Northwest Airlines And Malév Hungarian Airlines Form Code-Share And Frequent Flyer Program Agreement

Partnership Also Includes Airport Club Access For WorldClub Members at Ferihegy Airport in Budapest


Northwest Airlines and Malév Hungarian Airlines announced today they have signed a code-share and frequent flyer program agreement. The agreement becomes effective immediately.

Northwest’s partnership with the European carrier will improve travel benefits between Northwest’s 214 cities in North America and Malév’s 38 European markets via convenient connections at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and Budapest’s Ferihegy Airport.

Under the agreement, Northwest will put its flight code on Malév’s scheduled service between Amsterdam and Budapest. In addition, Northwest’s WorldPerks frequent flyer members can earn and redeem travel awards on Northwest/Malév code-share flights and World Business Class passengers and WorldClub members will have access to Malév’s Millennium Lounge in Terminal 2B at Budapest’s Ferihegy Airport.

The code-share flights, which will be available for sale January 3, 2002, will feature “seamless” service including issuance of all boarding passes at initial check-in, luggage checked to final destination and convenient flight connections at Schiphol Airport and Ferihegy Airport.

This agreement, which builds on a recent agreement signed between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Malév, may lead to further cooperation for the benefit of the carriers’ customers.

Malév, the Hungarian national airline celebrated the 55th anniversary of its foundation on March 29, 2001. Today it ranks as one of the leading airlines – with scheduled passenger services, cargo and charter operations – in the Central-Eastern European region. Malév operates 50-60 flights a day, carrying passengers to 43 cities in 35 countries. The company’s scheduled transport activities cover Europe, the Middle East and North America. Malév currently operates scheduled, long-haul flights to New York and Toronto. Charter destinations also target other parts of the globe. During 2000 as a whole, 2,367,000 passengers purchased air tickets for Malév flights. Today the majority of the Malév fleet is made up of Boeing aircraft.

Northwest Airlines is the world's fourth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam and more than 1,400 daily departures. With its travel partners, Northwest serves more than 750 cities in 120 countries on six continents. Based on statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Northwest was the most on-time U.S. airline among the seven largest network carriers for the period 1990-2000.