Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines, both members of the oneworld alliance, have strengthened their cooperation with a bilateral code-share relationship.

Both airlines will code-share on each other’s flights between their respective hubs – Qatar Airways’ thrice daily Airbus A340-600 operations to Colombo and SriLankan Airlines’ daily Airbus A330-300 flight to Doha.

The combination of four daily flights between Doha and Colombo will offer customers additional convenience and flexibility.

Passengers travelling to Colombo on Qatar Airways now have additional connectivity to the popular holiday hotspot Male, in the Maldives.

SriLankan Airlines chief executive Suren Ratwatte said: “It is our pleasure to seal a codeshare partnership with Qatar Airways to allow our passengers the flexibility and convenience of effective onward connectivity to a number of destinations.

“We are also glad to tie up with another oneworld member in our strategic network expansion drive as we celebrate the second anniversary as an alliance member in May this year.”

Travellers will also benefit from accruing frequent flyer miles, together with other oneworld privileges such as access to spacious lounges, extra baggage allowances, priority check-in and boarding, fast track security lanes and special fares across both carriers’ networks.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways is pleased to have reached a code-sharing agreement with an established oneworld carrier like SriLankan Airlines, which will deepen commercial cooperation and jointly strengthen our competitive offering in the market.

“This new partnership will allow passengers to enjoy the seamless connectivity that Qatar Airways offers via Doha to our wide network across the globe.”