Emirates and South African Airways have upgraded their codeshare partnership to a fully reciprocal arrangement, with Emirates now placing its code on SAA-operated flights across nine new routes for the first time.
Until now, the arrangement had been one-directional: SAA placed its code on Emirates flights between Dubai and Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, with interline access to 68 Emirates destinations via Dubai. The new structure, cleared by regulators, reverses that flow.
The nine routes now covered by Emirates’ code include three domestic South African connections, linking Johannesburg with Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, alongside six regional routes serving Kinshasa, Gaborone, Windhoek, Lusaka, Harare and Victoria Falls.
“This reciprocal codeshare partnership with South African Airways is a natural evolution of a relationship that has served our customers well for many years. By placing our code on SAA’s domestic and regional network, we are opening up seamless access to destinations across South Africa and neighbouring countries, backed by the reliability and consistency our customers expect from Emirates. It reinforces our long-term commitment to South Africa and wider region, and our confidence in the continent’s continued growth,” Adnan Kazim, Emirates Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer said in a statement.
“The expansion of our partnership with Emirates marks an important milestone in SAA’s strategy to strengthen connectivity across Africa while enhancing access to global markets. Through this reciprocal codeshare agreement, customers will benefit from a more seamless travel experience and greater choice across our combined networks. This partnership is about more than connecting destinations. It is about connecting people, businesses and opportunities across the continent and beyond. By combining SAA’s growing African network with Emirates’ extensive global reach, we are creating greater value for our customers and reinforcing Johannesburg’s role as a key gateway for travel, trade and tourism in Africa,” Matshela Seshibe, Acting Group CEO of SAA added.
The two carriers have operated under some form of partnership since 1997, making it one of Emirates’ longest-standing commercial relationships. Emirates itself has served South Africa since 1995, now operating 56 weekly flights across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and having carried more than 20 million passengers on the route over that period.
South Africa is also the only market on Emirates’ Africa network served by all three of the airline’s widebody types: the Boeing 777, the Airbus A380 and the A350. Premium Economy is available on flights between Dubai and both Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Customers travelling on the new codeshare routes can book single tickets with through-checked baggage via Emirates.com, travel agents or Emirates retail stores.
