Delta Air Lines has withdrawn its codeshare service operated in conjunction with the Russian national carrier, Aeroflot, effective immediately. The US carrier is the first airline to end its partnership with Russia’s state carrier following the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Could more follow? Delta ends Aeroflot’s codeshare agreement
Effective immediately, Delta Air Lines has finished its codeshare services operated in conjunction with Aeroflot , the airline said today in a statement.
The airline added,
“We have removed our code from Aeroflot-operated services beyond Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and removed Aeroflot’s code from Delta-operated services from Los Angeles and New York-JFK. Accommodations will be made for customers affected by these changes. Delta does not operate services to Ukraine or Russia.”
Both carriers are members of the SkyTeam airline alliance. Other members include Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeromexico , Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern, Czech Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM , Korean Air, MEA, Saudia, Tarom, Vietnam Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines.
Codeshare agreements allow airlines to sell seats on flights to destinations not served by them. Aeroflot codeshares with 32 foreign and Russian airlines and operates joint flights to more than 100 destinations.
According to Aeroflot’s website , its passengers could fly with Delta to 23 destinations across the United States from New York’s JFK International Airport and one destination from Los Angeles. Could other airlines follow?
In the last couple of days, Aeroflot (along with many other Russian companies) has been impacted by economic sanctions by several countries. The UK government banned Aeroflot from operating to and from its territory yesterday. Poland and the Czech Republic have announced the same measure today.
The English football squad Manchester United has dropped Aeroflot’s partnership. Aeroflot was the Red Devil’s long-term sponsor since 2013. They had a deal worth £40 million that would run until 2023.
Nonetheless, Delta is the first airline to cut ties with the Russian airline. Simple Flying reached SkyTeam to comment if Aeroflot would be removed from the alliance. We haven’t received an answer so far.
Simple Flying also reached some of Aeroflot’s SkyTeam partners, like Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, and Czech Airlines for comment. The carriers have not responded at the moment of publishing this article. Could the US ban Aeroflot? So far, only three countries have officially banned (or announced bans) Aeroflot. The UK was the first to do it on Thursday, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.As discussed yesterday, Aeroflot operates nearly 2,000 […]