Pretoria - South African Airways (SAA) and Etihad Airways codeshare flights are now on sale, SAA announced on Tuesday.
“Effective immediately, and under the first phase of the codeshare agreement, SAA customers can now access SAA marketed flights on Etihad Airways scheduled service from Johannesburg to its hub in Abu Dhabi, and onwards across the airline’s fast growing global network to Bahrain, Kuwait, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur,” said the national carrier.
The sale of the flights follows a regulatory approval that allows both SAA and the national airline of the United Arab Emirates to offer codeshare and interline services to key destinations on each other’s route networks.
Etihad Airways passengers can now travel on Etihad Airways’ marketed flights from Johannesburg to four major destinations on the SAA network, including Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth.
Codesharing on scheduled services to other key destinations, including Livingston, Lusaka, Ndola, Harare, and Victoria Falls is currently pending subject to government approval.
“We are confident that the new codeshare partnership will prove extremely popular with business and leisure travellers, who can now take advantage of the greater choice and seamless connectivity across our combined networks and markets,” said SAA’s acting general manager, Manoj Papa.
Etihad Airways’ chief strategy and planning officer, Kevin Knight, said that increasing the airline’s reach into Southern Africa was critical in meeting the demand from growing numbers of leisure and business passengers travelling between Africa and the major emerging markets in the Middle East, among others.
“The partnership agreement with South African Airways reflects our strategy of forming alliances with airlines around the world to enhance the global reach of our network,” he said.
Phase two of the wide ranging Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in May, makes provision for the airlines to explore areas of further commercial cooperation that provide costs saving and operational efficiencies.
This will be achieved through synergies and collaboration across a number of areas, including reciprocal Frequent Flyer Programme participation, ground handling, procurement and training.
Etihad Airways launched its service between the UAE and South Africa in 2005.
Other major destinations currently pending local regulatory approval include Shanghai, Singapore and Jeddah. – SAnews.gov.za
