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Etihad Airways and Fiji Airways have announced a “groundbreaking” interline agreement which they say “is the starting point of further negotiations between the two airlines”.
“This agreement will allow reciprocal sales from and to 12 cities in Europe, 17 cities in the Middle East, five cities in Africa, five cities in North America, 29 cities in Asia and three cities in Australia to and from Fiji,” the airlines said in a joint statement.
The interline agreement is operational with immediate effect, the airlines said.
“Fiji is a great holiday market and we are happy to offer Fiji as an additional destination in our global network,” said Etihad president and CEO James Hogan. “The agreement also connects the outer South Pacific Islands to our network which creates more opportunities for our worldwide sales force.”
Said Stefan Pichler, managing director and CEO of Fiji Airways: “We are proud to be part of the global Etihad Airways network and this partnership will help us to put Fiji on the map in countries where we had no presence before.”
The interline agreement comes despite Etihad being a major shareholder in Virgin Australia, which services Fiji from the Australian east coast, while Fiji Airways key shareholder Qantas has a strategic alliance with Etihad’s key rival Emirates Airline.
Raymond
says:“The interline agreement comes despite Etihad being a major shareholder in Virgin Australia, which services Fiji from the Australian east coast, while Fiji Airways key shareholder Qantas has a strategic alliance with Etihad’s key rival Emirates Airline.”
How do they manage to do this? Aren’t there conflicts of interest involved?