Emirates & Etihad Partner With Interline Agreement

@Ben unrelated but have you checked out the LHR slot exchange transactions recently, I note that CX has transferred 14 slots to EK for the S23 season.

Also a bit unrelated but no article that EY awards are now showing up on AA again after several years of it being broken?

Given those slots were based in DXB, not surprising

The pics are nice, CEOs squeezing ass, sheiks managing all and the lady FAs in the same impersonate gesture. Fascinating.

I agree with your analysis Ben. This is mainly symbolic but also practical given that some indeed want to fly into one and out the other. But it won't go further not least because Dubai and Abu Dhabi are deeply competitive and the latter - which is by far the richer emirate (remember they bailed out Burj Dubai which became Burg Khalifa for that very reason) would never agree to see the Etihad name disappear.

But it's a step in the right direction and possibly a reason why the new Etihad CEO was bullish about network re-expansion recently, given that Etihad may want to ensure their network reach isn't significantly less than Emirates down the track. This way, they can do t in a mutually beneficial way rather than compete with Emirates, as James Hogan tried to do (and failed) when he ran Etihad.

All true. Etihad recently announced its plan to triple number of its passengers, and double its fleet by the end of decade.

EY not launching more ULHs to US is making more sense now...

would this allow you to book a stopover on aeroplan award and then fly out of the other airport (similar to flying into HND and out of NRT?) If so I think this is pretty useful.

Careful, Emirates might pull a Korean Air later

That merger’s not happening. Long live Asiana.

Speaking of mergers, why does Korean Air have to get approval from countries like UK and China? Can't they take care of that in their own country?