Etihad Airways PJSC has agreed to a route sharing alliance with South African Airways. The alliance with the state-backed South African flag carrier allows the Gulf carrier to expand its reach throughout Africa.
SAA would be code-share on 12 listed Etihad routes with the Middle East airline giving access to 10 African cities.
James Hogan, Etihad's CEO is seeking to build deeper relationships with Africa. He is forecasting passenger traffic to increase at 6.8% per year until 2016. This makes the region the fastest growing in the world.
In a press conference, he said, "Our road map in Africa is very limited. We see code-share as a key point of our strategy."
Included in the agreement with Etihad would be programs by SAA to help its bottom line through cost cutting measures and increased fuel efficiency. SAA recently posted a SArand1.36 billion or US$151.8 million loss for year ending March 2012.
Part of the fleet renewal plan would be the leasing of four Airbus A320s this year with sixteen more arriving by 2017. These would replace older Boeing 737 and Airbus A319.
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