Qatar Airways and JetBlue Expand Strategic Partnership

LONDON – Qatar Airways announced yesterday that it would be expanding its strategic codeshare partnership with U.S carrier JetBlue increasing the number of flight options for customers of both airlines offering greater convenience to book travel to international destinations.

Flights for the new codeshare are expected to start on April 19 2021 for flights between the U.S and Doha and from May 1 2021 for all destinations beyond Doha.

Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Thierry Antinori, said:

“Despite the pandemic, we at Qatar Airways have continued to expand our U.S. presence by building strong relationships with our strategic airline partners in the region and constantly optimizing our connections between the U.S. and our growing network of over 130 destinations. We are delighted to welcome JetBlue to our extensive global network and offer our American passengers seamless connectivity via the Best Airport in the Middle East to more international destinations.”

“By partnering with leading airlines such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and JetBlue, our passengers can easily connect through our 12 U.S. gateways to more than 220 markets across the U.S and over 130 destinations worldwide. We look forward to furthering building our strategic partnerships as global travel recovers and continuing to offer our customers the world leading services and travel experience they’ve come to expect.”

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During the pandemic, Qatar was one of the only airlines to continue to expand its route network and connectivity for customers, even with the closing of the borders, the airline has become a major powerhouse in the global market and this announcement today is part of that drive and image that the airline continues to push forward with, as it takes a stronger grasp on the U.S market, something which rival carrier Emirates has tried to do for many years.

With this new agreement, JetBlue customers will be able to book seamless connections onto flights from the U.S to global destinations via Doha, with the agreement opening nine of Qatar’s 12 U.S gateways for bookings with JetBlue customers flying from Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Atlanta (ATL), Houston (IAH), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL), and Washington (IAD).

JetBlue Head of revenue and planning, Mr. Scott Laurence, said:

“JetBlue and Qatar Airways lead the industry with our award-winning service and exceptional inflight experiences, which is why our partnership has been such a great success for the past decade. Now, with an expanded codeshare covering nearly a dozen major U.S. gateways or connecting points, even more, travelers can enjoy a seamless global travel experience between our airlines.”

In addition to the U.S gateway flights Qatar Airways will have its code (QR) placed on JetBlue’s flights to its Caribbean destinations from its New York (JFK) and Boston (BOS) hubs too:

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Aruba (AUA)
Bermuda (BDA)
Cayman Islands (GCM)
Curacao (CUR)
Grenada (GND)
St Maarten (SXM)
Saint Lucia (UVF)

The codeshare will also see members of both carriers loyalty programs be able to enjoy a wider range of options, with customers being able to accrue Qmiles or TrueBlue points which later in the year will be able to be redeemed on either carriers flights, however, no specific date on when this would be implemented was added by either airline.

With the expansion of this code-share, Qatar Airways are now moving forward at full speed to complete their target of having 140 destinations and increasing their flights to more than 1,200 weekly services by the end of July 2021.