Finnair to Join The American Airlines/British Airways/Iberia Joint Venture

This is good, though not monumental news for American Airlines.  The joint venture (JV) with British Airways and Iberia helped them become more profitable by being able to coordinate their schedules.  As a result, certain routes, such as JFK-LHR, saw their frequencies even out between American Airlines and BritishAirways such that you can catch a flight on one of the two pretty much every hour in the evenings.

Finnair is already a member of the oneworld alliance, but the JV will allow them to further coordinate schedules between the four airlines across the Atlantic and through their Helsinki hub.  Some details soon to be released:

• As part of this joint business, Finnair will add its (AY*) code to 90 selected American, British Airways and Iberia flights between the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
• Adding the Finnair code added to American, BA and IB transatlantic flights will bring approximately 20 new destinations in North America to Finnair customers and to our transatlantic joint business.
• Finnair has an extensive network across Northern Europe and the Baltic Rim area which will result in a stronger and more competitive transatlantic joint business.
• Adding Finnair’s Helsinki hub to our joint business network will create faster and easier connections for customers on hundreds of city connections between Europe and North America.
• Finnair requested and received ATI (anti-trust immunity) permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation and worked with the EU authorities in Brussels to ensure that the agreement is within the bounds of European law.

Overall, not earth shattering news.  But, it’s a strengthening of the network and that’s rarely a bad thing.

Related articles

• Another Comfortable Way To Europe? If Iberia Can Resolve Their Labor Issues, Another Way to Use AAdvantage Miles For Good Seats
• American Expanding Its Codeshare With Cape Air, Too
• American Expanding Its Codeshare Relationship With Alaska Airlines; JetBlue Not Far Behind
• American Airlines Expanding?  Is There Labor Peace Post-Merger? What About That Expanded American-JetBlue Relationship?