, American is looking to bolster itself against Delta and United by expanding its domestic reach without adding routes of its own. As well, the buildup of joint offerings at New York airports will enable American to profitably add more international routes from JFK, filling seats with passengers arriving from JetBlue cities.
The two airlines were not explicit on how their loyalty program members will make out in the deal, but hinted at announcements to come. At a minimum, passengers will be able to earn loyalty miles from the airline they have booked with, even if the flight is flown by the other.
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