South African Airways (SAA) and global major airline Emirates have expanded their codeshare partnership. This new agreement brings in reciprocal codesharing by the two carriers, in place of the previous unilateral codesharing arrangement.

Hitherto, SAA placed its codes on Emirates-operated flights between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, on the one hand, and Dubai, on the other. Henceforth, Emirates will also place its codes on SAA-operated flights. The result is an increase in the number of routes covered by the codesharing agreement. In all, nine more routes are now codeshared. These are three domestic routes (Johannesburg to Cape Town, Johannesburg to Durban, Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth) and six regional routes (Johannesburg-Kinshasa, Johannesburg-Gaborone, Johannesburg-Windhoek, Johannesburg-Lusaka, Johannesburg-Harare and Johannesburg-Victoria Falls).

“The expansion of our partnership with Emirates marks an important milestone in SAA’s strategy to strengthen connectivity across Africa while enhancing access to global markets,” affirmed SAA acting Group CEO Matshela Seshibe. “Through this reciprocal codeshare agreement, customers will benefit from a more seamless travel experience and greater choice across our combined networks. This partnership is about more than connecting destinations. It is about connecting people, businesses and opportunities across the continent and beyond. By combining SAA’s growing African network with Emirates’ extensive global reach, we are creating greater value for our customers and reinforcing Johannesburg’s role as a key gateway for travel, trade and tourism in Africa.”

As before, SAA passengers also have interline access to 68 Emirates destinations around the world, via Dubai. (The two carriers’ partnership started in 1997.)

“This reciprocal codeshare partnership with [SAA] is a natural evolution of a relationship that has served our customers well for many years,” highlighted Emirates deputy president and chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim. “By placing our code on SAA’s domestic and regional network, we are opening up seamless access to destinations across South Africa and neighbouring countries, backed by the reliability and consistency our customers expect from Emirates. It reinforces our long-term commitment to South Africa and wider region, and our confidence in the continent’s continued growth.”

Emirates started operating to South Africa in 1995. Today it operates 56 flights a week to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa is the only African country to which the airline operates all three of its widebody airliner types, namely the Airbus A350, the Airbus A380, and the Boeing 777.