American Airlines, Fliggy form travel partnership

American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, and Fliggy, a travel service platform of Alibaba Group, announced on Tuesday that they will form a strategic partnership and provide travelers in China access to purchase the airline's services and products through Fliggy.

American Airlines will launch a flagship store on Fliggy and it will become one of American's direct sales channels. The two parties' loyalty programs also will collaborate, and eligible Fliggy loyalty program members will be able to enjoy select elite status and benefits on American Airlines, such as preferred boarding and complimentary preferred seats.

"American Airlines is committed to the China market and will offer our customers more flights to more destinations between North America and Asia," said Alison Taylor, the airline's senior vice president of global sales and distribution.

As of September, Fliggy had 549 million monthly active mobile users from across Alibaba's e-commerce platforms, and 83 percent of its users were born after 1985, according to the company.

"Leveraging the strength of Alibaba Group, Fliggy has the information of purchasing habits of a huge number of consumers, and airlines can better market and tailor the products and services it offers with the help of our big data," said Jerry Hu, vice president of Alibaba Group and Fliggy.

In 2016, 3 million Chinese travelers went to the United States, up 15 percent year-on-year, thanks to the favorable 10-year multiple-entry visas that the two countries granted to each other's citizens.