UAE national airline Etihad Airways said it has signed an agreement with Saudi-based low-cost carrier nasair to codeshare on 26 flight sectors across the Mena and Asia region.

As per the agreement, Etihad Airways will place its ‘EY’ code on nasair flights between the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Madinah and Etihad’s home base, Abu Dhabi.

Nasair will place its ‘XY’ code on Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Colombo, Dhaka, Kuwait, Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Tehran, Beirut, Bahrain, Muscat, Jakarta, Amman, Damascus, Basra, Baghdad, Erbil, Khartoum, Cairo, Tripoli, Istanbul and subsequently on flights operating to Europe, the Americas and South East Asia over the coming months.

Subject to regulatory approvals, Etihad Airways and nasair will display their respective codes on these routes during their winter schedules.

Etihad president and CEO James Hogan said: “This codeshare agreement with nasair continues Etihad’s pledge to connect air travellers with key destinations on our network and those of our partner airlines. It will provide Saudi passengers with seamless flight connections and access on more than 20 short and long haul Etihad flights."

"It also enables Etihad to boost our connections to Jeddah, and for the first time, Madinah," he added.

In addition to nasair, Etihad has 38 other codeshare agreements in place with airlines across the world. Codeshare partnerships, along with equity acquisitions and organic growth, form the three pillars of Etihad expansion plans.

Nasair CEO Captain François Bouteiller said the Etihad codeshare deal is just one of the many strategic projects being delivered over the coming months within nasair to expand its network and distribution.

"We are delighted to offer these new routes to our customers and expect to further expand the available connections," he noted.

Nasair’s director of bilateral agreement and strategic alliances Ahmed Sultan said, "We are excited to launch the first freesale codeshare relationship with Etihad to give our customers more options when traveling with nasair."

"This agreement will provide our customers with a variety of options and seamless access when traveling throughout our combined networks," he added.-TradeArabia News Service