Etihad Airways has announced an expansion of its interline and codeshare agreements with six airlines from African, Asian and European airlines
The reciprocal partnerships mean passengers of all the airlines involved will enjoy enhanced service to destinations across each other’s networks.
Passengers can book on a single ticket and only have to check in once at the start of their flight, with their baggage checked through to their end destination.
The three new interline partners are Philippine Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Airlink South Africa, while Etihad is re-launching interline links with Biman Bangladesh and codeshares with Air Seychelles and ITA Airways.
Arik De, Etihad’s chief revenue officer, praised the move for “broadening” Etihad’s reach and making “life easier” for more people to come to Abu Dhabi.
The deal with Austrian Airlines will give passengers access up to 58 European destinations via Vienna, operated by Etihad daily during the summer.
It also means Austrian Airlines join the other four members of the Lufthansa Group with whom Etihad already have interline or codeshare agreements.
“Our deal with Airlink South Africa gives connecting guests via our Johannesburg flight seamless access to 16 domestic destinations in South Africa, and 25 regional African destinations, and it complements our existing options with South African Airways,” Arik Dee said.
He added: “And teaming up with Philippine Airlines provides easy access to 19 domestic Filipino destinations including Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Kalibo, to and from Etihad’s double daily Manila service, for the large Filipino diaspora living in the UAE.”
Links have also been re-established with Biman and Air Seychelles after 12 months, due to system migrations by the two airlines.
“We’re pleased to re-connect with them to complement our own Dhaka and Mahe services and offer further destinations, such as Chittagong and Praslin,” Arik Dee said.
The expanded interline and codeshare offerings will be progressively rolled out across Etihad sales channels, including the airline’s website and travel agents.