Overview
There are four main types of airline-railway alliance or codeshare agreements - dedicated services, entire network access, Night&Fly, and re-protection agreements. The currently active air-rail alliances are listed in the various tables below.
Contents |
Dedicated services are less common than Rail&Fly alliances, due to the level of service provided. Often checked through luggage to is provided between the air and rail journeys, dedicated carriages or entire trains are provided to airline passengers, and service is to the same level expected onboard an aircraft, including meals and refreshments.
Train Operating Company | Airline | From Airport | To City | Marketed As |
---|---|---|---|---|
CRH | China Eastern | Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport | Shanghai-Hangzhou Shanghai-Wuxi |
China Eastern Air-Rail Serivce [1] |
Deutsche Bahn | Lufthansa American Airlines Emirates |
Frankfurt Airport | Stuttgart Cologne Siegburg/Bonn |
AIRail[2] |
SNCF | Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport | Brussels-Midi | Air & Rail [3] |
Thalys | KLM | Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport | Antwerp Brussels |
|
Thalys | American Airlines | Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport | Brussels-South | |
Thalys | Jet Airways | Brussels Airport | Paris | [4] |
More commonly referred to as Rail & Fly due to the popularity of the Deutsche Bahn service, entire network access is the increasingly common form of air-rail alliance. This allows passengers to book a train ticket at the same time as their air ticket, often for a discounted price and occasionally for free. Checked through luggage and dedicated train compartments for airline passengers are not normally available, though sometimes first class train travel is provided. Travel is usually available to the entire rail network.
♯ Indicates airlines offer Rail&Fly ticketing on company website
A novel approach to attracting passengers by offering overnight trains for accommodation from the airline's hub airport.
Train Operating Company | Airline | From Airport | To | Marketed As |
---|---|---|---|---|
City Night Line | Swiss International Airlines | Zurich Airport | Basil Koln Dusseldorf Amsterdam Dortmund Bremen Hamburg Frankfurt Hannover Berlin |
Night&Flight [9] |
Also known as "Good for Trains", this is an emergency backup service for airline cancellations, providing train tickets in lou of flights to get passengers to their destination. Such an example was during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010, where extra trains were provided to support the airlines’ stranded passengers in Europe. These 'good for train' agreements are in place with the following airlines:
Country | Train Operating Company | Airline |
---|---|---|
VIA Rail | Air Canada [10] | |
Deutsche Bahn | Lufthansa Air Berlin [11] |
List of IATA-indexed railway stations
Codeshare agreement
Airport rail link