Etihad and Kenya Airways sign “strategic partnership”

Etihad Airways and Kenya Airways have agreed a “strategic partnership”, including the launch of codeshare services and a new Kenya Airways route between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi from this summer. The carrier said the agreement also “paves the way for greater collaboration between the airlines on the joint procurement of services for ground handling, line and heavy maintenance, training and cargo operations”. The partnership will see Etihad place its code on Kenya Airways flights from Nairobi to 27 destinations across Africa, while Kenya Airways will in turn place its code on Etihad’s daily service between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi, and onwards to 32 destinations on the Gulf carrier’s network. It will also see Kenya Airways launch its own three times-weekly service between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi from mid-summer 2013. Etihad launched flights to Nairobi in 2012, in addition to new services to African cities including Tripoli and Lagos. The carrier serves the Abu Dhabi-Nairobi route with a two class A320 aircraft, configured for 120 economy and 16 business class seats. The new partnership with Kenya Airways represents Etihad’s 42nd codeshare agreement, with recent additions including Air France KLM (see online news October 8, 2012), Garuda Indonesia (see online news October 18, 2012) and Air Seychelles (see online news October 30, 2012). For more information visit etihadairways.com. Report by Mark Caswell