Qatar Airways and French rail network SNCF (Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais), have begun a TGV AIR codeshare agreement covering 15 cities across France.

The deal enables Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, to spread its network throughout France, carrying passengers between key provincial French cities and Paris for connection onto the airline’s daily flights to Doha, capital of Qatar.

Under the agreement, Qatar Airways’ QR flight code is applied on selected SNCF rail services ensuring travellers have a seamless journey between Doha and the French regions.

The 15 railway stations involved in the deal are : Lille-Europe ; Lyon-Part Dieu ; St Pierre des Corps ; Rennes ; Nantes ; Angers-St Laud ; Le Mans ; Poitiers ; Bordeaux St Jean ; Avignon TGV ; Valence TGV ; Marseille St Charles ; Montpellier ; Nimes and Aix en Provence TGV.

“This agreement provides Qatar Airways with an extended presence across France to better serve the travelling public”, said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker.

Added Eric Didier, Qatar Airways Area Manager France: “Our Paris flights have proved extremely popular which is why we recently increased frequency to a daily service. With this bi-modal agreement with SNCF, we will now be able to meet increasing demand from our customers in the regions.”

Mireille Faugere, Voyages France Europe Director at SNCF, said: “This new agreement reinforces the development of TGV AIR connections and the promotion of TGV at an international level. By the end of 2004, almost 100,000 passengers will have used the TGV AIR product via SNCF partner airlines.”