airberlin and Air Seychelles, the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles, have signed a historic codeshare agreement allowing customers from each of the two carriers to fly seamlessly between Abu Dhabi, Germany, and Seychelles.

Initially, the agreement, which comes into effect immediately, will see Air Seychelles’ HM code placed on four of airberlin’s daily return services between Abu Dhabi and Berlin, Dusseldorf complementing the island carrier’s existing 26 weekly codeshare connections with Etihad Airways to Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf.

airberlin will initially place its AB code on four of Air Seychelles’ weekly return flights to Abu Dhabi from the Seychelles, complementing the German carrier’s existing four codeshare connections to Seychelles with Etihad Airways providing passengers a daily connection from Germany to Mahe.

Air Seychelles and airberlin are both members of the Etihad Airways strategic equity alliance, with the Abu Dhabi-based airline holding a 40 per cent stake in the island carrier and 29.21 per cent stake in Germany’s second largest airline.

The new codeshare arrangement will give European travellers immediate access to a total of 38 flights a week to Seychelles from four German hubs (Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Munich) on the combined airberlin, Air Seychelles and Etihad Airways network. 

The total number of flights a week between Germany and Seychelles will leap to 54 flights a week when the new Etihad Airways and Air Seychelles schedules take effect from March 24.

The partnership between airberlin and Air Seychelles allows both companies’ passengers to book and travel with just one ticket for their entire journey via Abu Dhabi.

Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive, airberlin, said: “The codeshare agreement with Air Seychelles is equally important for airberlin in a number of ways.

“Firstly, we are able to make our route network even more attractive by enhancing the number of weekly codeshare connections to the Seychelles. Secondly, the new agreement once again illustrates the enormous potential that the partnership with Etihad Airways offers in terms of the joint marketing of the route network and the targeted use of synergies across all areas.”