Hotelier’s sister title Arabian Business has reported that Etihad Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines, better known as Saudia, plan to expand their codeshare agreement following positive growth in traffic since their partnership began in November.
Jointly, Etihad and Saudia said they have flown over 16,000 guests across the partnership, Arabian Business reported.
Tony Douglas, Group CEO, Etihad Aviation Group said: “With greater choice now available, more flexibility across both our schedules, and world-leading products and services, together, we now fly approximately 150 guests per day across each other’s networks. Our plan is to grow this number considerably through expansion of the codeshare agreement in the coming months, and to deliver more benefits to our customers.”
The codeshare agreement has seen ‘EY’ and ‘SV’ codes already placed on 14 routes with the addition of Vienna this week. In the coming months, Etihad will place its ‘EY’ code on, Tunis, Sharm El Sheikh and Alexandria.
At the same time, Saudia will place its ‘SV’ code on Etihad flights to Tokyo, Nagoya, and Baku.
Phase two for the ‘EY’ code will include Algiers, Dhaka and Erbil while phase two for the ‘SV’ code will include Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Moscow, Dusseldorf, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, Lagos, Minsk, Rabat, Astana, and more points in India.
Saleh Al-Jasser, Saudia director-general, said: “The codeshare partnership with Etihad Airways enables greater connectivity and access to destinations for our guests. By leveraging each of our networks, we are able to provide a wide array of choice and convenience that lends itself well for business and leisure travellers alike.”
On average, Etihad carries approximately 1.3 million passengers a year to and from the kingdom while Etihad Cargo carried more than 23,200 tons of cargo between the two countries last year. In November, Jeddah became the first destination on the airline’s network to be operated by Etihad’s Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.
Etihad today operates 84 flights per week to Saudi Arabia.
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