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American, JetBlue pairing up to woo more travelers, battle rivals in New York, Boston

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways are teaming up in a bid to lure more travelers in New York and Boston and better compete against rivals who are bigger there.

The airlines aren't merging but are forming an alliance, the companies announced Thursday. It is similar to a partnership American and Alaska Airlines struck on the West Coast weeks before the coronavirus decimated U.S. air travel.

They will feed each other passengers on select flights to and from the Northeast, launch reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and offer flight booking on each other's website.

American provides JetBlue customers with more international flight options from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and JetBlue provides American passengers with more domestic flight options into and out of New York and Boston, where it has a large presence and plans to grow.

American's customers will be able to book more than 130 new routes operated by JetBlue and JetBlue travelers will have 60 new routes operated by American to book, the airlines said. Travelers will be able to combine flights on both airlines under one itinerary.

Together, the airlines say they will offer more daily departures from New York and Boston than rivals Delta and United. In metro New York, they will have a combined 489 daily departures, officials said.

"The reality is together we can produce, really, an industry-leading customer proposition for both for customers in New York and Boston and for customers trying to get to New York and Boston,'' said Vasu Raja, American's chief revenue officer.

The airlines said their talks about a partnership began before the coronavirus pandemic but were hastened as the travel fallout turned into the industry's worst crisis in history. Airlines have slashed flights and parked planes, while massive layoffs loom this fall. The business was intensely competitive before the virus but will carriers will now be fighting for a smalshrunken pool of passengers.

"This agreement drives recovery much more quickly for both of us,'' said Scott Laurence, JetBlue's head of revenue and planning."That's one of the reasons we moved so quickly.''

American, whose major hubs include Dallas, Charlotte, N.C, Philadelphia and Phoenix, has struggled for years in New York, focusing on bringing passengers to and from the business and tourist destination rather than luring local customers.

JetBlue, which is based in and beloved in New York and calls itself New York's "hometown airline,'' has a loyal base of local travelers and frequent flights to U.S. destinations, such as tourist magnet Florida, but lacks the international network of Delta and United in metropolitan New York and Delta in Boston. American said its biggest base of frequent flyers outside of its hubs is in Boston.

"This allows us to compete on a global basis,'' JetBlue's Laurence said.

As part of the deal, which will be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Justice, American said it plans to add flights from JFK to Tel Aviv and Athens, its first new international routes from JFK since 2016, and JFK to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. International travel has been decimated by the coronavirus crisis, with many destinations still shutting out visitors from the United States.

Laurence said said the alliance with American will not affect JetBlue's plans to launch flights to London from the East Coast in 2021.

JetBlue flights to London: 5 things to know

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American Airlines, JetBlue join to battle Delta, United in northeast