Etihad Airways has announced the launch of reciprocal interline partnerships with three new airline partners – Philippine Airlines (PAL), Austrian Airlines (OS) and Airlink South Africa (4Z).
The UAE flag carrier will also re-launch interline links with Biman Bangladesh and codeshares with Air Seychelles (HM) and ITA Airways (AZ).
The extended interline deal means customers of all airlines involved will enjoy enhanced connectivity to destinations across each other’s networks.
Effectively 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.
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.”
The expanded interline and codeshare offerings will be progressively rolled out by the airline across its sales channels, including Etihad.com and travel agents, over coming weeks.
About the codesharing practice
Codesharing is a practice in the airline industry where two or more airlines agree to sell seats on the same flight under their own respective airline codes.
This means that a passenger might book a flight on one airline but actually travel on a different airline, even though the flight is operated by one of the codesharing partners.
For example, let’s say that Airline A and Airline B have a codesharing agreement in place. Airline A operates a flight from New York to London, but Airline B also sells seats on that same flight under their own airline code.
Passengers who book a ticket with Airline B might see the flight listed as “Airline B flight 123 operated by Airline A”.
Codesharing allows airlines to expand their network of destinations and offer more flight options to their customers, even if they don’t operate those flights themselves.
It can also help airlines streamline operations and reduce costs by sharing resources and leveraging each other’s strengths.
New Amadaeus check-in system
as an additional benefit to passengers, Etihad Airways has also transitioned its check-in processing services to the Amadeus Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS).
The move to Amadeus Altéa was completed during an overnight switchover on 8 March 2023.
All Etihad Airways flights between Abu Dhabi and its global network of airports are now being managed with the Amadeus Altéa suite of travel technology, which offers a faster and simpler check-in and boarding process.
