Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced a codeshare agreement with Asiana Airlines, the major airline of South Korea, complementing Etihad’s own daily return service to Seoul, which commences on December 10. The new cooperative relationship will see flights between Etihad’s home-base Abu Dhabi, Seoul and beyond, operating under an EY (Etihad) and OZ (Asiana) code. This will also facilitate Pakistani passengers travelling to South Korea, by providing additional options for convenient connecting flights from Abu Dhabi to Seoul and beyond.

The codeshare fares were made available for purchase from mid-November. The carriers also intend to commence reciprocal rewards programs, where members of each airline’s frequent-flyer program can earn and redeem points on the codeshared flights. The codeshare agreement will expand, with time, to add new territories across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Korea.

Etihad Airways’ Country Manager, Mr. Amer Khan said; “We are excited about this codeshare agreement with Asiana Airlines. South Korea is a very important market for UAE and Pakistan, and this relationship will increase the traffic between these countries. The synergy between both airlines made this codeshare a natural alliance. Both Asiana and Etihad are committed to the highest standards of operational and service excellence.”

The airlines will work to cultivate the partnership across a number of fields including sales and marketing activities, system development, interline expansion and ground-handling.