Bahrain?s national airline Gulf Air and Etihad Airways have signed a codeshare partnership for travel commencing with the summer schedule
The announcement follows the signing of an MOU between the two carriers at the Bahrain International Airshow in November last year and will further strengthen the strong ties between the two countries and carriers.
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 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 (CBP) facility at Terminal 3 in Abu Dhabi Airport is a purpose-built facility that allows US bound passengers to process all immigration, customs and agriculture inspections in Abu Dhabi before they depart. On arrival in the US, guests arrive as domestic passengers, speeding up the arrival process and making onward connections more seamless.
The announcement was made at a signing ceremony held at Etihad Airways Headquarters in Abu Dhabi, attended by Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Aviation Group, and Kre?imir Ku?ko, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air.
Ku?ko 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. Customers of both airlines will now have more options to fly to more destinations and explore new cities across our networks.?
In addition to the codeshare signing, both Gulf Air Falconflyer and Etihad Guest loyalty programmes are exploring ways to offer earn and burn opportunities.
Gulf Air currently operates four return daily flights between Bahrain and Abu Dhabi while Etihad currently operates three return daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
