Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline, and Egypt’s flagship carrier EgyptAir on Sunday announced signing a new codeshare partnership that will be introduced in phases starting 1 March 2017.
“Under the initial phase of the agreement, Etihad Airways will place its ‘EY’ code on EgyptAir-operated flights between Abu Dhabi and Cairo, while Egyptair will place its ‘MS’ code on Etihad Airways flights between the two capital cities,” a joint statement by the two carriers showed.
As part of the second phase of the deal, Etihad will “gain access to major cities across Africa on flights operated by EgyptAir via its Cairo hub,” the statement said, highlighting that in return, the Egyptian carrier will have access to key routes to Australia and the Far East served by Etihad Airways from its Abu Dhabi operational hub.
“The third phase will see the ‘EY’ code placed on domestic flights across Egypt,” the statement read.
Members of Etihad Airways and EgyptAir’s loyalty programmes, namely Etihad Guest and EgyptAir Plus, can earn miles on the codeshare flights at a later stage, the statement said.
It added that the partnership may be expanded to include additional destinations on both airlines’ networks.
It is worth noting that more than 390,000 passengers were carried on the Abu Dhabi–Cairo route in 2016, while more than two million guests travelled between the two countries since 2007.
