The longstanding commercial agreement includes codeshare flights and expanded cooperation
South African Airways and Emirates are restarting their long-standing joint commercial partnership, which the two carriers began in 1997. The move comes as SAA resumes operations in the domestic South Africa and regional Africa markets following a year-long hiatus.
Beginning Oct. 1, the partnership will include codeshare flights on each carrier’s respective routes and other options, according to an announcement.
Reactivating the agreement also helps solidify South African Airways position and rebuild momentum as the carrier emerges from bankruptcy protection and a pandemic-related shutdown that began last March. The airline returned to the skies last week with flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town and five other African destinations.
The Emirates-South African Airways partnership, which started in 1997, will include SAA-coded and Emirates-operated routes between South Africa and Dubai on a single ticket. Emirates will also place the SAA code on major trunk routes between South Africa and Dubai.
According to Thomas Kgokolo, SAA’s interim CEO, plans are underway to expand cooperation in the coming months and solidify the partnership even further on more domestic and regional points in Africa. Emirates will also reciprocally add more options for SAA customers to connect to select destinations within its network on one itinerary.