Etihad Airways is further strengthening its relations with other carriers from the Middle East. A week after announcing intentions to establish a low cost airline together with Air Arabia, the Dubai-based airline is now advancing its one year strong partnership with its Saudi Arabian partner ‒ Saudia.
Etihad Airways and Saudia have first entered a partnership in October 2018. Now, one year in, the airlines are advancing their cooperation with a launch of twelve new codeshare routes to what is called “key destinations” in Asia and Europe, Etihad has announced via a statement on October 22, 2019.
As per the new agreement, Saudia intends to progressively add its code to Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and eleven destinations in Europe and Asia, the statement reads. The concerned flights in Europe are to Dublin, Amsterdam and Brussels, while in Asia the destinations include Baku, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, Seoul and two destinations in both Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket) and Japan (Nagoya and Tokyo).
The deal remains subject to regulatory approvals.
“Since announcing our partnership at this time last year, we have jointly achieved more than 53,500 passenger journeys, five times the 11,390 for the whole of 2018,” Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Aviation Group is quoted in the October 22 statement as saying.
On October 16, 2019, Etihad together with another Middle Eastern partner Air Arabia, announced intentions to launch an independent joint venture. The two companies plan to create Abu Dhabi’s first low-cost airline with a hub at, you guessed it, Abu Dhabi. The new airline is to be called Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.