JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s national flag carrier, Saudia, and Etihad Airways, the national is the flag carrier and the second-largest airline of the United Arab Emirates, have announced a new codeshare partnership, providing customers with access to more than 40 leisure and business destinations in home markets and across the world. In addition to the codeshare agreement, the two carriers also announced plans for greater commercial cooperation in other fields, including frequent flyer program benefits, cargo, engineering and maintenance. The codeshare agreement was signed at Saudia headquarters in Jeddah by Saleh Al-Jasser, Director General Saudi Arabian Airlines, and Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Aviation Group. It covers at least 41 destinations on both of the airlines’ networks and see Etihad place its “EY” code on a number of Saudia’s flights, including Abha, Al-Baha, Alula, Arar, Bisha, Dammam, Dawadmi, Gassim, Gizan, Gurayat, Hail, Hofuf, Jeddah, Jouf, Madinah, Qaisumah, Rafha, Riyadh, Sharurah, Tabuk, Taif, Turaif, Wadi-Ad-Dawasir, Wedjh, Yanbo, and Abu Dhabi. Port Sudan, Tunis, Alexandria, Sharm el-Sheikh, Multan and Peshawar, subject to government approval. At the same time, Saudia will place its ‘SV’ code on Etihad flights to Baku, Chengdu, Ahmedabad, Nagoya, Tokyo-Narita, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Belgrade, Seychelles, Chicago-O›Hare, and Abu Dhabi. Al Jasser said: “The new partnership broadens aviation and transport links with the United Arab Emirates, building on the extensive aviation investment and strong foundation in the sector. “With the agreement, the added network coverage enables our guests to benefit from added flexibility and convenience, as well as increase the benefits for members of both airlines’ frequent flyer plans,” reported the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Douglas said: “The ties shared between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the deepest that the two nations have, and therefore we are extremely proud to play our role and bring the two flag carriers together in this unique partnership. “The partnership will allow for enhanced seamless travel across the Etihad Airways and Saudia networks which we anticipate will be highly popular with business and leisure travelers, especially those looking to fly to secondary city destinations.” At the same time, Saudia will place its ‘SV’ code on Etihad flights to Baku, Chengdu, Ahmedabad, Nagoya, Tokyo-Narita, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Belgrade, Seychelles, Chicago-O›Hare, and Abu Dhabi. In addition to the codeshare, the teams at the Etihad Guest and Alfursan frequent flyer programs are finalizing discussions which would see members of each program being offered reciprocal earn and burn opportunities, according to SPA. In the cargo world, the teams in both airlines’ divisions are in talks over greater cooperation, recognizing the increased volumes of freight traffic flowing in and out of the UAE and the Saudi Arabia. Etihad Airways Engineering will also provide provide select maintenance services for SAUDIA aircraft at its MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) facility in Abu Dhabi. In 2017 Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) carried more than 32 million passengers, registered over 200,000 flights and traveled more than 320 million kilometers, while SAUDIA Cargo carried more than 637,000 tons of freight. Carriers in the region continue to post positive growth, and in 2017 alone, they flew more than 216.1 million passengers, up by 4.6 percent over 2016 and representing 5.3 percent of the market share, according to the data provided by the International Air Transport Association. Between November 2017 and March 2017, more than 400,000 passengers had been served by the shared flights, while 250,000 more had booked their trips in advance.