Royal Jordanian and Bahrain-based Gulf Air have signed a new full code-share agreement offering passengers 11 flights per week between Jordan and Bahrain
The move came in the wake of the previous bilateral codeshare agreement, under which the airlines were operating and marketing flights between Amman and Manama, and in turn becoming unilateral.
"The new agreement facilitates both airlines to streamline operations in the interest of serving our passengers as well as the carriers in response to market demand," said Gulf Air chief executive officer Samer Majali.
Sounding a note of caution, analysts from Strategic Aero Research commented that the agreement was not entirely convincing as the earlier deals did not result in any substantial financial rewards for either of the airlines. They opined that the new deal could lead to more operational costs in marketing for both airlines.
"Our airline has been cooperating with Gulf Air since May 2004 when we signed a code-share agreement allowing free sale of seats on both carriers' flights between Amman and Manama," Royal Jordanian chief executive Hussain Dabbas pointed out.
According to the latest agreement, Gulf Air will provide more travel options for passengers with a choice of morning, noon and evening flights to reach Bahrain. The flights from Bahrain will facilitate onward journey to the Far East, Saudi Arabia and the Indian sub-continent.
On return flights, passengers can have connectivity through Amman to a number of European cities across Royal Jordanian's network.
