why are some flights operated by other airlines?

When we book the air line tickets, we usually double check the size of the flight, size of the seat and its features. But most of the times we may not fly in the aircraft of the airlines we booked. It is very annoying if we did not get what we had expected. We have to adjust with the seat and food available in that airline which we did not book at all.

The reason for this inconvenience is due to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the 2 airlines. This is called code-share agreement. This agreement between the 2 airlines allow the partner airlines to sell the route and make money..

Some airlines are not allowed in a particular country . And for that they will sign the code-share agreement with other airlines, who have permission to operate in that country.

For eg. imagine you are booking a ticket from Munich to Sri Lanka in Lufthansa airlines. If Lufthansa airlines doesn't have permission to operate in Sri Lanka, then you will have a Lufthansa airlines flight from Munich to Chennai only. After that from Chennai to Sri Lanka you may fly in Air India or any other airlines flights which have permission to operate in Sri Lanka.

Some airlines will sign a contract with local or regional airlines to cost cut. Sometimes if the traffic is less they will adjust the seats with the contacted local airlines.

Some airlines entirely operate other regional carriers. For example, US airways owns and operates Piedmont and Delta airlines owns and operates Comair.

www.ft.com

Hello,

Because it is a partnership between the airlines two airlines to sell and exchange their routes, this partnership is called the code-sharing partnership. This also helps airlines to make money from those countries where they didn't have permission to fly.