MAS, Northwest sign deal

MAS, Northwest sign deal

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP): Malaysia's national air carrier signed separate agreements on Wednesday with Northwest Airlines and Turkish Airlines to jointly market international routes and other flight arrangements.

In the first such arrangement between an American and a Malaysian carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) signed a commercial cooperation agreement with Northwest which will include code- share services, frequent flyer program reciprocity and "seamless" flight connections.

Airlines that agree to share their flight codes can exchange seat allocations on each other's flights and market them using their own flight numbers.

The agreement will be filed with the respective government agencies next week and the airlines expect approvals by January next year, the carriers said.

Douglas Birdsall, Northwest senior vice president of the airline's alliances division, said the carrier hopes to make more investments to promote travel from the United States to Malaysia.