Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines have signed an agreement officialising the extension of their joint venture partnership to two additional routes.
Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines signed an agreement on 26th November, officialising the extension of their joint venture partnership. Plans to extend the agreement were initially announced in August.
As part of this enhanced agreement, the three SkyTeam airlines (Air France, KLM, and China Eastern Airlines) will extend their joint venture partnership as of January 1, 2019 on two additional routes, Paris-Wuhan and Paris-Kunming, offering customers new codeshare and connection opportunities.
Air France and China Eastern started their cooperation in 2000 in the form of a codeshare agreement on the Paris–Shanghai route. The partnership was formalised in 2012 thanks to a joint venture agreement. KLM joined this joint venture in 2016, extending the agreement to the Amsterdam-Shanghai route.
Since October 2017, China Eastern has held 8.8% of Air France-KLM’s share capital, and has one member on the Air France-KLM Board of Directors.
On the same day, China Eastern signed a new contract with Air France-KLM’s MRO arm, AFI KLM E&M, covering its fleet of Airbus A350-900s, ultimately set to number 20 aircraft. The bespoke A350 contract covers repairs, access to a regional spares pool, and the provision of a Main Base Kit (MBK). The agreement also includes complementary training services and engineering development assistance.