British Airways (London) and JAL-Japan Airlines (Tokyo) will start their new joint venture on October 1.

British Airways issued the following statement:

British Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) will begin a joint business agreement with the two airlines sharing revenue on applicable flights between Europe and Japan.

The joint business, which starts on October 1, 2012, will benefit customers by providing better links between Europe and Japan, greater choice of flights to more destinations, enhanced frequent flyer benefits and the potential to launch new routes.

British Airways and JAL, both members of the oneworld® alliance, have been forging ever closer ties in their evolution to the joint business. Earlier this month, JAL and British Airways began offering codeshare flights between Tokyo (Haneda and Narita) and London (Heathrow). The joint business will now see the two airlines co-operating on all non-stop flights operated by JAL or British Airways between Japan and Europe. This will not only include the 19 weekly services between the UK and Japan, but also JAL’s services to Paris and Frankfurt. This gives customers the flexibility of using a combination of JAL and British Airways flights and aligned fares on their journey to and from Japan and Europe, significantly increasing their options.

JAL and British Airways will also be improving flight transfers for customers by enhancing and expanding the codeshare network beyond their respective hub cities. JAL customers will, be able to book seats to the new codeshare destinations of Belfast, Helsinki, Frankfurt, and Gothenburg. British Airways will extend its reach to more destinations in Japan by codesharing on flights to Kansai, Okayama, Izumo, Okinawa, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kagoshima. Further expansion of codeshare arrangements are expected in the future. The websites of the two airlines will also be updated to enable customers to make bookings and check-in online, and access the flight information they need, irrespective of the carrier they are flying on.

Customers participating in JAL and British Airways’ loyalty programs will continue to enjoy reciprocal benefits as customers of oneworld, but top tier members of the respective loyalty schemes will now have the opportunity to earn bonus points on applicable flights on either airline.

In other news, British Airways will start nonstop London (Gatwick)-Alicante Boeing 737-400 service service on March 31, 2013 per Airline Route.

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. Boeing 767-336 ER G-BNWD (msn 24336) climbs away from the London (Heathrow) hub.

British Airways: 

JAL-Japan Airlines: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen. Boeing 767-346 ER JA615J (msn 33850) in the special Samantha Thavasa motif lands at the Tokyo (Narita) hub.