Etihad Airways and RAK Airways have signed an agreement to codeshare on five flight sectors including, for the first time, domestic flights in the UAE.
The agreement, the first ever between two UAE carriers, will see Etihad Airways place its ‘EY’ code on the RAK Airways flight between Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi. In return, RAK Airways will place its ‘RT’ code on Etihad Airways routes, which initially includes flights between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow, Manchester, Dublin, Bangkok and Geneva.
RAK Airways operation between Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi will commence on October 3.
John Brayford, RAK Airways’ chief executive officer, said: 'We are delighted to announce our code share agreement with Etihad Airways, which has followed many months of consultation and collaboration between our two companies.
For an airline of the quality and prestige of Etihad Airways to choose RAK Airways as a code share partner shows how far RAK Airways has advanced since its re-launch in 2010 and is testament to the hard work of all our staff and the loyalty of our customers.'
Etihad Airways is also looking forward to the delivery of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner. James Hogan, president and chief executive officer who recently visited Boeing’s Everett production facility said, 'It is exciting to see these aircraft take shape and we look forward to taking delivery of nine more 777s over the next 15 months.'
In March, Etihad Airways and airberlin announced plans to strengthen their partnership by integrating their respective Boeing 787 Dreamliner programmes. Etihad currently owns almost 30 per cent of airberlin. Together, Etihad Airways (41) and airberlin (15) have 56 Dreamliners on order.
Last December, Etihad Airways announced it was taking its total order book for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to 41, the first of which arrives in the last quarter of 2014. The order, valued at $9.3 billion, will make Etihad Airways the largest operator of the aircraft type in the world. The UAE flag carrier has options and purchase rights for an additional 25 aircraft. airberlin has 15 Boeing 787s on order with options and purchase rights on a further
20 aircraft.