East African airlines are seeking to increase their passenger numbers through partnership with the Gulf and Asian carriers.

Precision Air Plc recently signed a codeshare agreement with Etihad, the United Arab Emirates’ national carrier, that will see both airlines increase their presence in the region and the gulf.

Precision Air operates domestic flights in Tanzania.

Under the codeshare deal, Precision Air and Etihad customers will be able to purchase a seat on one airline that is operated by the co-operating airline.

Ms Sauda Rajab, the Precision Air CEO said her airline will be able to sell Etihad and vice versa and passengers from across the world can access PW’s services via Etihad.

“This will lower the ticket costs as a passenger will not need more than one ticket,” she said.

“With this new partnership we are making it easier for passengers from across our domestic network to travel to Abu Dhabi, with convenient onward access to over 100 destinations on Etihad’s network, in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.”

Precision Air’s code PW will also be placed on Etihad’s daily flights between Dar es Salaam and Abu Dhabi with an eye on strengthening ties between the two cities.

In turn, the EY code will be placed on Precision Air’s domestic flights between Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Mtwara, Zanzibar, Pemba and Nairobi.

In Africa, Etihad flies 10 destinations including Johannesburg, Nairobi, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Khartoum, Casablanca, Rabat, Lagos, Cairo and Mahé in the Seychelles.

Business travellers

Meanwhile, Kenya Airways, the national carrier has signed a codeshare agreement with Hong Kong Airlines increasing its frequency between Nairobi and Hong Kong to daily flights with an eye on the growing trade between the two cities.

KQ currently flies three times a week to Hong Kong but the new agreement with its Asian partner increases this to daily.

The codeshare deal between the two airlines will also see Hong Kong Airlines book its customers flying to Nairobi from Thailand on KQ — which presently operates one daily flight to and from the Bangkok’s capital.

“This code-sharing partnership will enable us offer our customers seamless connection, especially for our passengers in the region who mainly travel to these Asian cities for business,” KQ chief executive Mbuvi Ngunze said in a statement.

Code-sharing allows airlines to sell seats on their aircraft — marketing carrier — as if they were their own.

The passengers are later transferred onto the partnering airline — the operating carrier.

Kenya Airways, which owns a 41.15 per cent stake in Precision Air, has in recent years been expanding its codeshare agreements with several Gulf and Asian airlines seeking to get a slice of the business that comes from the continent.