Gulf Air and Etihad Airways have signed a codeshare partnership.

The announcement follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two flag-carriers at the Bahrain International Airshow in November last year.

Gulf Air will place its ‘GF’ code on Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi to and from Bahrain, Brisbane, Chicago O’Hare, Jakarta, Lagos, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York JFK, Sydney and Washington.

The agreement will see Etihad place its ‘EY’ code on Gulf Air flights from Bahrain to and from Abu Dhabi, Baghdad, Casablanca, Dhaka, Faisalabad, Larnaca, Malaga, Multan, Najaf, Peshawar, Sailkot and Tbilisi.

Guests who are travelling to the USA with Etihad will be able to enjoy the preclearance facility offered at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The United States customs and border protection facility at Terminal 3 in Abu Dhabi Airport is purpose-built to allows US bound passengers to process all immigration, customs and agriculture inspections in Abu Dhabi before they depart.

The announcement was made at a signing ceremony held at Etihad Airways Headquarters in Abu Dhabi, attended by Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group, and Krešimir Kučko, chief executive of Gulf Air.

Kučko said: “This is a remarkable event for both Gulf Air and Etihad Airways, and we take pride in elevating this relationship further with the signing of this codeshare agreement.

“Last year, during the Bahrain International Airshow, we signed a cooperation memorandum and today we extend this to the next level with this codeshare.

“Customers of both airlines will now have more options to fly to more destinations and explore new cities across our networks.

“The relationship between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates has always been a strong one and we feel proud to be part of history by working closely with our friends at Etihad Airways.”