Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles extend codeshare to Baku
By Kamila Aliyeva
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has entered into a code-sharing agreement with Seychelles’ national air carrier, Air Seychelles, in order to more effectively organize flights to Baku first launched in the beginning of this month.
Under the deal, Air Seychelles will place its “HM” code on three weekly flights between Baku and Abu Dhabi, where travelers will be able to connect seamlessly to and from flights to Seychelles, Aviation Tribune reported.
As a result, the air communication between the capital of Azerbaijan and the Seychelles is expected to be simplified. Air Seychelles also operates flights to Abu Dhabi.
“This codeshare deal will tap into the growing market demand between Azerbaijan and the UAE, making it much easier for business and leisure travelers to extend their trips to Seychelles. Baku is an exciting city with a booming economy, and we are happy that we can facilitate easier connections to the Seychelles through our codeshare agreement with Etihad Airways. Our codeshare strategy is a fantastic way for Air Seychelles to continue building its presence in far-off markets while offering more value for our customers,” Remco Althuis, CEO of Air Seychelles, said.
A codeshare agreement is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. Sharing, in this sense, means that each airline publishes and markets the flight under its own airline designator and flight number as part of its published timetable or schedule.
A seat can be purchased on each airline's designator and flight number, but is operated by only one of these cooperating airlines.
Etihad Airways launched the first ever scheduled flights linking Abu Dhabi and Baku on March 2. The flight route was launched in accordance with the agreement between the national airlines of Azerbaijan and UAE – Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and Etihad Airways. The flights are being operated every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday via an Airbus A320 with a two-class configuration of 16 business and 120 economy seats.
Etihad Airways, set up by Royal Decree in July 2003, commenced commercial operations in November 2003, and has gone on to become the fastest growing airline in the history of commercial aviation.
The air carrier’s fleet of 115 aircraft operates more than 1,000 flights per week, serving an international network of 103 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Etihad Airways transported 18.6 million passengers in 2017.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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