In a move that extends its reach across East Africa, Etihad Airways has announced that it has entered into a codeshare agreement with Precision Air, Tanzania’s leading domestic airline.

Under the new codeshare agreement, Etihad Airways will place its EY code on Precision Air flights between Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Mtwara, Nairobi, Zanzibar, Pemba, and between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.

Precision Air will place its PW code on Etihad’s daily services between Dar es Salaam and Abu Dhabi, strengthening ties between East Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Kevin Knight, Etihad Airways chief strategy and planning officer, said: “Precision Air is an innovative and award-winning airline and this new codeshare agreement demonstrates Etihad Airways’ growing ambitions to strengthen its operations across the East African region.

“This is a further example of our strategy of working with partners to extend our reach, and provide business and leisure travellers with more choice.”

Passengers will be able to book flights via travel agents from today, or through the airlines’ sales offices and contact centres, for travel from January 11th onwards.

Etihad Airways currently operates scheduled services to ten destinations in Africa, including Johannesburg, Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Khartoum, Casablanca, Rabat, Lagos, Cairo and Mahé in the Seychelles.

Sauda Rajabu, chief executive, Precision Air Services, said: “This is a new dawn for Precision Air and we are delighted to be working with Etihad Airways in this way.

“We look forward to welcoming Etihad Airways’ passengers on board our flights, and are excited about exploring additional opportunities to expand the relationship in the future.

“With this new partnership we are making it easier for passengers from across our domestic network to travel to Abu Dhabi, with convenient onward access to over 100 destinations on Etihad’s network, in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.”