São Paulo – Etihad Airways, the airline from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aéreas have entered into a codeshare agreement this week. Initially, the deal will allow for Etihad’s flight codes to be shared by the Brazilian airline’s flights.
In practical terms, this enables Etihad and Gol passengers to buy tickets to any destination flown to by either airline for a single rate. In the case of flights with layovers, passengers are not required to claim their luggage.
In October last year, the two companies had already signed an interline agreement. As per this agreement, passengers were required to pay two different rates on purchasing tickets, and had to claim their luggage during connections.
“Brazil is a growing market for Etihad Airways and we are delighted that the partnership with Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes greatly expands our business and leisure travel offering, between the UAE and South America’s largest market,” said Kevin Knight, chief strategy and planning officer at Etihad Airways, in a press statement.
The executive also said Etihad passengers can now enjoy connections over São Paulo to 52 destinations throughout Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Brasília, and further afield to 14 destinations in Latin America, including Uruguay and Argentina. “This new codeshare partnership is a natural development of the interline agreement we signed with Gol in October last year and we look forward to broadening the scope of co-operation even further in the future,” he said.
“GOL has been investing in partnerships that are ensuring greater benefits for our customers and strengthening the alliance with Etihad will do precisely that,” said Gol’s CEO Paulo Kakinoff in another press release.
This week, Etihad has also announced the addition of six new destinations beginning in 2015: Madrid (Spain), Edinburgh (Scotland), Calcutta (India) Entebbe (Uganda), Algiers (Algeria) and Brisbane (Australia).
Etihad and Gol are also working on merging their points and mileage programs.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
