American Cuts Cathay Pacific Codeshare Because… Russia

This has implications for its codeshare agreement with American Airlines.

The airline ceased using Russian airspace earlier this year. The airline did this out of an abundance of caution, not because of a flight ban.

The New York to Hong Kong route will most likely be affected by this. The reality is that the route is no longer economically viable because of the restrictions.

The first flight from New York to Hong Kong took less than an hour. The October 30 flight took 17 hours and the November 1 flight took 14 hours.

This is having an effect on a partnership. American Airlines will no longer code share on the New York to Hong Kong route.

US airlines are banned from using Russian airspace as well as putting their flight number on services that use it. A codeshare agreement is when an airline puts its flight number on the service of another airline in order to market a flight. Payment and revenue sharing are involved there.

There are other Cathay Pacific routes that don't use Russian airspace that American is codesharing on. You can still redeem American AAdvantage miles on the New York to Hong Kong route.

This isn’t the first time American has had to do this

American Airlines has had to cut its codeshare agreement with other airlines because of it. When it is the most direct route, the most direct airspace is Russian airspace.

Alaskan Airlines and American Airlines don't have a codeshare on flights from Doha to the west coast of the US. Codeshare agreements remain in place despite other flights not using Russian airspace.

You can find all kinds of routes through non-west coast gateways on the Alaska Airlines website. You can redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on flights on the west coast that aren't booked as code shares.

Bottom line

The codeshare agreement between American Airlines and Cathay Pacific on the New York to Hong Kong route has been cut because of the airline's use of Russian airspace. US airlines are not allowed to use Russian airspace for flights that are marketed by US airlines.

US airlines can't codeshare on flights to the west coast because they use Russian airspace.

This seems silly on some levels. I can book a flight over Russian airspace on a foreign airline if I redeem my miles, but I can't when I pay with cash. This doesn't seem like an unreasonable point at which to draw the line.

What do you think about American having to cut its codeshare with Hong Kong?