Abu Dhabi, June 2 : Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced a major expansion of its code-share agreement with India's Jet Airways.

The new arrangement offers travellers enhanced connections throughout India, and linking India with even more destinations worldwide.

The two airlines have obtained regulatory approval to code-share on 43 additional routes, bringing the total number of services in their agreement to 71.

As part of the expansion, Etihad Airways has placed its ‘EY’ code on domestic services in India for the first time, with the code-share agreement now including 31 Jet Airways routes from hubs in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore to regional centres in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Patna, Trivandrum and Vadodara.

The code-share agreement has also been updated to incorporate Jet Airways’ international connections from Mumbai and Delhi to the Asian tourism and economic hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, together with services linking Chennai to Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Furthermore, Jet Airways has strengthened its offering to the US and Europe by code-sharing on additional Etihad Airways routes between Abu Dhabi and Chicago, New York, Dublin and Milan.

"This code-share expansion is a milestone development for both airlines,” James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways, said Monday.

“In addition to placing our ‘EY’ code on domestic flights within India for the first time, the agreement now covers all six of Jet Airways’ services to Abu Dhabi. This has multiple benefits for travellers, such as expanded network reach, more frequent services, and increased convenience,” he said.

“Jet Airways’ guests also benefit from seamless connections to more destinations globally, with the airline’s ‘9W’ code placed on almost 20 percent more Etihad Airways routes than previously offered."(IANS)