Air France-KLM and Etihad Airways have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance their collaboration across passenger operations, loyalty programs, talent development and maintenance.
On Thursday (September 7, 2023), Etihad Airways announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Air France-KLM Group with the goal of enhancing their commercial cooperation across passenger operations, loyalty programs, talent development and maintenance. The signing ceremony took place on Thursday at Air France-KLM Group headquarters in Paris in the presence of Air France-KLM’s Chief Commercial Officer Angus Clarke and Etihad Airways’ Chief Revenue Officer Arik De.
In Thursday’s announcement, Air France-KLM’s Chief Commercial Officer Angus Clarke, said,
“I’m delighted to further develop our partnership with Etihad Airways. This 11-year collaboration is now expanding even further, as we aim to explore opportunities in maintenance and loyalty, in addition to enhancing our route network for the benefit of our customers from all around the world. The attractiveness of Abu Dhabi as a destination and a hub, powered by Etihad’s large footprint spanning South and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, brings significant richness to this partnership. This moment marks our shared commitment to providing seamless, premium, customer-centric travel experiences to our shared global customer base.”
Also commenting on the expanded commercial partnership, Etihad Airways’ Chief Revenue Officer, Arik De, said,
“We are excited to expand our collaboration with Air France-KLM, with this MoU serving as a testament to our shared vision of creating premium journeys for our guests. This MoU builds on our existing partnership by exploring deeper network enhancements as we offer improved connectivity between Abu Dhabi and Paris, and leveraging the extensive AF-KL network to Europe and beyond. It reaffirms Etihad’s intent to bolster Abu Dhabi’s cultural and economic growth as we look forward to welcoming more guests to our home enjoying better travel benefits and enhanced customer experiences along the way.”
With the partnership expansion, pending regulatory approvals, Air France-KLM and Etihad plan on expanding their existing codeshare and interline agreements originally initiated in 2012. During the first phase of the expansion, over 40 new routes across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Australia are now bookable for travel as early as the winter 2023/24 season. Additionally, the MoU proposes the ability for Flying Blue and Etihad Guest members to redeem miles with Air France, KLM and Etihad Airways. The airlines are also exploring the possibility of co-locating terminals, offering reciprocal lounge access and ground handling, and more.
Etihad currently offers daily flights from Abu Dhabi International Airport to both Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Air France will start operating daily service between Paris-CDG and Abu Dhabi starting October 29, 2023. Earlier this year, Air France-KLM announced that they had signed a MoU with Abu Dhabi’s Departure of Culture and Tourism, with the goal of enhancing connectivity between Europe and Abu Dhabi.
Source(s): Etihad Airways, Air France-KLM Group