JetBlue Shares Code with Aer Lingus

The Wall St. Journal reported last week about a new alliance that might mean good news for travelers who love JetBlue’s cool style and want to travel to Ireland. Aer Lingus is forming a strategic partnership beginning April 3 under which European and American travelers will be able to book linked flights between Ireland and more than 40 US destinations served by Jet Blue.

This is news because budget airlines like ‘Blue don’t usually set up arrangements with legacy, or flagship carriers, called code sharing. The budget carriers just have a different approach to the business, such as shunning hub and spoke arrangements for direct flights in and out of fewer airports.

“This is totally new,”said Jet Blue Executive Dave Barger. He hopes this new code sharing can be extended to other international carriers. A secret behind this new plan is that it’s web only, it doesn’t require all of the coordination between call centers.

Big German airline Lufthansa has taken note, and last month bought up a 19 percent stake in JetBlue. Maybe soon there will be a similar arrangement that will let German tourists easily book to ‘Blue from their state airline too.