Emirates, flydubai expand codeshare deal to 16 cities
dubai — Dubai-based airlines Emirates and flydubai on Tuesday added 16 more destinations to which Emirates passengers will be able to travel on a single ticket as part of their codeshare agreement extension.
The new cities included Bratislava (Slovakia), Chittagong and Sylhet (Bangladesh), Djibouti, Dushanbe, Hargeisa (Somalia), Istanbul — Sabiha Gokcen, Kathmandu, Kilimanjaro, Mattala Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Podgorica (Montenegro), Ufa, Makhachkala and Voronezh (Russia), Yerevan (Armenia) and Zanzibar.
Emirates announced on October 2 that it would expand its network to 29 flydubai destinations across three continents. The two airlines expect the combined network to reach 240 destinations by 2022.
Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said both the Dubai carriers are realising the benefits of working more closely together — through network cooperation, synergies and better operations while they command the lion’s share of the slots at Dubai International.
“By working together, they’re leveraging each other’s strengths that aid passenger choice, make it harder for rivals to move in an agile way and they can generate better revenues,” Ahmad said, adding that both the airlines will gain from this tie-up.
“Emirates gets to put passengers on thinner, less dense routes via flydubai’s 737 and 737MAX, while flydubai can offer cost-conscious travellers the option to connect onto Emirates’ massive global network aboard their 777s and A380s. It’s a win-win all round and even if they merge, the benefits will only improve,” Ahmad said in a statement to Khaleej Times.
Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates airline, said nearly 14,000 sectors have been ticketed during the first week of operation, surpassing their expectations. “We have witnessed strong demand for travel from Europe and the US to South Asian destinations.”
— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com