Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has signed a codeshare agreement with South Korea’s Korean Air.

The partnership will come into effect on July 22 subject to regulatory approval, said a statement. Korean Air will place its ‘KE’ code on Etihad Airways’ daily services between Seoul and Abu Dhabi.

Members of Etihad Airways’ Etihad Guest and Korean Air’s Skypass loyalty programmes will benefit from lounge access, priority check-in and excess baggage allowances, besides frequent flyer points on both the flights, it said.

Etihad Airways’ president and CEO James Hogan highlighted the rapid growth in travel, trade and investment between the UAE and Korea as drivers of the success Etihad has achieved since commencing flights to Seoul in late 2010.

“Demand for business and leisure travel between Korea and the UAE, Middle East and Africa, in particular, has grown many-fold over the past three years while trade between the UAE and Korea, which was valued at $20 billion in 2012, has also been rapidly expanding,” said Hogan.
 
“We envision that closer collaboration with Korean Air will foster continued bilateral growth in these areas,” Hogan added. - TradeArabia News Service