On Tuesday the 2nd of November 2021 the American carrier JetBlue announced the expansion of its codeshare agreement with the Icelandic flag carrier Icelandair to several destinations across Europe.
Following the announcement, JetBlue’s CEO Robin Hayes stated:
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Icelandair to offer our customers more options when travelling beyond Iceland. With our recent launch of services to London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, this expansion with Icelandair provides customers even more choice for travel across the Atlantic and the ability to enjoy a stopover in Iceland en route.”
A Look into the Partnership
The two airlines started their partnership 10 years ago, with the first codeshare agreement for the route between Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) and New York J.F. Kennedy (JFK). At the moment, JetBlue’s code ‘B6’ is placed in Icelandair’s routes between KEF and JFK, Newark (EWR) and Boston (BOS).
With this further expansion, seven European destinations served by Icelandair will get JetBlue’s codeshare:
- Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), Netherlands
- Copenhagen Airport (CPH), Denmark
- Glasgow Airport (GLA), United Kingdom
- Helsinki Airport (HEL), Finland
- Manchester Airport (MAN), United Kingdom
- Oslo Airport (OSL), Norway
- Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), Sweden
The two airlines are planning to add more routes to the list in the near future.
Customers travelling on connecting flights between Icelandair and JetBlue will benefit from combined ticketing and baggage transfers. Also, JetBlue and Icelandair customers will enjoy benefits across loyalty programs.
Moreover, when customers fly with Icelandair across the Atlantic, they can stop over in Iceland at no additional cost, selecting a stopover duration of one to seven days to explore more of the beautiful Northern Atlantic island. This codeshare targets mostly leisure-oriented travellers who might want to enjoy some extra days on their way to Europe or America.
JetBlue’s Partnerships over the Atlantic
While JetBlue has recently started its own transatlantic operations to London-Heathrow (LHR) and London-Gatwick (LGW), the airline can still count on some strong partners on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
The airline has teamed up with American Airlines to create a Northwest Alliance, enabling expansion of operations in New York and Boston. JetBlue customers can benefit from the worldwide routes offered by American’s network.
In Europe, JetBlue has partnerships with the Irish airline Aer Lingus through its routes from Dublin to JFK, BOS and Orlando (MCO). JetBlue also has a codeshare on Emirates’s fifth freedom route between JFK and Milano Malpensa (MXP), along with several routes between Dubai and the United States offered by Emirates.
JetBlue also announced, during the World Routes event in Milan last month, that more direct routes to Europe will come in the next years, with the future deliveries of Airbus A321 -LR and -XLR.
What do you make of JetBlue expanding its partnerships and presence in Europe? Let us know in the comments below.
