Emirates has announced that it has expanded its partnership with South Africa’s Airlink into a unilateral codeshare agreement, giving travellers to and from South Africa easy access to more than 40 domestic and regional destinations across 12 African countries.
Emirates states that the extended codeshare provides connectivity to Emirates passengers not offered by any other carrier in Africa, and augments the long-standing partnership that Emirates has with South African Airways.
The announcement comes as Emirates resumes its flights to South Africa and ramps up its operations to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The airline adds that the connectivity provided by the new codeshare ‘will offer competitive fares, combined ticketing, and seamless baggage transfers when connecting between both airlines’.
Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates, said:
The expansion of the Emirates – Airlink partnership marks an important step forward in our relationship. Our new codeshare agreement enhances our service offering and flexibility for customers traveling beyond our gateways in South and Southern Africa and provides them unparalleled options for leisure destinations. We are committed to growing our operations in South Africa, and with the strong connection opportunities being provided collectively with Airlink we hope to help jumpstart the recovery of the local travel and tourism industry. Our codeshare partnership with Airlink complements the valuable relationship Emirates has with South African Airways, which we eagerly anticipate to restart once the airline is back in operation.
Emirates passengers travelling to South Africa can now transfer from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to domestic points like Bloemfontein, George, Upington, Nelspruit, Hoedspruit, Kimberley, Skukuza, Pietermaritzburg, Richards Bay, Sishen, Mthatha and Port Elizabeth, as well as points across Southern Africa like Gaborone, Kasane, Vilanculos, Lubumbashi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Maseru, Antananarivo, Pemba, Tete, Maun, Victoria Falls, Walvis Bay, Maputo, Windhoek, Harare, Lusaka, Ndola, Bulawayo and Livingstone amongst many other cities.
Rodger Foster, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airlink, said:
This exciting development is an overwhelming endorsement to Airlink. We are delighted, honoured, and privileged that Emirates Airline has chosen Airlink as its Southern Africa partner. Emirates serves all of our source markets and together we are able to provide vital air access throughout Airlink’s comprehensive network of destinations within Southern Africa, and provide much needed connectivity, linking Africa with the world and the world with Africa. The tourism and air transportation sectors have been hardest hit by the pandemic and the associated lockdowns and travel bans, and as the world gets vaccinated, we expect the pent-up travel demand will be realised, and more customers will want to visit the special destinations that Airlink offers services to.
Passengers can book the flights with both airlines on emirates.com, through online travel agencies as well as with local travel agents.
Meanwhile, Emirates recently launched a new account-based payment system called ‘Emirates Pay’. The airline has also reopened on its dedicated First Class lounge at Dubai International Airport and has launched an all-new airport service at Dubai International Airport to assist passengers more better. The carrier has launched flights to Miami, Florida making it the airline’s 12th destination in the United States. Emirates, just a few days ago, announced a interline partnership with Mexico’s Aeromar. The airline has ramped up its operations across its network in response to pent-up demand. Emirates has resumed flights to Glasgow and has added a second Airbus A380 service to New York. Emirates Skywards has announced the launch of Skywards+ to offer its members access to exclusive rewards.
Featured image by Emirates
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