Gulf Air and Ethiopian Airlines have entered a strategic code-sharing agreement opening up routes and services to each other in their respective networks effective July 1, this year. ‘We have entered a new era of operational efficiency with the implementation of our new refined network and the code share agreement with Ethiopian Airlines is a key strategy as we are constantly looking at ways to strengthen our reach, and building alliances (codesharing) with other airlines,’ says Executive Vice President Network Hashim Mahmood.

The agreement, which will cover as a first phase the routing between Addis Ababa and Bahrain, comes as Gulf Air introduced a totally revamped flight schedule beginning July. The new network offers as many as 588 flights every week in the Middle East with more non-stop flights than any other airline in the region.

‘We have the strongest network in the Middle East and our counterpart, the Ethiopian Airlines, have the strongest network in Africa, allowing both carriers to tap into each others’ markets,’ says Mr.Mahmood.

Gulf Air already has code-sharing agreements with American Airlines, Thai Airways, BMI, Cyprus Airways, Egyptair, Philippine Airlines, Indian Airlines, KLM, Malaysian Airlines, Oman Air, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Yemenia Airways, Bangladesh Airlines Biman.

Mr.Busera Awel, VP Commercial Ethiopian Airlines says on his part that ’ Ethiopian Airlines already has different cooperation agreements with other African and European carriers even though this is the first code share it has with a Gulf region carrier. The partnership with Gulf Air will allow our customers to have easy connection to other Gulf, Middle East and Asian points from Bahrain and at the same time enable us to strengthen our presence in the region.’
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