Turkish Airlines, JetBlue to deepen codeshare ties

Turkish Airlines has applied to expand its codeshare partnership with New York-based JetBlue Airways, increasing the scope of an agreement that was forged in 2014.

In documents filed with the US Transportation Department (DOT), the Star Alliance member said it wants to place JetBlue’s B6 code on certain flights it operates between Turkey and the US, as well as to points beyond Turkey.

The airline has therefore applied for a blanket statement of authorization to display the B6 code on any Turkish flights between “any point or points behind Turkey, via points in Turkey and intermediate points, to any point or points in the US and beyond.”

The DOT application outlines 43 O&D city pairs that would be covered by the extended codeshare partnership, including from Miami to Amman in Jordan; New York to Bangkok in Thailand; Atlanta to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Boston to Bahrain.

Turkish said the agreement would benefit the traveling public by “providing enhanced connectivity and additional travel options,” including connections via its Istanbul hub.

Turkish and JetBlue began codesharing in 2014 on select JetBlue-operated flights from Boston Logan (BOS) and New York John F Kennedy (JFK). The current agreement covers 24 US destinations in JetBlue’s network.

According to data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser, Turkish currently offers 11 routes from Istanbul (IST) to the US, including flying daily to BOS and up to 3X-daily to JFK. The carrier’s latest service to launch begins on Sept. 24, connecting Istanbul with Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW).

Photo credit: Rob Finlayson

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.