Etihad Airways and Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, have signed a Strategic Commercial Cooperation Agreement (SCCA) to deepen their partnership between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and beyond the respective hubs.
The wide-ranging SCCA, subject to obtaining applicable governmental and regulatory approvals, sets out specific actions for deepening and broadening commercial cooperation, building on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the airlines signed in 2018.
The SCCA envisages a phased approach to closer collaboration between the partners. In the first phase, by June 2021, the scope of the partners’ codeshare agreement, first signed in 2019, will be significantly expanded.
Etihad and Gulf Air will be able to offer up to an additional 30 combined destinations beyond the Abu Dhabi and Bahrain hubs, across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Tony Douglas commented: “This agreement reinforces the strength of the ongoing partnership between our two airlines. We look forward to exploring pragmatic ways in which the two carriers can increasingly work seamlessly between our two capitals, enhance benefits and customer experience for our most frequent travellers and further extend the reach of our joint networks beyond our hubs.”
AlAlawi added: “Our relationship with Etihad Airways has always been strong and today we are reaching a higher level of collaboration with many more opportunities in the horizon between the national carriers of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. This agreement will empower both of us to offer a more elevated experience to passengers and widen their travel options.”
