In what may seem to be a strategic move in increasing profitability and customers, Emirates and flydubai reportedly, will be expanding their codeshare partnership this year. The move is set to add more destinations in the Dubai based airlines portfolio.
Emirates said that during the course of 2019, the company is planning to expand the network of codeshare flights along with the launch of flydubai destinations including Budapest and Naples. It further reported that several other destinations will be announced in due course.
As per the company press release, flydubai flights to Chittagong will be rescheduled from 20th of January, while flights to Kerala and Kozhikode will be commencing from the 1st of February.
According to sources, the two airlines began their partnership in October 2017 with 29 codeshare flights and have combinedly flown more 3.29 million travelers around 84 destinations for the year 2018. As a part of the partnership and in order to improve the connections between the two airlines, flydubai in December 2018 started operations of 11 flights from the Dubai International Airport Terminal 3.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of flydubai and Chairman & CEO of the Emirates Group, was quoted saying that the partnership has delivered tangible benefits to both the customers and the two airlines in terms of synergies, realignment of schedules to common destinations, and minimizing route overlaps.
This year more flights are expected to be departed from the Terminal 3, while improving the overall customer experience, cite sources.
As reported by The National, Emirates and flydubai are set to start codeshare routes to over 240 destinations by the year 2022, by maintaining shared fleets, more integrated flight schedules and aligned programs.
If industry analysts are to be believed, the current codeshare deal comes amid the falling profitability shares for the first half of 2018, as rising oil prices led to higher fuel bills. Emirates’ Q1 and Q2 net profit, for the record, tumbled by as much as 86% to Dh226 million.
