LONDON: Dubai’s two airlines, Emirates and flydubai, plan to expand their codeshare partnership this year, according to a statement.
Announced in October 2017, the partnership between the national carrier and the budget airline started with codeshare flights to 29 cities. It has since expanded to 84, including new Flydubai destinations such as Catania in Italy, Krakow in Poland, Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Helsinki.
“During 2019 the network of codeshare flights will be further expanded, with the launch of new Flydubai destinations Naples and Budapest, as well as several others that will be announced in due course,” Emirates said in a statement. “Flydubai flights to Chittagong will also restart from Jan. 20, while flights to Kozhikode, Kerala, will start from Feb. 1.”
Between them, the two airlines in 2018 carried 3.29 million passengers on codeshare flights across 84 destinations. The codeshare partnership gave Emirates passengers access to 67 new destinations while Flydubai customers were able to choose from an additional 115.
“The partnership between Emirates and Flydubai has really taken off and we are very pleased with what has been achieved,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Group and chairman of Flydubai.
Joining forces meant there was less overlapping of routes and better scheduling, he added.
Connections and transit times have been made easier for passengers on 11 Flydubai routes as they can now check in at the Emirates desk in Dubai airport’s terminal 3.