Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) has finalized a partnership agreement with Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) during a ceremony held in Beijing this week. The venture, which was first announced as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) back in July 2014, will kick in at the start of the 2017 summer flight timetable.

The joint venture aims to significantly expand the two Star Alliance members' mutual code-sharing connections and enhance their existing commercial partnership. It also extends to the German carrier's Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna) and Swiss (LX, Zurich) subsidiaries.

Under the expanded codeshare cooperation agreement, Air China's customers will have access to more code-sharing routes to/from various destinations in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland via the Lufthansa Group's Frankfurt International, Munich, Zurich, and Vienna hubs. In turn, Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines will gain access, through Air China, to additional routes in China, the second-biggest aviation market in the world. Further destinations are set to be added soon as part of code-sharing.

Lufthansa Group and Air China also plan to better coordinate their respective flight schedules, to offer common fares, to modify their corporate programmes to improve the products available to corporate customers, and to improve frequent-flyer cross functionality.

“The Joint Venture with Lufthansa and the Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines is another major step of Air China’s globalization strategy following Air China’s accession into Star Alliance in December 2007," Cai Jianjiang, Chairman of Air China, said. "Both parties can further strengthen our overall competitive edge in both China and Europe. Under the Joint Venture framework, we will further expand network coverage in China and Europe, enhance the flight connections in beyond markets and optimize flight schedules, enabling us to bring more and flexible flight choices, favorable fare products and seamless travel experiences."

As part of its push into the Asian market, the Lufthansa Group currently has similar ventures in place with ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) and Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi).