Kenya Airways, Alitalia sign codesharing deal

Kenya Airways and Alitalia, partner airlines in the SkyTeam alliance, have signed a broad codeshare agreement connecting the networks of the two companies.

This new commercial partnership is bound to boost business travel and tourism between Italy and Kenya, giving tourists and businessmen more travel options and better flight schedules also when travelling to central and southern Africa and to Europe through the two airlines’ hubs in Rome and Nairobi, Kenya Airways said in a statement.

The new codeshare flights are available for sale through the airlines’ reservation systems and in travel agencies from March 14 for travels from June 12, 2019 when Kenya Airways will inaugurate its four-weekly service between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, Rome.

“Thanks to the codeshare agreement, Alitalia will apply its ‘AZ’ code on many services operated by Kenya Airways beyond Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu in Kenya, as well as to a further 19 African destinations, such as: Abidjan (Ivory Coast); Accra (Ghana); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Antananarivo (Madagascar); Brazzaville (Congo); Dar Es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar (Tanzania); Douala (Cameroon); Johannesburg (South Africa); Kigali (Rwanda); Khartoum (Sudan); Kinshasa and Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo); Lagos (Nigeria); Maputo and Nampula (Mozambique); Moroni-Hahaya (Comoros); Seychelles,” the statement added.

The statement noted that Alitalia is also widening its network in Africa, where the Italian airline now operates direct services to Johannesburg, Casablanca, Algeri, Tunis and Cairo, by placing its “AZ” flight code on Kenya Airways’ new service between Rome and Nairobi.

Similarly, Kenya Airways will expand its offer to Italy and Europe by placing its ‘KQ’ flight code on Alitalia’s services from Rome to 16 Italian domestic destinations (Brindisi, Bologna, Bari, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Milan Malpensa, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, Reggio Calabria, Turin, Trieste, Venice and Verona) and to 9 international destinations (Athens, Barcelona, Casablanca, Geneva, Larnaca, Madrid, Malaga, Malta and Valencia).

“Thanks to the codeshare agreement, customers can fly seamlessly to their desired destination with a single ‘unique’ ticket, checking-in at the airport of departure, and collecting their checked-through baggage at the end of their trip in the arrival airport,” it said.

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Besides the new codeshare services and more convenient flight connections, Kenya Airways and Alitalia customers will have the opportunity to earn and redeem miles on the entire network operated by both airlines.