Etihad Airways has signed a codeshare agreement with Greek carrier Aegean Airlines.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will see Aegean begin a four-times weekly service between Athens and Abu Dhabi on March 30.
Etihad will place its code on the new flight, which will be operated by a 168-seater Airbus A320.
The Gulf carrier will also place its code on Aegean-operated flights to 16 Greek destinations, and to a further ten cities across Europe.
The Greek destinations are Alexandroupolis, Chania, Chios, Heraklion, Ioannina, Kavala, Cephalonia, Corfu, Kos, Lemnos, Mykonos, Mytilene, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, and Thessaloniki.
The Aegean-operated European destinations that will carry an EY flight number are Vienna, Prague, Rome, Venice, Warsaw, Bucharest, Madrid, Tirana, Sofia and Larnaca.
In return, Aegean will offer new codeshare routes between Athens and seven destinations — Athens, Bahrain, Kuwait, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney — across the Gulf region, Australia and South Africa.
James Hogan, Etihad's CEO, said: "The new Aegean-operated Abu Dhabi-Athens flight will complement Etihad Airways' existing daily operation between the two cities, enhancing access between Greece and the rest of our global network.
"Our customer proposition will also be further strengthened as we will soon be able to place our flight code on Aegean flights to popular Greek destinations."
Dimitris Gerogiannis, Aegean's managing director, added: "By partnering with Etihad Airways, Aegean gains access to the Gulf region and South Africa as well increasing connection opportunities to Australia.
"Aegean will also open up points on its network to Etihad Airways customers, and will enhance access to and from Greece via Abu Dhabi."
Combined Abu Dhabi-Athens flight schedule for summer 2014
Graham Smith
