WestJet signs code share agreement with Dutch airline KLM

Photo: The Canadian Press

A worker carrying a disinfectant sprayer walks past a WestJet Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft, after cleaning another plane at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. The Calgary-based airline says it will now be able market flights operated by KLM, which it says means WestJet travellers will be able to easily transfer through Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to 18 European cities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

WestJet Airlines has expanded an existing code-share agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

The Calgary-based airline says it will now be able market flights operated by KLM, which it says means WestJet travellers will be able to easily transfer through Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to 18 European cities.

WestJet says the code-share agreement builds on the airline's new non-stop service between Calgary and Amsterdam, operating twice weekly beginning Aug. 5 and increasing to three times weekly on Sept. 9.

The new flights to Amsterdam are part of the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner program, which started flights to Europe in 2019 with routes to Paris, London and Dublin.

Code-share agreements allow airlines to sell tickets to places they don't fly to on flights operated by a partner airline, and they allow airlines to increase their market presence and make it more convenient for travellers to fly with them.

KLM already had a code-share agreement with WestJet that allowed the Dutch airline to sell tickets on flights operated by WestJet in Canada.