Travel to UAE on a single booking: Emirates, Etihad Airways strengthen cooperation

Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have agreed to expand their interline cooperation in a bid to boost tourism to the UAE from key source markets by allowing customers to experience more than one destination in a single itinerary.

The new agreement provides travellers planning to explore the UAE with the flexibility of one-stop ticketing for their full journey and convenient baggage check-in.

“This summer, customers of each airline will be able to purchase a single ticket to fly into either Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with a seamless return via the other airport,” Emirates said in a statement.

This first-of-its-kind agreement allows visitors to cover as much ground as possible when exploring Abu Dhabi, Dubai or any other emirate, saving time by removing the need to fly home via their airport of arrival.

We’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding with @Etihad to expand our interline agreement, enabling visitors to experience more than one UAE destination in a single itinerary. https://t.co/0hM0uEjb4j pic.twitter.com/PGq27rvorx

— Emirates (@emirates) May 4, 2023

The deal gives customers travelling into the UAE the option of ‘multi-city flights’, with the choice to travel from one city on both carriers’ networks and conveniently return to another point served by either.

“Emirates and Etihad are leveraging on our strengths to expand our respective customer offerings and boost UAE tourism,” said Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline.

“We believe this new agreement provides a strong foundation to develop further opportunities between both airlines and is an example of our commitment to the UAE’s vision for continued economic diversification.”

This is the second time the airlines have announced a collaboration. Emirates Group Security and Etihad Aviation Group signed an MoU to strengthen aviation security in 2018.

Last year, Emirates also signed an agreement with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi to boost tourist numbers to the UAE capital from key source markets across the airline’s global network.

Emirates, Etihad boost UAE tourism

Meanwhile, the expanded interline partnership is part of Emirates and Etihad Airways’ broader strategies to support the UAE government’s objective to promote tourism to the country while enhancing its position as a preferred global destination.

Tourism is one of the key pillars of the UAE economy and is expected to contribute to 5.4 per cent of the nation’s total GDP or $31.6bn (Dhs116.1bn), supporting over one million jobs by 2027.

Read: UAE airports passenger traffic jumps by 56.3% in Q1 2023

The General of the General Civil Aviation Authority said the UAE’s airports registered a 56.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic during the first three months of the year to 31.8 million.

The growth in passenger traffic can be attributed to the increase in national airlines’ destinations, which reached about 536 in Q1 2023 including joint destinations.

Emirates has boosted operations by 31 per cent since the start of its financial year and plans to ramp up seat capacity in its latest published northern summer schedule which started on March 26, 2023.

The Dubai-based carrier recently opened a new city check-in and travel store in the Dubai International Financial Centre, as part of the carrier’s broader strategies to enhance customer experience.

Similarly, Etihad is introducing several new wifi packages that include free inflight messaging.

All passengers will be able to take advantage of complimentary ‘Chat’ messaging – including WhatsApp, Messenger and WeChat – for the entirety of flights by signing in with their Etihad Guest membership, or by joining the scheme before flying.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier also joined forces with Astra Tech, allowing customers to make flight bookings using artificial intelligence within the chat app BOTIM.

Read: Etihad Airways, Astra Tech partner to allow bookings on BOTIM