Qatar Airways and American Airlines start their codeshare partnership

Qatar Airways and American Airlines have formally started their partnership with the Doha-based carrier placing its QR code on American domestic flights.

“The codeshare will be rolled out in phases over the next few weeks and, once completed, will see Qatar Airways’ code placed on over 1,000 of American Airlines’ domestic flights connecting with Qatar Airway’s 10 US gateways,” Qatar Airways said in a statement.

The first phase of the codeshare partnership will enable Qatar Airways’ passengers to book travel on American domestic connections via Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airports to 200 American destinations, including Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), Houston Intercontinental (IAH), Miami (MIA), Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP), San Francisco (SFO) and Seattle (SEA).

“Additional cities, including destinations in Central America, and the Caribbean will be added, subject to government approvals,” Qatar Airways said.

Qatar Airways chief commercial officer Simon Talling-Smith said: “This codeshare is just the first step in renewing our long-term strategic partnership with American Airlines. The rollout of this domestic codeshare demonstrates our airlines are confident about the future and during this difficult time we continue to focus on how we can enhance the customer experience for our millions of passengers.”

American Airlines senior VP of network strategy Vasu Raja added: “We look forward to welcoming Qatar Airways passengers throughout our domestic network as we continue to focus on the wellbeing of our customers, team members and the communities we serve during this uncertain time.”

After years of butting heads over what American deemed to be illegitimate government subsidies paid to Qatar Airways, the carriers recently agreed to stand down and partner.

“Further expansion of the strategic partnership will include Qatar Airways placing its code on American’s international flights to North, Central and South America and Europe, and American Airlines placing its code on Qatar Airways flights between the US and Qatar and beyond to a range of destinations in the Middle-East, Africa and Asia,” the carriers said in a joint statement.

Both airlines will also “continue exploring the opportunity” for American to fly between the US and Qatar, the airlines said.