Photo by: Duane Daws
The extension of South African Airways’ (SAA’s) code-share service agreement with Ethiopian Airlines to include Cape Town and Durban and Toronto, in Canada, became effective this week.
The expanded code-share offers a direct service between Addis Ababa and Cape Town and Addis Ababa and Durban. These routes will be operated by Ethiopian Airlines, with SAA as the marketing carrier.
The two airlines already code-share from Addis Ababa to Johannesburg, and between Addis Ababa and Bamako, in Mali, with all these flights operated by Ethiopian aircraft.
In return, the East African carrier code-shares on SAA’s aircraft between Johannesburg, the coastal cities of Cape Town and Durban and Windhoek, in Namibia.
SAA customers will now be able to fly on Ethiopian Airlines using the SAA ticket code SA, while their customers will be able to fly on the ET code.
“As a successful Pan-African carrier, we have an unshakable stance to work in collaboration with other African carriers. Therefore, revamping the already existing code-share agreement with SAA emanates from our bold ambition and effort to expand our footprint to different destinations and better serve our esteemed customers globally,” said Ethiopian Airlines strategic planning and alliance acting VP Girma Shiferaw.
Ethiopian Airlines and SAA signed their first code-share agreement on September 17, 2003, and extended this agreement on October 1, 2016. More code-share destinations will be added in the near future.