Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has established a codeshare with Ethiopian Airlines that allows the Malaysian national carrier to gain access to the capital Addis Ababa.
The agreement sees MAS place its flight code on all Ethiopian Airlines’ services from Addis Ababa to Kuala Lumpur and back.
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET618 carries the MAS code MH9488, and departs from Addis Ababa at 1240 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday before landing in Kuala Lumpur at 1800. On the return leg, flight ET619 carries the MAS code MH9489, and leaves Kuala Lumpur at 2325 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight arrives back in Addis Ababa the following day at 0645. All services include a one hour transit in Bangkok.
The Ethiopian Airlines flights are operated by a B767-300 with a two-class configuration – 24 seats in business and 208 in economy.
MAS said the partnership is solely for the improvement of air connectivity with key markets overseas so as to increase "tourist arrivals in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2014". There are therefore not any added benefits such as bilateral mileage accrual and lounge access.
“Through this partnership we can expand our reach in Africa without operating our own flights," said MAS' group chief executive Ahmad Jauhari.
To promote the codeshare, MAS is offering all-inclusive return fares to Addis Ababa starting from RM3,885 (US$1,185) for economy, and RM13,170 (US$4,017) for business class.
Ethiopian Airlines also has a strong codeshare agreement with Singapore Airlines (see here).
For more information, visit www.malaysiaairlines.com
Clement Huang