UAE carrier Etihad Airways and South African Airways (SAA) have announced a major expansion of their strategic partnership with the launch of a daily service between Johannesburg (South Africa) and Abu Dhabi (UAE) next year.

The new service, commencing on March 29, 2015, will complement Etihad’s existing flights between the two cities to offer a combined double-daily frequency on the route.

Subject to regulatory approval, Etihad will place its ‘EY’ code on South African Airways’ new Johannesburg-Abu Dhabi flights, in addition to 16 of the airline’s other services from Johannesburg to key destinations across the African continent.

In return, South African Airways will place its ‘SA’ code on 32 Etihad Airways routes beyond Abu Dhabi to a range of destinations worldwide.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer, said: “The partnership between Etihad Airways and South African Airways has been a resounding commercial success for both airlines. Since our codeshare flights were first on sale in July last year, we have placed more than 20,000 passengers onto each other’s flights, and there is huge potential to significantly increase that number as the cooperation is developed in the coming years.”

Nico Bezuidenhout, SAA’s acting chief Executive officer, said: “Under the second phase of our cooperation, we will better serve established regions such as North America, Europe and Australia, while strengthening our presence in fast-growing markets across the Middle East and Asia. In particular, the codeshare expansion will support a planned adjustment of our network to strengthen access into the fast-growing China and India markets.” – TradeArabia News Service