United and Aer Lingus in "unusual linkup"

United and Aer Lingus are expanding their recent codesharing partnership in move that The Wall Street Journal describes as "an unusual linkup." The Journal says "the airlines, which already cooperate on flights between the U.S. and Ireland, plan to begin with flights between Madrid and Washington (Dulles), starting in March 2010. Both carriers will market the flights and have their flight numbers on the route. But Aer Lingus will operate the planes and will be primarily responsible for costs, while United will take the lead on marketing tickets and generating revenue for the operation."

The Associated Press writes that "Aer Lingus' corporate planning director, Stephen Kavanagh, (said) Aer Lingus would provide the crews and aircraft for the Washington-Madrid service -- but the bulk of traffic would come from United's U.S. customers.

The deal comes at a time of unusual uncertainty for Aer Lingus,  that is now fighting off a takeover bid from European low-cost giant Ryanair.