CORRECT: Air Berlin In Talks With Oneworld Partners Over Code Sharing

German carrier Air Berlin PLC (AB1.XE) is in talks with partners from the Oneworld airline alliance to launch its first code share flights from November, Chief Executive Joachim Hunold said Thursday.

Oneworld is a group of 11 airlines, including AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines and British Airways PLC (BAY.LN). In July, Air Berlin signed an agreement to join the alliance in 2012.

"We're in concrete talks with American Airlines over code share flights that we'd like to start in November. The same applies for Finnair Oyj (FIA1S.HE), Hunold said on a conference call.

He added that talks with British Airways and Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA (IBLA.MC) over code share flights that would start with the summer flight schedule 2011 are due to start shortly.

In a presentation published on Air Berlin's website, the company said it intends to expand its position in the transatlantic and U.S. market by entering code share agreements with American Airlines and British Airways.

Tapping American Airlines' access to the U.S. would offer an "incremental market potential" of 2.4 million passengers a year.

A code share agreement with British Airways would offer "incremental market potential" of 1.7 million passengers a year on transatlantic flights between the U.K and North America, it added.

Air Berlin is also seeking code share agreements with Finnair to get access to the Asian market.

Agreements with Iberia would open the door to the South American market, Air Berlin said.

-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]