Flybe today forged a tenth codeshare pact in a deal with Star Alliance member Air India.
This will enable travellers using the regional airline’s services to Birmingham airport from Belfast City, Edinburgh and Glasgow to connect onto Indian carrier’s daily flights to Delhi.
Air India will also place its marketing code on these Flybe flights.
Seats will be available for booking via Air India’s website or through local travel agents from May 10, with travel from June 1.
Flybe chief executive, Saad Hammad, said: “Our new codeshare agreement with Air India is another exciting development for Flybe. It further strengthens our ability to connect our regional customers to long-haul destinations with our ‘One Stop to the World’ proposition.
“We can now give customers in the UK regions convenient access to the Indian subcontinent through Birmingham airport.
“This relieves them of the need to undertake long road or rail journeys to and from the UK’s congested southeast hub airports. It will also boost local economies by encouraging inbound travel from South East Asia.”
Flybe also has codeshare partnerships with Aer Lingus, Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Finnair, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.
The Virgin Atlantic deal was signed in March, enabling passengers to fly from 18 UK and European airports served by Flybe, connecting onto Virgin’s long haul flights from Manchester, Glasgow and Gatwick.
The demand for forward bookings has exceeded early expectations, with the most popular routes being for connections to Orlando via Manchester using Flybe services from Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast City, Edinburgh and Paris Charles de Gaulle as well as to Las Vegas from Belfast City and Paris, and from Edinburgh through to Atlanta.