Bmi says it will add five new US destinations to its expanding codeshare network from London Heathrow.
Despite the airline opting not to exercise its right to start US services from Heathrow under the Open Skies agreement slated for next year, bmi nonetheless says it will add its codeshare to five United Airlines services.
Bmi ” a fellow Star Alliance carrier with United ” will add its code to Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and Denver.
”While delaying the introduction of our own services from Heathrow to the US, we said we would still take full advantage of an Open Skies agreement between the EU and the US,” said bmi CEO, Nigel Turner.
”This codeshare agreement with United allows us to do just that and will ensure we can now offer our own code on services to these key US destinations.”
The codeshare flights, which recently secured approval from US authorities, are now on sale for a start date of 30 March next year.
Bmi says it will also expand the arrangement to include other codeshare services featuring a range of domestic US destinations beyond the gateway cities already in the pipeline.
”We have long supported the Open Skies agreement,” said United Airlines senior vice president alliances, international and regulatory affairs, Michael Whitaker. ”This expanded partnership with bmi demonstrates how liberalisation of the Atlantic skies will benefit customers.”