(TAN): Etihad Airways has inked reciprocal interline partnerships with three new airline partners – Philippine Airlines (PAL), Austrian Airlines (OS) and Airlink South Africa (4Z), while re-launching interline links with Biman Bangladesh and codeshares with Air Seychelles (HM) and ITA Airways (AZ), Etihad said in a news release.
The agreement means customers of all airlines involved will enjoy enhanced connectivity to destinations across each other’s networks, 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.
Arik De, Etihad’s chief revenue officer, said: “Broadening our network reach, and allowing more guests to come visit Abu Dhabi has always guided our purpose. These six interline/code agreements make life easier for guests of all the airlines involved. With Austrian Airlines, this tie-in gives our guests access up to 58 European destinations via Vienna, operated by Etihad daily during the summer, and joins the other four members of the Lufthansa Group with whom we 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. 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. Our links with Biman and Air Seychelles were affected by those airlines’ own system migrations over the last 12 months, so 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. Etihad’s successful partnership with ITA Airways over Rome Fiumicino to Italy, Europe and beyond has also been restored following ITA’s own Amadeus Altea migration in February,” he added.
