LUFTHANSA has signed a route sharing deal with China’s flagship carrier Air China, capping off two years of talks that will boost Germany’s biggest airline’s access to the world’s fastest growing aviation market.

    The deal, which began with the signing of an accord in July 2014, will see the companies share revenue by allowing them to sell each other’s tickets on some routes. It represents the closest agreement such carriers can enter short of a full-scale merger.

    The German airline has sought closer ties with Air China to improve its position in the Chinese aviation market as European traffic slows and to stem competition from fast-growing Persian Gulf carriers on lucrative long-haul routes.

    “It complements the group of joint ventures Lufthansa has around the world, and it was always our strategic goal to have a joint venture partner in the top five intercontinental markets, and today’s joint venture completes that set,” Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr told reporters Tuesday.

    The deal, which will also include Lufthansa’s units Austrian Airlines and Swiss Air, will initially cover routes from China to cities including Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich and be eventually expanded to all routes between China and Europe operated by the two carriers.

    It will start in the summer of 2017 and no cash investment was committed to the deal.

    Lufthansa has in recent years built up a network of revenue-sharing agreements around the globe by striking similar deals.

    (SD-Agencies)