UAE national carrier Etihad Airways has announced a major expansion of its codeshare agreement with India's Jet Airways, offering travellers enhanced connections throughout India, and linking the country with even more destinations worldwide.

The two airlines have obtained regulatory approval to codeshare on 43 additional routes, bringing the total number of services in their codeshare agreement to 71, said the Abu Dhabi airline in its statement.

As part of the expansion, Etihad Airways has placed its ‘EY’ code on domestic services in India for the first time, with the codeshare agreement now including 31 Jet Airways routes from hubs in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru to regional centres in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram and Vadodara.

The codeshare agreement has also been updated to incorporate Jet Airways’ international connections from Mumbai and Delhi to the Asian tourism and economic hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, together with services linking Chennai to Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Furthermore, Jet Airways has strengthened its offering to the US and Europe by codesharing on additional Etihad Airways routes between Abu Dhabi and Chicago, New York, Dublin and Milan.

President and CEO James Hogan said: "As one of the world’s fastest-growing travel markets, India has become increasingly important to Etihad. Our current network of Indian destinations, consisting of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram, is further supported by the relationship we have developed with our equity alliance partner Jet Airways."

"This codeshare expansion is a milestone development for both airlines. In addition to placing our ‘EY’ code on domestic flights within India for the first time, the agreement now covers all six of Jet Airways’ services to Abu Dhabi. This has multiple benefits for travellers, such as expanded network reach, more frequent services, and increased convenience," he explained.

"Jet Airways’ guests also benefit from seamless connections to more destinations globally, with the airline’s ‘9W’ code placed on almost 20 per cent more Etihad Airways routes than previously offered," he added.

The new codeshare routes are now available for sale and enable members of the integrated Etihad Guest and JetPrivilege frequent flyer programs to earn and redeem miles, while also benefiting from reciprocal tier level recognition across the global networks of both airlines.

Prior to this expansion, Etihad Airways codeshared on seven routes operated by Jet Airways, with the agreement covering flights between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, together with connections from Brussels to Newark and Toronto.

In addition, Jet Airways codeshared on 21 Etihad Airways routes to India (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram), Europe (Amsterdam, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Manchester, Munich and Paris), the U.S. (Washington DC), Australia (Brisbane), and Africa (Johannesburg and Nairobi).-TradeArabia News Service