Avianca of Colombia and Lufthansa are to offer their customers selected flights under joint flight numbers in a new codesharing agreement.

In this first phase of the agreement, passengers from Frankfurt using Lufthansa transatlantic flights to Bogota, can connect with Avianca domestic services to Colombia’s six largest cities: Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Pereira, Cartagena and Bucaramanga. In addition Avianca passengers can use Avianca issued tickets on the Bogotá to Frankfurt route operated by Lufthansa.

The codesharing agreement was signed on Wednesday 09th March 2011 by Stefan Lauer, CEO Group Airlines and Corporate Human Resources at Lufthansa and Fabio Villegas, Chief Executive Officer Avianca. The new arrangements will be available for booking once governmental approval is finalised and Lufthansa currently operates five weekly flights from Frankfurt to Bogotá with an Airbus A340-600 aircraft.

Subject to the granting of air traffic rights, codesharing is to be extended in a second phase to international South American routes served by Avianca as well as to selected European connections operated by Lufthansa out of Madrid und Barcelona. In the pipeline, too, are plans for Avianca passengers to accrue and redeem award miles on all codeshare routes in the Miles & More frequent flyer programme, beginning in the second half of 2011.

Referring to the Agreement, the Executive Chairman of AviancaTaca, Fabio Villegas Ramirez, said: "The codeshare flights on Lufthansa complement the existing Avianca-Taca time codeshare agreements. With the implementation of this first phase, Avianca expands its route network, offering more options to Colombians and Latin Americans who want to get to Germany. Similarly, the offer is extended to more destinations in Colombia and Latin America for travellers from Germany. "