OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2011. Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline has entered into an arrangement with Thalys high-speed rail service between Brussels and Paris, for our first intermodal codeshare.

Under codeshare, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on the Thalys operated direct train service between the train station at Brussels Airport and Paris Nord.

Guests can now book a combined Thalys-train ticket between Paris and India or US and Canada via Brussels with Jet Airways through travel agencies or via jetairways.com*.

This code-share service is now available for sale, for travel starting from October 30, 2011.

This new service is a result of the coordinated effort of Jet Airways, Brussels Airlines, Thalys –the rail partner and Brussels Airport.

Nikos Kardassis, CEO of Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways has constantly innovated to set new benchmarks and our affiliation with Thalys high speed train is another distinctive travel solution. Jet Airways’ guests will now be able to access Brussels Airport from the French capital in a mere hour and forty-seven minutes thanks to the new Thalys’ high-speed train. As the largest long haul carrier in Brussels since 2007, offering daily six direct flights to India and North America, we are certain that our guests from France as well as from both the Asian and North American continents will greatly benefit from this new travel solution. We look forward to extending partnership with Thalys to more European cities in the near future.”

Franck Gervais, CEO of Thalys International, confirms, “Travelling to and from Brussels Airport, the international airport at the heart of our network is part of our optimization strategy to go beyond the expectations of our international clientele. Moreover, through this partnership, Thalys is establishing itself as a key player and pioneer in the development of rail-air transport.”

Michel Jadot, General Manager of SNCB Europe and President of Thalys International, also asserts, “By developing a unique technical solution which allows trains with mandatory reservations to be sold directly in GDS, SNCB can now claim to be a major player in air-rail distribution.”

For Brussels Airport, situated 17 kms of the Brussels-South station, this direct connection with Paris, by a high-speed international train like Thalys, marks an important step in the ease of access strategy.